I've often toyed with writing my reality over, or as well as blogging the photographs I take along the way.
I travel on a wing and a prayer and sometimes the universe is laughing at me and the wings ... well they do their best.
Tonight in Rome it was all about whether I had enough money to
- pay the hotel - check
- pay the train to the airport in the morning - check
- get dinner tonight - probably not
- catch the bus home from brussels airport - probably not (how was I going to tell Gert that last one?)
But ... this isn't cause for panic. I'm lucky, apparently I internalise everything which allows me to carry on and work through the tricky situations I often find myself in.
It's silly things like having enough to pay my VAT every 3 months or having Oxfam take their automatic donation out of my bank account which sometimes sends me into a financial speed wobble. It's committing to adventures or just life in general before I have the money or ... alternatively, just after I've completely run out of money. This happens often too.
But life has a way of working out and I've just discovered I can afford dinner tonight and that my long-suffering husband is able to bail me out on the hotel bill. I could have done it but only just and I am hungry tonight.
I'm a terrible creature who is compelled to wander ... from the time I could first climb the wooden gate at home. Everyone knew me back then and would take me home to my mum or phone her. These days it's more difficult to find someone who knows me and is happy to escort me all the way home.
Sadly, I just opened my email here ... but even that was a saga of Di proportions. It took some time to realise that I needed to go downstairs for a cable because that free wifi isn't in every room - some rooms need an internet cable ... and yes, it just happened that they did have a travel adapter for my American laptop because I replaced the one I lost in Napoli with the wrong type for the plug here in Rome.
I'm laughing at myself as I write this but as I was saying, the sad thing I discovered as I opened my email now was a request for a photography session in Naples. If only...
So don't imagine me rolling in cash when I travel, I'm usually about 3cms from sleeping in the gutter and eating from rubbish bins but for kindness of friends who give me couches and apartments and houses to rest in.
There, how's that for a truth.
Ciao from this bemused woman who has arrived in Roma!
13 comments:
It takes a special spirit to travel as you do! I wish I had some of it. I'd like to think I'm spontaneous, but if I wasn't assured I could get dinner tonight and have a decent bed to sleep in, I'd be a nervous wreck. (And thus my life is much less exciting.) I say, Go, Di--we need such free and daring spirits among us!
you are so much braver and adventurous than the vast majority of folk out there.
Go for it. Actually though, do you carry some sort of security blanket around with you? or is your constant companion an angel looking over your shoulder?
Ah, those were the days.
I don't know, RD. A wandering soul but it's not like I'm at ease all the time but thank you for your very kind words. Actually I'm reading an interesting book by Pico Iyer, I must post some his quotes about travelling.
Hi Friko, I peeked in at your site, saw something about fish and chips and will go back soon. Sigh, I miss fish and chips so much - a kiwi treat that I just don't find over in Belgium
You travelled too I see? It's wonderful, isn't it. You know, it might not be that I'm brave, it might just be that I haven't grown up properly :)
I'm sure my mum helps though. She didn't live to see me travel but I'm sure she comes wandering with me now.
I agree with the others - you have a wonderful spirit about you and even if its not always perfect, you are still on a true adventure and I admire you for that.
And I know what you mean about fush n chups! I have been enjoying the feijoa season back in kiwi land - you can't get those the same anywhere either!
Lovely post, Di. It's all this that makes your blog such a wonderful place to visit. It's easy to travel if you have lots of money but your way gives a depth to your photography and writing. Thank you for your honesty.
Sometimes the best adventures are found on a wing and a prayer. Solutions usually present themselves, one way or another. Safe travels. xoxox
Go well Di, you are very brave. (Even if you deny it.)
Di - If I had known you were THAT strapped I would have tucked some euro in your bag!! Or given back the tour $$ (sorry!)
I can't believe you got a photo session AFTER you were gone. I hope your trip to Rome went well, and you are welcome anytime. I enjoyed your visit!!
We have just arrived in Paris... bon voyage!
I'll let you do the wandering, I think I will stay home with my cat.
I'm not letting my Man read this. It would give him nightmares. Life without a plan, a schedule, and carefully calculated and allocated resources sends him into seizures. I nearly died when we were camping and he said, "We really should have set a time for breakfast." The idea that we'd just all have breakfast when we woke up and felt like it was strange to him, even if we're supposed to be relaxing in nature.
Hey there, Ms parlez-vous-kiwi, thank you for your kind words and the understanding that there are some things that we just have to miss out here.
And thank you, as always Carolien.
And Tara, exactly. I had the safest of travels with the worst case scenarios becoming fictional scenarios once I hit Roma.
xo
Maybe you should travel with me one day, Kay. I'm brave but in a fairly kooky way ... it's probably more along the lines of 'feel the fear and do it anyway' :)
Tonya, I was fine and we Commonwealthers (your email made me laugh) do prefer to go for the quiet panic. I enjoyed my visit too, thank you for having me.
Enjoy Paris, Donna! I'm sure you will.
I can see why you would choose to stay home with your cat, Gary. I had two cats and two dogs that kept me home in NZ for years. I miss all of that here in this life.
I'll pretend to be normal around your man, Ms V. I don't think I frightened him too much during your sojourn in Belgie?
You know Di, you put the word adventure back into travelling.
As a child I visited most of the places you're currently covering, but all I've got to show for it are mostly beach pictures.
When you recently visited Turkey I was truly impressed by all the beauty you captured, as my 2008 trip to Turkey was the "5*, all included" type: lots of beaches (once again) and some quick historic bus tours, just in case my partner and I had forgotten where we were.
Your approach seems more rewarding, although I doubt I'll ever find a travel partner with a similar mindset ;-)
In the mean time: keep on travelling, we all adore your work.
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