It sounds like your focus motor is only working in one direction. If so, that will be a difficult repair to make on the road, unless you happen to be in a major city where Canon happens to have a repair centre.

Unfortunately, these kit lenses are usually made to an inexpensive standard and are usually uneconomical to repair (unless under warranty). It might be worth popping into a camera shop, trying another lens to rule out a camera fault, and buying a replacement lens if indeed that new lens works.

There's a small chance it's simply a contact issue - if you have a pencil eraser you can very, very carefully clean the metal contacts on the lens and on the camera (be particularly careful on the camera, as the eraser bits can fall on your sensor and will be hard to remove - make sure the lens mount of your camera is pointed down while you do this, so debris falls away, not toward your sensor.) Try this first, since you have little to lose, but it's a long shot.