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theretirementstory · 8 months

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Bonjour à tous, it is 16c out there and feeling fresh but for me that is much better than the heat that we have had. One good thing about the “chaleur” is that it can produce some stunning “orages” (thunderstorms), like the one Thursday into Friday it seemed to go on for such a long time, with the sky lighting up wonderfully and the thunderclaps not too frightening.

It seems to have been a long week, I was up early to go to hospital on Monday. The taxi picked me up at 7am 😳 and we had to pick up another person so our journey took us on a road I had never been on. We went through villages and lovely countryside before arriving in the village which has the local attraction “Nigloland” a theme park which some say is better than Disneyland. It’s smaller, has less crowds and still plenty to entertain all ages.

I had two transfusions, the first was fine but the second made me really cold and I began trembling uncontrollably, guess the nurses have seen it all as they were not concerned by it. Then it was sleep time as I was to wake up at 4am (yes really) get dressed, have breakfast and be in a taxi by 5am! I was being taken to Paris to have the next stage of my treatment, unfortunately due to lack of “chunky” veins in my arms I was sent back to the hospital in Troyes to have a catheter fitted in my groin and the following day was a repeat of the previous one except with the catheter they were able to extract my cells for freezing. I will add that the journey time to Paris is about 2.5 hours one way! The second day I was in an ambulance, on a stretcher, facing the wrong direction which really did mess with my head! However it’s over and done with now, just have to prepare myself for 4 weeks in hospital from 30 August 😳.

I always think of Shildon in Co. Durham as my “hometown”, known as “the cradle of the railways”, I am interested in the history of this mode of transport, architecture is another interest so as you can imagine seeing the stunning railway stations in Paris, of which the above photo of the Gare de Lyon, is one. On the return journey on Wednesday, safely ensconced on my stretcher, I saw two huge columns with figures on top. Unable to take a photo 😡 I was keen to find out what they were. They were the Throne Tollgate on the Place de I’lle de la Réunion. As we drove further away from the columns, I looked up and in the far distance, between the columns was the Eiffel Tower, how I wished I could have “snapped” that picture!

Monique celebrated her birthday on Friday but unlike last year I was unable to visit her. However, she is coming to see me on Tuesday to help me get ready for my month “away”. I have been washing, cleaning, cooking, relaxing and reading. Trying my best to keep everyone “up to date” on what is happening. I had planned to cut the grass when I got home from hospital but I hadn’t factored in the catheter and the oncologist said definitely no mowing. Monique had said she would do it but I asked my neighbour who is only too happy to help me out.

Anie, messaged yesterday, asking if I would like some vine peaches, having had some from her before I was pleased to accept, she arrived with a little posy of flowers from her garden, two small courgettes and the vine peaches. She is coming back this afternoon to have tea and cake.

So now to the favourite part of this blog for “The Daddy”, it’s my music choices, the first one this week was a Eurovision winner for Luxembourg in 1972. The title was “Apres toi” sung by Vicky Leandros. If I remember rightly after she was announced the winner she sang the song in English (don’t quote me on that) it was released as “Come What May”.

The second song is from way back in 1967, gosh can I remember that far back, yes I can and I have loved this song since I first heard it, it’s “The Letter” by The Box Tops.

It’s a Bank Holiday on Monday in the UK and my gorgeous grandchildren are spending the weekend with “The Daddy”.

“The Trainee Solicitor” has been visiting relatives, reading, relaxing as well as working at home. I hear he has two terracotta planters exactly the same as two I have here. They will look good in the garden, maybe they have the hydrangeas in already 🤔.

Now I really must pack my case, and prepare the house for my absence.

Jusqu’à la semaine prochaine.

#paris #troyes #barsuraube #photography #nigloland #railway stations #architecture #friends #60’s music #70’s music

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crosscanadakate · 2 years

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Living the Dream

I am going to drive across the country. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve even said I was going to do it before. It’s a dream my mind drifts to now and then. It’s felt like something I could probably never do. Definitely not now. Maybe in a few years. Maybe when I retire. Someday.

