Home is all about the funny little things that please you and make you who you are.
To travel is to live and experience a different culture from your own. For that we need to drop our current way of life and our expectations and, wherever we travel to, it shouldn’t be treated like a visit to a theme park; unless of course, it is a theme park. I never expect a decent toilet in France, or to find vegetables on my plate in Germany. In Asia, I never expect fixed prices. In England, I never expect to complete a journey without road-works or traffic jams. In Japan, I never expect to understand signs. There can be so many negatives associated with travel, but it’s best not to see them as negatives. They can amuse and amaze us, and also make us appreciate what we have back at home. If internet access is a major requirement while travelling, get a mi-fi and purchase a local sim in each country, but never expect good coverage in every corner of the globe. Don’t forget that, as the saying goes, the joy of travel is not the destination, it is the journey itself.
There is no need to boast about travel and there is no need for a competition with friends to tick off countries. Travel is a personal thing to be enjoyed by you and you alone. Friends will not necessarily be impressed and why try and make them jealous. One upmanship is a vulgar version of vanity.
A good reason we travel is to make discoveries, to see things we haven’t seen, and find out things we didn’t know; and there’s a lot we don’t know. We don’t have to be Marco Polo, or Livingstone, or Scott; small enlightenments and little gems can be enough to make a trip special or remarkable. There is a quote I like: ‘Life happens when you’re doing something else’ and this is very true of travelling. Travel fills your life with discoveries both expected and unexpected. A change of itinerary, a delay, or even a last minute instinctive following your nose can often lead to the most serendipitous experiences. When we travel what many of us crave is a bit of beauty and a bit of authenticity; it’s nice to learn something about the history and the culture we are visiting, thrown in with seeing the wonder, and having a unique experience. Sometimes even some different or quirky accommodation will inspire us. But it doesn’t need to be a fancy hotel; a campervan is more than homely, although a chocolate on the pillow at the end of the day is always very nice….
Travelling in a campervan always seems to be a muddle of apprehension and happiness. Will we get there? Will the next campsite that we’ve picked be okay? Will there be interesting strangers to chat with? Where will we find a supermarket and will it sell marmalade? Then Eileen just keeps plodding along, the campsite bathrooms are good, we make new friends with like-minded folk and “oo, look, the supermarket sells Roses thick-cut marmalade and Marmite too”!!
The problem with household chores is that we have to do them, over and over again, and nobody loves repetition, especially when it is, as correctly named, a chore. So I see this as proof that in travelling in our campervan, we are not ‘on holiday’; the chores still have to be done. There’s still the washing, the cleaning inside and out, meals to cook and washing-up to be done. So I’ve decided to change my view on chores, because there’s no room for domestic staff in our campervan. I’ll think of any washing machines I use as white slaves, saving me all the wet, arm aching work; I can even eat a mango, or have a lie down while it is doing its job. I’ll think of my dusting, sweeping and wiping as fun, arm-waving exercises. Constantly getting things out and stowing them away, can be my bending and stretching exercises. I’ll appreciate little scrubby sponges, colourful pegs and the dustpan as my helpful chore elves. And yes, I will still match my pegs when hanging the washing on the line, because I’ll think of it as art and it gives me joy……
And aside from the chores and the ‘touristing’, the socialising and the sights, a major part of my travels in Eileen has been my notebooks. A blank page feels like a blank canvas on which I always feel the need to write, or scribble. I gaze on it and it gazes back asking “Where is your pen?” It stirs in me a need to find that stream of consciousness that wants to be placed on that page. When I flick back through all my old, bursting notebooks, it reignites memories, mostly wonderful memories and reminds me of how I felt on those days. Even with everything tidied, sorted and recorded on the computer, I feel different emotions when looking at those paper pages; all filled with pencil, or pen in blue, red and black, with drawings and scribbles and ideas. Some days I want to stop my hand and just read, or sew, but there is always something that draws me back to a page in my latest notebook.
And so we made it, in another big sweep around Europe, though just three countries this year, Spain, Andorra and France. As for next year, we will make it our final year travelling in Eileen, though Rodney the Distracted hasn’t yet made a decision on where. But I have made the difficult decision not to write as we travel next year; this will be my last blog. I shall miss it dreadfully, but typing up all my scribbles, downloading, preparing all the photos and publishing it all on our website takes up so much time each day. It always makes me feel like I’m rushing any creative thoughts and it would be nice to take more time to relax, read more and spend more time just …… looking. So we’ll fill these pages with purely photos next year.
And finally I have to say that all my writing is dedicated to Rodney. Thank you for being the perfect, alright, near perfect, travelling companion, none of this would have been possible without you. Thank you for being as patient as possible when I was busy sorting the photos, or tapping away on the computer. Thank you for giving me everything out there that has inspired my writing. I thank you from the bottom and the top of my heart.
