Travelling Priestess
Tiziana Stupia Joined: July 17th 2007
Logged in: February 9th 2012
Logged in: February 9th 2012
In the autumn of 2010, and I crossed the Atlantic Ocean by cargo ship from Germany to Charleston, South Carolina. I then made my way through the USA by train to New Mexico, where I lived for nine months to study at The Ayurvedic Institute. I have just completed another big trip and crossed the Pacific Ocean by cargo ship from Savannah, USA to Sydney, Australia. I currently live in Queensland.
It is my dream to travel the whole world without flying, to appreciate the journey and not just the destination. I'm an Ayurvedic consultant, yoga teacher, writer and priestess; hence my focus on these trips is usually on the ancient rituals and customs of the indigenous tribes, as well as of the present population of the countries I visit. I spend much time connecting with sacred sites and energies of the land.
Travel Blog Posts
Welcome to Samaya's abode
Living in Australia has been a mixed bag for me so far. Without a doubt, it’s a beautiful country: the nature is green and lush, there are forests, plants, herbs, exotic wildlife, and of course, the wild ocean. But somehow I have not been able to connect with the land on a deeper level, at least not here in Queensland. When I was living in New Mexico last year, I felt instantly part of its rugged terrain and big skies. In the desert, something ancient was singing to me, and my heart flew open wide every time I went walking in the Sandia Mountains and in the woods of Tijeras. Everything felt magical and novel. Here, my main sentiment has been one of mundanity, visually appreciating the land’s beauty, but not feeling very much about it ... read more
Bondi Beach, Sydney
I’ve been in Australia for just over four months now. Time has flown by since I last updated this blog, and it has taken me some time to get used to being in a different hemisphere. After disembarking cargo ship MV Bahia on 27thAugust, I spent a week in glorious Sydney, where I wandered around in the Botanical Gardens and in vintage shops, sang kirtan at Govinda’s, and saw ‘La Boheme’ at the famous Opera House. Sydney is beautiful and vibrant, and was a nice place to get used to being in civilization again after a month at sea. Finally, on 2nd September, I hopped on a train to Brisbane, Queensland, to meet Sameer, my reason for coming to Australia (see previous blog for background). After a loooong journey along Australia’s coastline, I arrived at Brisbane ... read more
At Savannah port
It may come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog, but I just love unusual, slow forms of travel. I am particularly enamoured with trains and cargo ships. There is just nothing like travelling across the vast oceans or landscapes of the world in slow motion, with plenty of time to reflect, absorb and prepare for the next destination to come. Hence, in line with most of my trips over the past four years, I have booked myself onto a cargo ship again – this time travelling all the way from America to Australia. It’s an epic trip that’s going to take thirty days via Colombia, Panama and New Zealand. A whole month at sea – awesome! But sometimes, making travel arrangements for these kinds of trips can be a little... arduous. In the ... read more
September 9th 2011
In New Mexico
Recently, I remembered a scene from when I was around 28 years old. I was sitting on a bench in a graveyard in a little village in Suffolk, England. I was reading a book. I believe it was ‘Zorba the Greek’, and it talked about the author of the book who had travelled widely and for many years around the world, often by ship. I recall being overwhelmed with emotion and longing as I read about this person’s life. Sitting there in this picturesque, desolate burial ground, I thought: will I ever be able to do this? Ever since I could remember, I’d wanted to travel the world like this, and yet I had no idea if and how I could ever make it happen. I had work commitments, property, a boyfriend, pets. My longing remained ... read more
October 4th 2010
The Green Man
Sometimes, the unexpected things in life turn out to be the best ones, especially when travelling. Chicago is a prime example of that philosophy. It is mid-September, and I have surrendered to Great God Amtrak by submitting to going north to Chicago before I can go back south to Albuquerque. That however doesn’t mean that I’m particularly excited about my next stop. I have no expectations whatsoever about Chicago - just another big American city, right? - nor do I know anyone there. Two nights max, and I’ll be out of here again. But then, one evening, while still in Washington D.C., somebody pops into my head during my evening meditation. Mary-Lisa Gauldin. Of course! Doesn’t she live in Chicago?! Mary-Lisa, like me, is a Priestess of Avalon. We started our Priestess training together exactly ten ... read more
October 1st 2010
These words say it all
Now that I am in Washington D.C., I am enjoying it. It’s a beautiful city with grand architecture, wide streets, parks and lots of free museums. Here, I am staying in a B&B just off the National Cathedral. Actually, it’s not really a B&B but a converted porch in a private house. While researching where I’d like to stay in D.C., I came across this marvellous website: It’s a website through which you can find people who hire out rooms in their houses and apartments, meaning that you stay with locals of the city, rather than in an anonymous hotel. Airbnb goes under the slogan ‘Travel like a human’ and this just about sums it up for me. And you can find some fascinating people on this site: I am intent on staying with an Arabic ... read more
Charleston's famous Amtrak Train Station
In America, many people I meet can’t understand as to why anybody would take the train. It takes longer, can be more expensive, and the service, is, quite frankly, pretty limited. Rail travel is seen as something of an oddity, something either eccentrics or old people do. Though I must be one of the world’s biggest train loyalists, I begin to understand why when I plan my train trip across the USA towards New Mexico. I want to travel from Charleston in South Carolina to New Orleans (also on the South Coast), and then westwards from New Orleans across to El Paso in Texas. Simple enough. But is it possible? No. Instead, Amtrak (the US train company) wants to send me all the way up to Washington D.C., then across to Chicago, and from there on ... read more
Welcome to America....
So now, after gliding over the ocean for two weeks, I am in the United States of America. It’s a strange, almost surreal feeling. And I have to admit that part of me doesn’t even want to be here. I am half-tempted to stay on board of MSC Ilona and go all the way to the Bahamas and Mexico with my lovely Filipino crew. If it wasn’t for my study place in New Mexico, the reason I came here for in the first place... When I climb down the wobbly gangway at Charleston harbour, it is extremely hot and humid. Again my hands get messy with black machine oil. A feeling of nostalgia comes over me when I remember scrambling up the same gangway a mere two weeks ago. Just opposite our ship is the tiny ... read more
September 13th 2010
With Emma in Felixstowe
I soon find that one thing you really need to have at sea is patience. When we arrive in England one day after leaving Bremerhaven, our ship has to hover outside Felixstowe for twenty-four hours, as the harbour is full. So we stop the engine, drop the anchor and spend a leisurely day on board, gazing longingly towards the shore. I feel a bit like I am on Alcatraz, captive on a strange, colossal rock in the ocean. Everybody breathes a sigh of relief when we finally lift the anchor (a gigantic device connected to the longest, thickest metal chain I have ever seen) again and reach the harbour. Today is a Bank Holiday in England. This means that the harbour is short-staffed and the loading works will take twice as long as planned. Thus, we ... read more
Our vessel, the mighty MSC Ilona
‘You are going to America on a cargo ship? How long is that going to take? Wouldn’t it have been easier to fly?’ This is the general reaction from my friends when I tell them that I will cross the Atlantic Ocean by container ship. Easier perhaps, definitely cheaper, but also a lot more boring. I am going to study in New Mexico for a year, and continuing the theme from my epic overland journey to Pakistan and India in 2007, I want to get there without flying, too. So I dip my toe into the strange and wondrous world of freight ship travel. I heard about this unconventional way of travelling a couple of years ago in India, and have wanted to try it out since. I find that cargo ships are an increasingly popular ... read more
