Writing about the Camino One of the first times I wrote about my travels was on the Camino. I sent a couple of posts to lots of friends about my journey, but unfortunately I didn't send a copy to myself, so I've no record of it. However, it was the most important and life changing journey I've ever made. Walking in nature for several hours a day (I walked alone in mindfulness meditation) was deeply illuminating and transformative. Then, in the evenings in the refuges, there were fine connections with other pilgrims. You guys will love it!
MORE THAN AN ADVENTURE I think travelling is the best option to survive in this complex world. It is harder and harder for us in Argentina. But I try. I make extremely hard efforts to save money and buy dollars but I try whenever I can. For me there is nothink like travelling because it helps me live.
Travel to live I can't imagine what life would be like without travel. Though I would doubtless find some other path to satiate the curiosity. I admire your commitment to save for travel. Fortunately I find myself in pretty easy streets at present, but for most of my adult life I was there, working and living solely for travel; saving every penny to spend on the road. If anything it makes you appreciate the journey that much more, after all, you've earned it!
Balance on the Continuum Seems we're all at different places on the continuum between comfort and living on the edge--people are amazed at my traveling; I'm amazed at their working full time and raising a family. And our place on the continuum changes--what surprises might induced unpleasant uncertainty at one time could well bring on that high of excited curiosity at another time. So fun to find and play with that balance. When I walked the Camino ten years ago, my journey was full of adventure, but my inner journey was even richer. I imagine you all will be able to do it ten years from now. Buen camino!
Finding the right balance. It is very easy for me to leave my comfort zone here in China. And to be honest that is what I like most about living here. Particularly the first few days returning 'home' to China after an extended trip, I keep thinking to myself I'm on a perpetual cultural vacation. But usually with all the practicals that need to be sorted, it more closely resembles the Amazing Race! Would love to have read a blog or two on your Camino adventure.
I agree with you completely... as I was reading your description of "hyggelig" I immediately thought how Shane ("Travel Camel") felt next to the fire place with the wind and rain beating at the windows at the Lough Eske Castle in his most recent blog.
As for The Way, that's been on my list also, but after breaking my ankle this year I didn't think I would be up for it physically...and found that there are five Pilgrims Ways of varying lengths; including the much sorter original way. So it's still on my list, although I would want to do the 800 km way from France, and hope that it remains on your wife's list, too.
Still on the list. I'm sure many a person has attempted The Way with a handicap or two. Would make it even more of an achievement in that you'll be venturing even further from your comfort zone. I'm excited sitting here pondering YOUR attempt. Do it!
It would be very interesting to read a follow-up blog, say 5 years down the line, if you were to move to France in a year or two. Maybe written in French? :)
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE Pull yourself together man...remember who you are...you're English...stiff upper lip and all that. But you're also the Nomad...entitled to wander where you please...in any language...in short just...entitled. Fortunately you have Jennifer to look after you...so hop in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride.
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE Entitled is right. Don’t even need a passport to wander these lands. The realization of which makes it difficult to retain a stiff upper lip. All of this could have been mine years ago, if only I’d known. But don’t fret; I steel myself with the realization we’ll be back round these parts in a few short weeks. Until then, my passenger seat is in recline, seat up on the dash…enjoying the ride. (Get a bit nervous when parking though!)
Through tourists' eyes... How great that you took the time to see (and share) the amazing sites of your London, not as landmarks that you take for granted, but places filled with beauty, wonder, and history on their own (something locals sometimes forget to do). I loved your photos combining several icons as well as the Harry Potter shots. Enjoy your tourists' eyes and great wine in lovely Spain and the south of France! Salud!
Through tourists' eyes... Yes, the next months of this trip will allow me to run effortlessly on tourist auto-pilot. A feast for all the senses. Bliss!
