{"id":4023,"date":"2015-09-20T17:42:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-20T16:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=4023"},"modified":"2026-05-14T05:52:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:52:52","slug":"the-last-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2015\/09\/20\/the-last-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Home is all about the funny little things that please you and make you who you are.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Thatched
Thatched hares dancing on a thatched roof in Chishill, Essex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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To travel is to live and experience a different culture from your own.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I never expect a decent toilet in France, or to find vegetables on my plate in Germany.\u00a0 In Asia, I never expect fixed prices.\u00a0 In England, I never expect to complete a journey without road-works or traffic jams.\u00a0 In Japan, I never expect to understand signs.\u00a0 There can be so many negatives associated with travel, but it’s best not to see them as negatives.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

There is no need to boast about travel and there is no need for a competition with friends to tick off countries.\u00a0 Travel is a personal thing to be enjoyed by you and you alone.\u00a0 Friends will not necessarily be impressed and why try and make them jealous.\u00a0 One upmanship is a vulgar version of vanity.<\/p>\n

A good\u00a0reason we travel is to make discoveries, to see things we haven\u2019t seen, and find out things we didn\u2019t know; and there\u2019s a lot we don\u2019t know.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to be Marco Polo, or Livingstone, or Scott; small enlightenments and little gems can be enough to make a trip special or remarkable. \u00a0There is a quote I like: \u2018Life happens when you\u2019re doing something else\u2019 and this is very true of travelling. \u00a0Travel fills your life with discoveries both expected and unexpected.\u00a0 A change of itinerary, a delay, or even a last minute instinctive following your nose can often lead to the most serendipitous experiences. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we travel what many of us crave is a bit of beauty and a bit of authenticity; it\u2019s 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.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t 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\u2026.<\/p>\n

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\"Advertising
Advertising in a big way in Collioure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Travelling in a campervan always seems to be a muddle of apprehension and happiness.\u00a0 Will we get there?\u00a0 Will the next campsite that we\u2019ve picked be okay? Will there be interesting strangers to chat with?\u00a0 Where will we find a supermarket and will it sell marmalade? \u00a0Then Eileen just keeps plodding along, the campsite bathrooms are good, we make new friends with like-minded folk\u00a0and \u201coo, look, the supermarket sells Roses thick-cut marmalade and Marmite too\u201d!!<\/p>\n

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\"Valencian
Valencian houses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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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.\u00a0 So I see this as proof that in travelling in our campervan, we are not \u2018on holiday\u2019; the chores still have to be done.\u00a0 There\u2019s still the washing, the cleaning inside and out, meals to cook and washing-up to be done.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve decided to change my view on chores, because there\u2019s no room for domestic staff in our campervan.\u00a0 I\u2019ll 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.\u00a0 I\u2019ll 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.\u00a0 I\u2019ll appreciate little scrubby sponges, colourful pegs and the dustpan as my helpful chore elves.\u00a0 And yes, I will still match my pegs when hanging the washing on the line, because I\u2019ll think of it as art and it gives me joy\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"A
A nice cup of tea at Lords Cricket Ground<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Father
Father Time removing the bails from a wicket at Lords Cricket Ground<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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And\u00a0aside from the chores and the \u2018touristing\u2019, the socialising and the sights, a major part of my travels in Eileen has been my notebooks.\u00a0 A blank page feels like a blank canvas on which I always feel the need to write, or scribble. \u00a0I gaze on it and it gazes back asking \u201cWhere is your pen?\u201d \u00a0It stirs in me a need to find that stream of consciousness that wants to be placed on that page.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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\"Street
Street art in Tarragona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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And so we made it, in another big sweep around Europe, though just three countries this year, Spain, Andorra and France.\u00a0 As for next year, we will make it our final year travelling in Eileen, though Rodney the Distracted hasn\u2019t yet made a decision on where. \u00a0But I have made the difficult decision not to write as we travel next year; this will be my last blog.\u00a0 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. \u00a0It always makes me feel like I\u2019m rushing any creative thoughts and it would be nice to take more time to relax, read more and spend more time just \u2026\u2026 looking.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll fill these pages with purely photos next year.<\/p>\n

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\"Birds
Birds on balconies in Collioure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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And finally I have to say that all my writing is dedicated to Rodney. \u00a0Thank you for being the perfect, alright, near perfect, travelling companion, none of this would have been possible without you.\u00a0 Thank you for being as patient as possible when I was busy sorting the photos, or tapping away on the computer.\u00a0 Thank you for giving me everything out there that has inspired my writing.\u00a0 I thank you from the bottom and the top of my heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Coma
Rodney enjoying the mountains at Coma d\u2019Arcalis in Andorra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-on-the-road-in-great-britain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8267,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023\/revisions\/8267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}