Things are different for me now, though. I started daydreaming a little more seriously, plotting out an itinerary, asking real questions like “How long would it take?” and “How much would it cost?”. I will write a fuller account of my planning process, but the end result was that it really seemed like the answer to the question “Can I do this?” was yes.

A few months ago COVID restrictions were starting to lift, and travel was becoming easier again. My husband Neil suggested that we could go on a road trip together to Montréal. As we began planning for that, a thought kept tickling my brain. We’re driving all the way to Montréal… Why not keep going? It made sense. It would work.

Now, the trip is planned. Accommodations are booked. It’s happening. Over the course of about a month I’ll be driving across Canada from Halifax to Victoria, camping and driving. Driving and camping. And I’m going to write all about it here.

The Test Drive

The trip I have planned is entirely predicated on the notion that I will be able to drive for 7-9 hours at a time. Logically, this seemed reasonable to me. Eight hours is simply a work day. I could stop and rest any time I need to. I like driving! However, I haven’t actually driven 8 hours in a day. And often when I tell people about my plans, they moan and groan when they imagine driving such distances. I knew that part of my preparation for this trip - part of my training - would need to include some “test drives”. Yesterday was my first test drive.

Above: A photo of the field at my parents place

My parents happen to live about a 3.5 hour drive from me, so yesterday I drove to their place for lunch and a short visit, and then came right back home. This test drive was a great success! It felt a little strange only visiting so briefly, but when I arrived back home I was very pleased to find that I never felt tired, and I never really longed to be done with driving. It was fun!

I peppered a few stops in throughout the trip - on the way to New Brunswick I stopped at the Masstown Market and picked up some Brother’s pepperoni for Mom and Dad, and I stopped for gas in Sackville just after crossing into NB. These are two pretty classic stopping spots for the trip to my parents place. Then, I stopped at Mom and Dad’s for about 2.5 hours, and I got to visit not only with Mom and Dad, but with my grandparents and my aunt!

There was a pretty intense thunder storm just rolling into Rexton where I was visiting my grandmother, but I saw that the storm was not moving in the direction I was headed. So, I hopped in the car in an attempt to get away before the heavy rain started. I didn’t quite succeed - I drove (slowly) in some pretty heavy rain for 30 to 40 minutes before escaping the storm system. After that, the sun was shining, and it felt like summer. I stopped again in Sackville for gas, and also made a stop at the Nova Scotia Welcome Center to check out the beautiful views from there.

Above: View from the Nova Scotia Welcome Centre, including the Acadian flag

I did feel a little anxiety at the start of this test drive in the morning. I think I was scared that I would find I couldn’t do it. That after all this careful planning I’d realize that I’d need to start from scratch and re-think my plans. But really, this is what the test drives were for. I took comfort in knowing that anytime I wanted to I could stop. I could turn around and come home. I could even stop and stay somewhere if I needed to. This was true yesterday, and it will be true during the trip. After some initial jitters, my day trip test drive yesterday was so pleasant! I’m looking forward to getting one or two more practice drives in before the trip begins.

Above: Leaving the Nova Scotia Welcome Centre

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lindoig7 · 4 years

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Thursday-Saturday, 20-22 August

Thursday

It was a wild old night, with the wind rocking the caravan and rattling our awning all night. It rained consistently almost all night and the rocking of the caravan and the pitter-pattering (and occasional hammering) on the roof made our warm comfy bed the very best and snuggliest place to be. Even when the awning crashed and banged and woke us up, the rain soon invoked the Sandman and we went straight back to sleep again.

We were awake a little earlier than usual, but enjoyed a lazy half-hour or so snoozing before our cuppa and puzzles in bed. Of course, by 7:30am, the Council workers were out in the rain, mowing the grass across the rampaging creek immediately behind the van. The whole area is virtually under water so how they avoided getting bogged is a complete mystery to us. The need to mow the area is just as mysterious because all they were doing was cutting the tops off the grass well away from the paths. It wasn’t as if the grass was encroaching on the paths or hiding any varmints that might leap out to devour any of the early morning walkers.

