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Doing nothing is sometimes something

If you were wondering why I haven’t posted recently (again), it’s because I spent numerous hours across days to create something for all of you, only for all my writing to disappear after turning the kindle notes page off and on again! As much as I love that technology allows me to update you guys, it will never beat a pen and a notebook. To teach me even more patience, every time I have tried to continue to write, things have not gone to plan, such as on the train Cologne that stopped mid route and everyone had to get off for two hours, left stranded before the drivers then said we can get back on and then transfer. At this point I have come to embrace the chaos, as even though it’s a little more stressful, better stories and connections come from those events. So please forgive me for switching between timelines, as this has been written over on and off over the last few weeks. I forget that you don’t know where I am or what I’m doing unless I actually update you all and communicate....
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Are tourists and travellers the same?

I haven’t been able to create this post, because my mind can’t quite grasp that all these moments are reality, let alone turn these thoughts into words. In fact, I have felt dissociated from the stories that I tell and the experiences I am fortunate enough to have had. I have noticed myself living in a movie like life, where I alternate between being the main character, fully conscious of every detail and thought, and other times observing life and letting the world pass in front, as if I were a spectator.  My last post included a request to go slower and sit in the present, which I thought was a choice until the train strikes in France forced me to stay in one place for a lot longer than I had originally planned. For context, I had stayed at a hostel in Barcelona for one night as a layover before continuing to travel. Even that short stay felt unreal, due to a series of unexpected scenarios… When I arrived in Barcelona I had underestimated the 40 minute walk to the hostel from the...
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Picture this 📸

I  cannot comprehend that it has been over a month. Time begins to merge together when you move around to so many destinations in such a short period.   A fellow traveller told me that after a while of travelling, you become desensitised to the environments you were once amazed by, but I believe that is a choice and not a certainty. I am in awe of everything. Only God could create such beauty that I have seen and I haven’t even covered a small fraction of what is still out there.  Everything is so much more intense when you are taken away from a comfortable environment. Senses are heightened and I want to remember every feeling - even the not so great ones. It’s almost as if I am not living in the real world. And then I realise that this is the real world that has been hiding from us. We feel like we know what’s out there because now we can see it from behind a screen in a matter of seconds. Nothing can compare to the 10 minute sunset that you spent hours on trains, buses...
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People make the place

Yes, I know what you’re thinking… another insight into this chaos! Apologies for my grammar and punctuation in the last post - you would think I have more time to proof read, but the world waits for no one.   Although I am a solo traveller, I’m trying to strike a balance between completing plans independently and locating others to explore with. The first phase of meeting someone is always the same; conversations never usually go deeper than surface level. It’s a reminder of how much we centre our identity around labels, rather than our real self. For example, if someone asked you to tell them about yourself, you would likely answer with your name, job, hobbies and plans. These are things that we do or roles we want to fulfil, but are they actually us? Sure they can give you clues about what a person is really like, but it isn’t until you spend valuable time with them that you begin to learn about who they are truly. Some interactions stay awkward, and others make you feel like you...
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Learning curve

  Wow! Nearly two weeks gone just like that! As per usual there have been some amazing moments and other times that I would have rather not happened. However, this is all part of the adventure. I would like to be more accepting of the harder days and realise that travelling across the world is not always going to be easy! I’m not ashamed to say that in some moments I have not kept my cool - mainly in times where I have found myself lost in a new place.   In such a short time span, I have grown as a person since being the girl that stepped onto the Eurostar (someone who would have likely toppled over like a domino should someone have poked her whilst standing with both backpacks on). I find myself looking back at things, wondering if I really did just do them. For example, I agreed to hitchhike (after assessing safety) with two other backpackers to Mont St Michel. I cannot even comprehend that ME, I did that! Walking up and across Dunes Du Pilat in Bordeux was a huge moment in ...
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First pancake is always the dodgy one…

 Day 1: This is where the journey begins, sandwiched between two strangers at 2:30 pm on a random Tuesday afternoon. Prior to packing my life into a backpack I would have called myself a bit of a minimalistic person, not sure the backpack would agree (having been squeezed and stretched to fit my near explosive packing cubes in) .  Half of me is remaining vigilante and the other is calm; there’s something still in sitting in the present whilst others rush to the future in front of you. Like a wise person once said “ the anxiety is just excitement” ;)  The only way I can describe how I feel is that it’s like listening to ‘Welcome to New York’ by Taylor Swift for the first time. Your heart rate begins to increase. You know it’s going to be upbeat and soon you will be singing aloud, but you’re waiting for that one beat to hit and until then the tension just builds… in my case, that tension was slightly cracked by the displeased look of a parent, when their child slid across t...
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Packing in the stress

My dad once told me that if you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. And whilst I feel like I have gone through every possible thing to get ready for this backpacking trip, I can’t help but think I have forgotten something.  I’m the type of person who will resist buying something, then when I finally do, I will make use for years to come until my hoodie is in threads and my shoes become more like slippers. This meant that some purchases were definitely a necessity and I just had to accept that budget backpacking is not for free! Take boots for example, I have had the same ones since DofE nearly 4 years ago and my feet are starting to pay for it a little. This trip has been a push to finally get some new gear because the last thing I want to be, in a foreign country, is unprepared. The dread of forgetting my food on a DofE trip back in year 10 (having left it on the staircase at home) and surviving off flapjacks, is not an experience I intend to repeat!  The influencers ...
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