The Final Chapter

Today is the next day of the rest of your life

 

And so it happened.  We stepped out of Eileen The Campervan for the very last time.  It was one of those important moments in life.  One of those moments when you wonder if you have made the right decision, but tell yourself “of course we have”.  She has been the pivot on how we have lived our lives and the central character of our story for so long, but it is time to do some different types of travelling and change our lives for a while.

 

Hopefully along the way, we have inspired you to visit some of the amazing places we have enjoyed.  There have been so very many of them and we never imagined we would find so many fabulous spots in Europe, and the UK.  Memories can pop into your head very randomly, it’s not a chronological thing, they’re never arranged neatly in any order. Pictures sometimes pop into your head weeks, months, years, later and good memories can bring a smile to your face. And that’s what is good about slow travel. I don’t necessarily remember how many miles we travelled, how many places we camped at, it’s more the odd moments, like the old man with deep brown eyes and skin like a brown leather sofa, who wanted me to try all of his parmesan cheeses in a market in Italy, or a fabulous bathroom lined with cabinets full of camping toys in Austria, or the new friends we made in a rainy campsite on the north coast of Spain. It’s the giggly moments, the naughty moments, the amazing moments; it’s as if your memories are postcards being sent to you by your brain. It’s a happy side-effect of slow travel.

 

A two-week holiday…..fly in to somewhere, stay in one hotel and laze on a beach….. can be relaxing, but may not hold much in the way of mixed memories. Or a two-week dash around, trying to squeeze in every city in Spain in 12 days is just not the same, it can all become a blur with too much time spent in airports, taxis, buses, aeroplanes, hotel check-ins and check-outs. It can be fun, but is never relaxing. If your passing through in a rush, there can’t be much time for your memories to be archived ‘up there’. With slow travel, you create your own rhythm, mixing relaxed days with busy days and having time each day to take everything in, digest and retain those memories. So, when we’re back home, pegging out the washing or sitting on a bus, we can pull out a memory of somewhere on our travels and put a smile on our dial. Slow travel allows us to feast on the small details that we would otherwise have rushed past and missed. It makes us more of a ‘flâneur’; we stroll, we saunter, we observe, even the briefest of experiences will stay in our minds.   It’s hard to remember everywhere we have been, so this record of our journeying will hopefully keep the memories alive for us. As for choosing a favourite place……well that’s way too hard; we have too many favourites.

 

 

 

The items we have gathered on our travels and tenderly carried back to Australia, wrapped up in socks and sarongs, will all have a story to tell and remind us of our travels in Eileen.  They may be just shells and pebbles picked up on a seashore in Portugal, or the soft leather tote bag purchased in Florence.  There’s a rough painted heart I bought for Rodney that has travelled with us every year since we visited the Isle De Ré on the west coast of France. We’ve bought beautiful platters in Spain, Portugal and Italy, a lovely French tablecloth and a ceramic snail-like sculpture bought in Pont Aven.  A felt poppy I made while travelling through the Somme and a white felt edelweiss flower that I made in Austria, strangely meaning as much to me as the cartoon-like pottery flamenco dancer we bought in a tiny village in Spain.  All these random treasures are mementoes of our life and the journeys we have made around Europe.  Each of them was stumbled upon and fallen in love with, and each one has a story to tell.  Sitting at home in Sydney we can look at these souvenirs and remember where we were and stir up those happy recollections.   Trinkets can be empty, but possessions with memories are never shallow.  When I look at the beautiful glass bowl that Rodney secretly bought in Venice and managed to get safely back to Sydney, without me knowing, will always remind me of the wonderful days we had there in 2013.  I imagined that maybe one day in the future, we might live in Venice for three months and when I look at that bowl, I wonder if maybe we will. But that’s another story…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So for now our journey is over and handing Eileen over filled me with an overwhelming sadness.  It had been a hard decision to leave her and we hope that her new owners will love and enjoy her as much as we have.  She has been our home-away-from home for these past five summers in Europe and now our lives together have come to an end. Farewell, adiós, despedida, agur, au revoir, arrivederci and auf wiedersehen to our very much-loved Eileen.