We did some supermarket shopping after breakfast, mainly for a few extra things we need to make some tomato relish and peach chilli chutney. We are getting low on our fancy home-made condiments so decided to make some more. But as usual, walking past the fridges at Woolworths is a risk. I spied a few likely-looking seafood bargains so now we need to find room for even more exotic delicacies!

We didn’t have much rain during the day, despite constant heavy black clouds but it was cold, bleak and windy all day and not at all nice outside. As a consequence, we spent almost all day inside doing odd jobs, more cryptic crosswords, kenkens, sudokus and other pleasurable time-fillers before we fired up the stove and got back into cooking even more wonderful concoctions.

We made a wonderful pasta dish based on the vongoles and prawns we picked up as bargains in the morning – an elaboration on something we have done a couple of times before – vongoles, prawns, bacon, oil, garlic, parsley, smoked paprika, white wine, lemon, salt and pepper – man, what a feast and we never managed to eat it all so I suspect a seafood omelette is in the immediate offing. Even as bloated as we were, the potential for a meal from the leftovers left our mouths watering!

Friday

There was plenty more heavy rain overnight, and wild, wild winds, but we woke to a weak wintry sun and enjoyed a great hot breakfast. (There seems to be a lot in my blog about food. Maybe because we eat extraordinarily well and just want to keep experimenting. We often (sometimes?) start with a recipe, but once the ‘start’ is dispensed with, the creative possibilities are endless and we try to make the most of any variations our imaginations evoke.)

We checked the weather over breakfast, expecting there to be rain everywhere as per the overnight forecast, but found that the Sale forecast looked surprisingly promising. We had planned another day of cooking, but in light of the forecast, we abandoned (deferred) that and set sail for Sale. Heather needed more yarn and some better scissors to we stopped at Spotlight on the way through Traralgon and stocked up there.

We wanted to explore the southern part of the Sale Common Wetland. We had walked around the middle section a week or two ago, but wanted to explore other parts of this very large wetland. Easier said than done! We parked near the Swing Bridge (that isn’t like any swing bridge I have seen before – more like an opening or lift bridge) and set off on the soggiest of soggy tracks. We noted that cars – obviously high clearance 4WDs – had used the track, but had bottomed out and some had become bogged. Multiple wheel-tracks ran in all directions in an attempt to avoid the worst of the deep ruts, but there is no way anything less than an amphibian would have gone through that day. The track was even a challenge for walkers. We had to pick our way through deep puddles and quagmires of mud, often abandoning the track for the waterlogged scrub to pass some of the worst sections. We walked half a kilometre or so but it was becoming increasingly difficult so we returned to the car and set off for other access routes. Sale was quite sunny, but still quite cool and very windy, but we returned to the walk we had done a week or two earlier and tried to get into the area from the north after our access from the south had been thwarted. We managed to get about 2.5 kilometres, partly along our previous route, before being confronted by water too deep to cross. We had already traversed a few shallow puddles, but it was just not feasible to go any further without our water-wings!

My diabetes(???) had given me the shakes before we got back to the car so we ate our lunch there and recovered my sugar balance. We still wanted to explore the northern area so went up to the much more populous and touristy lakes near the town. One of the lakes is Lake Guyatt and we had walked around that last time but the bigger Lake Guthridge was still to be conquered. We needed to find a toilet and the signs said there was one 5 minutes away in the Botanic Gardens or 15 minutes away where we had just come from. We opted for the Gardens – alas, NO TOILETS (of course!). Two kilometres later, we had almost circumnavigated the lake when we came upon the toilets advertised to be 15 minutes from our parking spot! Have I ever mentioned the obvious attempts by all State and local authorities in Gippsland to confuse the public with fake signage? I have got to the stage where I simply don’t believe any official signs anywhere in the area.

