http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Travelling-Priestess/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Travelling Priestess en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 14:08:56 +0000 Wed, 22 May 2013 14:08:56 +0000 I must have been a nomad in one of my past lives. Over the last five years I have moved locations and countries more than other people change socks and I rarely grow tired of it. Its like in the film Chocolat when Juliette Binoche breaks up her tents every time the winds start blowing again. After a few months in one place I become restless and every time I get excited about what http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Indian/Red-Sea/blog-727380.html And so the adventure that is my life continues to unfold. After exactly nine months in Australia I find myself once again on a cargo ship this time heading back to Europe. Its high time. I havent been home for two years and I miss my friends and family dearly. This ocean stretch completes my circumnavigation of the world by container ship a form of travel I have deeply fallen in love wit http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Indian/blog-726379.html Living in Australia has been a mixed bag for me so far. Without a doubt its 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 rugge http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-683308.html Ive 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 Govindas and saw La Boheme at t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Toowoomba/blog-680355.html 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 p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-654632.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-648342.html 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 midSeptember 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 doesnt mean that Im particularly excited about my next stop. I have no expectations what http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-536358.html Now that I am in Washington D.C. I am enjoying it. Its a beautiful city with grand architecture wide streets parks and lots of free museums. Here I am staying in a BB just off the National Cathedral. Actually its not really a BB but a converted porch in a private house. While researching where Id like to stay in D.C. I came across this marvellous website Its a website through http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington-D-C-/blog-535719.html In America many people I meet cant 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 worlds biggest train loyalists I begin to understand why when I plan my train trip across the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Charleston/blog-533837.html So now after gliding over the ocean for two weeks I am in the United States of America. Its a strange almost surreal feeling. And I have to admit that part of me doesnt even want to be here. I am halftempted to stay on board of MSC Ilona and go all the way to the Bahamas and Mexico with my lovely Filipino crew. If it wasnt for my study place in New Mexico the reason I came here for http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Charleston/blog-533025.html 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 twentyfour 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 ro http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Atlantic/North-Atlantic/blog-531524.html You are going to America on a cargo ship How long is that going to take Wouldnt 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 journ http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Atlantic/North-Atlantic/blog-530596.html The first time I became aware of Montsegur Castle and the Cathars was about fifteen years ago. A friend of mine the Austrian writer Gerhard Hallstadt published a booklet about his pilgrimage to Montsegur the most significant of the Cathar castles in Southern France. In the booklet Gerhard described how he walked and hitchhiked to Montsegur over several days. Once he reached his destination he http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/blog-516255.html When I set out travelling almost three years ago my friend Rob a globetrotter himself warned me You might find it difficult to settle again after being on the move for so long. He was right. My life has changed drastically since I gave up everything to follow my dream of travelling the world. Initially it was only supposed to be an overland journey from England to Pakistan after which I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/Carcassonne/blog-515496.html After the asceticism and equanimity of the Vipassana experience I make my way to Glastonbury to celebrate one of the most important festivals in the Celtic calendar Beltane. Beltane is the festival of love of fertility of sexuality and the sacred marriage it is a time when the God and Goddess meet in sacred union and dance the wild sensual dance of creation. Flowers and trees are blossoming http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-397266.html Why exactly did I choose to come here I ask myself as the solemn sounds of a gong wake me from slumber at 4 am. I crawl out of bed have a quick wash and shuffle to the meditation hall in the dark rain dripping down my face. I find my place in the dimlylit hall and settle down for a twohour meditation session before breakfast. Today is my first day at a Vipassana meditation centre in He http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Herefordshire/Hereford/blog-394673.html The Brecon Beacons mountains located in southeast Wales are not exactly known to be a hotbed of shamanism at least not in this day and age. Or are they Primarily the beautiful and wild Brecon Beacons National Park is a revered hiker's paradise with an abundant range of outdoors activities. Yet if you dig a little deeper you will find that the area has a long history with evidence of Neolithi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Powys/Brecon/blog-345973.html Krishna has never been a God I could easily relate to. Out of all the Indian Gods and Goddesses he was the one I never paid much attention to. Partially this had to do with overexposure through the Krishna movement in the UK. Taking it down to the most basic and biased level I always thought that the Hare Krishna movement and in particular the 'Hare Krishna' chant you'd hear on a Sunday in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-343627.html Its Samhain morning. Tonight is the most important night in the Pagan calendar when the veils between the worlds are extraordinarily thin. The Celts celebrated All Hallowtide known as Halloween in the modern world as the Feast of the Dead when the dead revisited the mortal world. The festival marks the end of summer and the start of the winter months and the Celtic New Year tr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-342011.html After a week of celebration dance and catharsis in Dorset I am ready for a somewhat more serene time and make my way across the picturesque Devon countryside to the market town of Totnes. Totnes so I am told is something of a spiritual hotbed not unlike Glastonbury and I look forward to exploring the place. My friend Khanga collects me at the train station. I have not actually seen Khanga fo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Devon/Totnes/blog-341631.html