Home is where you are For us, home is where we are living. I always twitch a bit when I go back to where I grew up and my sister says, I'm glad you're coming home. I have not felt that was my home for more than 30 years. But, it is an interesting process to go back when you've been gone a long time. You have some of the local knowledge (as many things changed over time, although subtle) but you really do feel like the outsider looking with new eyes. Laughing at your time in France. A lovely country. As you say, too bad you didn't go to Saint-Emilion sooner.
Home is where you are In a year or two we will cast our eyes across the globe looking for a new home. I could see us living in France as perpetual outsiders. Could make up for lost time! Never say never;-)
just happy you made it out of there! Wow really amazing read, although I'm sure the experience is not at all pleasant. And based on the comments this is a two part blog entry, Ill reserve the next one for tomorrow.
Sad that I myself don't feel safe and secure traveling in my own country specially with my Japanese wife and kids. We are usually confined in either Boracay or Makati. There is always constant fear that something might go wrong. I couldn't even let my kids out of my sight, not even for a second, around the mall for constant fear of becoming a victim of those quick easy money kidnap scheme happening in the metro. And it always amazes me why people in the service business and government seemed to make things harder for the people they should actually be serving. Maybe living in Japan has spoiled me too much, wherein service people making extra accommodation is the most natural thing to do, even if the mistake is committed by the client. And you guys have kids, just so cold what they did and that guy form the airline, deeply ashamed and saddened by my countrymen. Really made me angry but happy at the same time that people like you can just let things like this pass, and appreciate the other beautiful things the country and some of its people has to offer.
India Enjoyed reading your blog, content and style. Keep on travelling and writing. Am going to India myself end of October, so trying to soak up as much as I can on this in many ways incongruous country.
this is one of the reasons why we Filipinos should be ashamed... anyhow, tourist always have to be extra careful... there\'s always one or many who do all these foolish things.
Re: ‘Bout time someone mined the most interesting line… The ultimate conundrum isn't it, for by consuming food one destroys what they yearn to possess. So how do we come to know a meal? In the traditional hierarchy of senses, sight is the virtuous agent of the mind, whereas taste dwells in the base and lowly body. Is it enough to encounter it once, or must you be able to discriminate against it - to draw distinctions and nuances, to compare and contrast, to fit the meal somewhere into the eaters categorical repertoire? If it were strictly about the image, we would care less about how it is constructed and more about the final product, which is hardly the case. We watch cooking shows for things we'll never cook and value a meal prepared in front of us more than one that simply appears. At the most basic level a photograph stands in for the obvious - "I ate this." But I view it as a visual aid to support one's acquisition of culinary expertise, however-so perceived. Afterall, an expert must cite sources; photos create his experiential bibliography.
The Man Who Ate Everything I kept waiting for someone to comment on what is, arguably, the more interesting nugget of this post but alas! "People performing the food that they eat." If a meal is served in the woods and no one has a camera to document it, was it really eaten? Sorry 'bout your luck, but without photographs your dubious claim to have eaten everything in the world will remain unsubstantiated. Do you expect us to take your word?? This is no longer the 20th century. No cultural capital for you, I'm afraid. Oh, yes and the theft - hm, terrible shame all around.
‘Bout time someone mined the most interesting line… Not to say the torture tips won’t come in handy. ‘Tis true I have eaten many a nameless everything down through the years. Alas, even if I had taken photographs of every morsel, there is no evidence that I had actually eaten. Or indeed, what it tasted like to me, least not how the viewer would interpret it themselves. So then, is the image merely evidence to substantiate a gloat, or is it a form of porn providing instant titillation in a world where images increasingly supplant the written word?
taracloud
Tara Cloud
Writing about the Camino
One of the first times I wrote about my travels was on the Camino. I sent a couple of posts to lots of friends about my journey, but unfortunately I didn't send a copy to myself, so I've no record of it. However, it was the most important and life changing journey I've ever made. Walking in nature for several hours a day (I walked alone in mindfulness meditation) was deeply illuminating and transformative. Then, in the evenings in the refuges, there were fine connections with other pilgrims. You guys will love it!