I had thought that it might be nice to circumnavigate the whole wetland area so we tried to do that, only to find that it was virtually impossible. I reckon it would take a drive of about 250 Km to do it given that we would have had to drive all the way to the coast, then east to find another way north, then all the way back to Sale. In our explorations, we found another huge contiguous part of the wetland on the other side of the road – presumably unprotected because it is not marked as such on the Council maps even though the main road is the only thing preventing the entire area being a single wetland. There are at least 2 rivers and 3 bridges linking the water on both sides of the road so it is virtually impossible to separate the RAMSAR area from the apparently unprotected section.

We found an alternative route back to Rosedale, avoiding a trip back into Sale – and thence home in time for a shower before Happy Hour. Topped up with fuel at Traralgon again on the way but we were still home again by about 5pm.

I had cooked a turmeric and fish meal on Tuesday/Wednesday – a little unusual given that the fish was marinated in the spices overnight, then only lightly cooked, but with additional veges and herbs added after the heat was removed just prior to serving. Just add rice. Very tasty and easy as anything to prepare.

Saturday

The Antarctic Blob is exerting its influence very strongly here today. Lots of wind and rain overnight, some quite heavy, but consistent all night. And today has been pretty wild too. The rain had come and gone, but has been a deluge at times with heaps of hail – literally heaps, with it covering everything and piling up against anything blocking its passage. It was banked up against the shrubbery outside the van for several hours before it finally melted – 6 degrees maximum here so it was very slow to melt.

It has felt really exciting at times in the van with so much wild weather outside and us safe and warm inside and enjoying the experience. We cooked our tomato relish in the morning and our peach and chile chutney in the afternoon. We had to do a quick supermarket run to buy some extra spices early in the afternoon and I dropped Heather off and drove around the block a couple of times and picked her up at the door again. This was to avoid her getting too wet in the rain, but the hail absolutely pelted down while I was driving around the block – the racket inside the car was horrendous – exciting, but a little scary too.

We had a fairly unsatisfactory Zoom session in the afternoon – the bandwidth here is a real problem, but at least we spent half an hour or so in contact with some of the kids.

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sunstonespells · 4 years

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i had a very long but surprisingly fruitful day! i woke up and found that my paycheck from the gym wasn't clearing until tomorrow, and since i wasn't able to clean a client's house yesterday, i didn't have the money to cover my copays for therapy and wouldn't be able to be seen, but i did a LOT of emotional digging into traumatic parts of my life last night so i desperately needed to go today. i was blessed by the best to get assistance just in time to make my appointment, and blessed futher that my therapist allowed me to continue over my hour and didn't rush me. i got home to clean my refrigerator, tend to my plants, and clean up my house and room a bit. my mom drove to town (from 2.5 hours away) to sell some of her piglets to a farmer from allentown, PA and they met up at my house to do their swap. so i cuddled some baby pigs, and my mom presented me with a bunch of new plants (admittedly one i forgot she'd already bought me and then i went out and bought one myself, but now she gets to keep one.) she gave me 3 different begonia rex patterns and had gotten me a cordyline, which i already had gotten (i do also have a rex, and two other begonia varietals.) she also!! brought me a lovely two-tiered table, a bunch of salsas and jams she made, chili she made, soup my dad made, frozen vegetables she grew, and a bunch of hot peppers she got from a farmer near them (chilis, jalapenos, ghost peppers, and reapers -- don't worry i know all of the safe handling and use info.) she snagged a new weight bench for my roommate for christmas at the corner auction for very cheap and brought that, and a few crystals she got me from indigenous sellers at an event her state garden club attended. we re-arranged the laundry room, creating more space for the weight bench and figuring out where to position all of the furniture i brought with me when i moved in. the space feels Much better after spending some time on it. my mom repaired the wooden mini greenhouse she brought me that had been damaged in a recent storm. we organized my piles of containers of belongings that were tossed into the basement as i moved in and i was able to empty out about half of the containers that were taking up space downstairs. i was able to find a good place to keep the last of my stuff that was in the living room waiting to find a home. all i really have left to put away are all of my books and comics. we spent the next hour and a half!! shampooing my couch, which i bought just over a year ago and was Done Dirty in my old house. between the general must of the couch, my cat scratching it, and the other cats in the house peeing on it to the point that it was almost crusty and appeared slightly discolored, it was pretty rough. my mom brought it back to life so now i just need to finish shaving off the pilled fabric. but the basement feels cozy and suitable for dwelling. fallon and i set up my roku tv and took all of my old roommate's accounts off and switched them to my own. my mom and i went to visit our old neighbor, mrs. helen, who replaced my grandmother as my mom's mother figure after her mom died. mrs. helen bullied me into taking her spider plant home because she wanted it to be better taken care of than it was in her house. we stopped to get my mom a cheesesteak (my father is MILITANT about healthy eating so she doesn't get to eat greasy stuff when she wants to) and when we got back to the house, she helped me hang a few things on my bedroom walls before leaving to head home. i am so relieved! i don't get to see my mom much, but when she is able to come offer me a day of assistance, it makes an incredible amount of difference and i feel much more prepared to take steps forward. during her last visit, we entirely transplanted my garden from my city house here to fallon's. feeling settled is very important to me, it eases a lot of my anxiety. this living situation is very different from other attempts i've made, and i've been asking for and receiving a lot more of what i need to be comfortable and work through physical and mental health issues. the only bad part (other than stepping in cat vom this morning on the way to the bathroom and nearly being unable to pay for therapy) was that i didn't eat ANYTHING until past 8 pm! but on the bright side, i also didn't have any caffiene until then and was able to almost get through the whole day without any caffiene withdrawal symptoms. making progress all over the map.

#personal #famjam #disordered eating cw #to be safe #thank u again jay ilu

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shepherdnerd · 5 years

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A Long IPO Story...

You might like to hear about the time I had Tristan evaluated at a schutzhund club. It was in August 2018. I know a show line smooth collie isn’t going to be right for the sport at all, but I really wanted to try it. I contacted a club that wasn’t too far away from me, and they said I could bring Tristan out to visit. I really should’t have gone, because the first problem is that I don’t have my own car. I have one I can use frequently, but it’s not mine personally, so I can’t keep a dog crate in it. In order to prepare for the evaluation I had to figure out how to fit Tristan’s big wire crate into the small SUV, which took a lot experimenting. My goal is to have my own vehicle with a nice sturdy crate setup, but that goal feels a long way away. Anyway, I managed to squeeze the crate into the car.

Then on the day I was supposed it visit the club, there was a severe thunderstorm warning in my area. I got an email from the club asking if I wanted to reschedule, but I thought to myself that I had better get used to training outside in the rain, so I said I was still coming that day.

I packed up the car and got Tristan into his wire crate and drove away from my house. Now, I need to give a little back story here. Maybe around a year ago I was in a pet store with Tristan, and someone ran into him with a shopping cart. Ever since then he has been very scared when he hears the rattling metal of a shopping cart (proving he doesn't have the nerve for schutzhund...). Well, it turns out that the sound of a wire dog crate in a moving vehicle sounds an awful lot like a shopping cart. And even worse, Tristan’s crate had weird loose dangling metal latches that bounced up and down with every bump. Poor Tristan curled up into a miserable little ball in the rattling crate. I pulled over and tied down the latches, which made the rattling a lot better, but the rest of the crate was still pretty loud.

I live in the city, and as we were leaving in rush hour, the traffic was bumper to bumper. Even when we got to a green traffic light, I often couldn’t go through the intersection because there was too much traffic to move forward. I had left home 2.5 hours before the club was supposed to meet. The sever thunderstorm started and I could hardly see for a while.

Amazingly, the storm faded to a light rain and I got to the club on the dot as they were supposed to start. Only a few people were there, but they were very friendly and answered all my questions. I got to see a young female Groenendael tracking, and a dutchie mix and a GSD working obedience a bit.

Then they asked me to bring out Tristan. I went to the car and he was still hunched silently in his crate, which is unlike him...he is usually a barker. But I was glad he wasn’t embarrassing me by barking at least, as that was one of my biggest concerns. I let him out to pee and brought him to meet everyone, and he sniffed them in his mild way before looking back to me for food. I did a little heeling practice and position changes with him and the training director said we were doing okay so far, so that was nice to hear. She wanted me to show her if he could play with a toy. He likes food way more than toys, so I hadn’t done nearly enough work to reward him with toys yet. Actually, that week was the first week I was participating in Shade Whitesel’s toy skills class, so I was just learning about this. I tried to play with Tristan a little but he was not interested at all. The TD didn’t say too much about that, she was just nice and encouraged me to work with him more. She said we could come back the next training day when more members were there to learn some more.

Two days later, when Tristan saw me putting his wire crate into the car, he hid in the basement. I felt so bad but I put him in the crate and we drove to the club again...this time I left 3 hours ahead to get ahead of rush hour a little. More people were at the club that night and their decoy was there this time, so I got to see some bitework, which was really cool. There was a WGSL dog who was learning to take more pressure from the decoy. Apparently this club likes to do more defensive work with their dogs.

The decoy wanted to see me play tug with Tristan, but Tristan, who is usually pretty happy to be outside in a new place, was very shut down. I felt like what he really needed was to a take a long walk around the field and smell everything and relax after being in the crate for so long, and I would have walked him until he offered focus before asking him to work, which I know he will do. But it seemed like they wanted Tristan to jump out of the crate and latch onto the tug, and with that pressure on me I wasn’t a good advocate for my dog... I tried to play tug, and the training directors coached me on how to improve on that, and then they worked on getting Tristan to bark. Tristan loves to bark so he caught on to that pretty quickly at least! The overall comments I got were that I need to work on being more fun for my dog. I didn’t have high expectations anyway so I just focused on learning what I could from watching the other dogs after that.

I went back a third time on their weekend training day. Again, Tristan hid in the basement when he saw me loading up the crate, but at least the traffic was not a problem. I went early enough to see them tracking in the morning, which I really wanted to do because I know the least about that phase. It was so cool to get to follow the handlers and dogs in the early morning and see how they had decided to lay the tracks. There was one great IPO3 dog who was just so well trained, doing a long track like he would in a trial, and I got to hear the TD’s critique of the track and how they were planning to adjust their training. Again everyone was so helpful about answering my questions and letting me tag along. Then when we returned to the main field, they helped me lay a little circle track and try Tristan on that. He actually did pretty well on that; the only problem was that there was someone playing tug with their dog on the other side of the field and Tristan stopped several times to watch them. Tristan has struggled a lot with dog reactivity so I was actually happy that he could stand calmly to watch this noisy German shepherd playing tug. Then Tristan went back and finished his little track. The club members seemed to be thinking that it would be fine for me to keep training him towards a BH if I wanted.

I want home and did a lot of thinking...One problem was that all those hours of driving in heavy traffic cost me over $100 in gas in that single week. Another problem was that Tristan was so miserable in the crate. He’s good in the car without a crate, so I hope if I got a crate that didn’t make noise then he would be okay. Too expensive for me right now, though. The third problem was that the club’s training philosophy didn’t fit very well with mine. Everyone was so welcoming and helpful though, and I’m very grateful that they gave me the opportunity to watch them train and see what Tristan could do. I definitely learned a lot and was encouraged to learn more. I just won’t be joining a club yet. For now, I’m working at home with my dog, working in local parks, very slowly counterconditioning the sound of metal, and playing tug. We are having a good time.

(I’ve secretly still got my eye on that BH.)

#long post #schutzhund #ipo #tristan #smooth collie

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theblanketpeople · 4 years

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The Sierra

Friday July 3rd, 2020 - Sunny - 77′F

We are back at the Sierra, at Stanislaus National Forest. This time, we have learnt not to rely on a campground, and to find a site that is not the meadows. Mike has been doing research on Google maps and has found a couple of ideal dispersed camping sites. We can only cross our fingers that Steve (our Subaru Impreza) can get over the rocky dirt road, and that these sites are not occupied by the time we arrive.

We left home at half past 10 in the morning, all excited like kids to do a drive through McDonalds for a Sausage McMuffin. To our dismay, the digital screen is only displaying the lunch menu. Oh well, McChicken burger it is.

The drive to the Sierra took around 4 hours, including our short stop for lunch. Steve managed to get us to our site, albeit tilting rather severely on that tiny dirt road 50 feet from the site. I was clinging onto Steve’s handle, silently screaming, palms sweating.

We reached our site. It was empty; it was beautiful. The view is spectacular. the wind blowing gently, driving all mozzies far away, the sun shining down at us. Perfect weather.

We aren’t allowed fires at non designated campsites, so dinner on the stove it is. We took out the trout, brussel sprouts, tomatoes and fried them on our MSR pocket rocket stove. We watched sunset as we ate; the moon started rising from behind the mountains, crisp and bright. I went to bed shortly after, whilst Mike stayed up with the night sky.

Saturday July 4th, 2020 - Sunny - 77′F

Cow bells woke me up last night. They got louder as the night sunk deeper and I imagined cows climbing up our mountain and tramping on our tent and on us.

At 7am, the sun blasted into our tent and woke us up. The temperature in our tent rose by 5′F every minute; we stripped off our layers and got out. This site does not provide any shade but thankfully, the wind cools us down.

We started preparing breakfast. First, slice the chicken sausage, apple and tomatoes. Transfer them to a frying pan, sprinkle with olive oil, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Start the fire, stir fry for around 5 minutes till the sausage is charred. Add a wee bit more olive oil, then crack 2 eggs onto the frying pan. Once the eggs are cooked, add fresh salad and drip some hot sauce over. Delicious.

Shortly after, we packed up and went for a hike. This is part of the Pacific Crest Trail. We started from Alpine State Highway 4, 5 minutes on foot from our camp site, and headed north. This hike is relatively flat and easy. When it’s easy for me, it means that even children will find it easy!

About 2.5 miles into the hike, we stopped for lunch by Upper Kinney Lake. Lunch consists of bread, canned sardines, salami, crisps and hop tea. Lying on the rock, staring out into the mountains and their reflections on the lake; Mike dipping his feet into the cold water. Ah, simple pleasures are what give us joy. We yearn for this feeling every day.

After lunch, we hiked northwards for another half mile before turning back, and returning to our campsite. Back at the site, we took out our books and read. I’m re-reading San Mao’s Sahara Desert adventures. How I long to live in the desert, in silence and in solitude.

That evening, we saw a few cute little pikas running around amongst the rocks. We saw another beautiful sunset and the moon rising; cow bells ringing in the far distance.

“Beauty beyond though everywhere, beneath, above, made and being made forever” - John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

Sunday July 5th, 2020 - Sunny - 77′F

We were woken up by the sun rays this morning. Made breakfast and spent the morning reading. We were relaxed and our stomachs contented. Before noon, we packed up and drove out to Mosquito Lake for a hike. My allergies acted up again and as we were hiking, I felt short of breath with a tightness in my chest. I started sniffing, sneezing and coughing. Sadly and unfortunately, we decided to cut short our hike and turned back. We need to find out what my allergy is from - is it from the pollen in the pine trees or is it from the pollen of the wildflowers. I certainly hope that there is a treatment for this and that I’m not allergic to nature!

We had cup noodles for lunch, then headed home to Oakland. Today has been anti climax but we have had a great trip. We feel fortunate that we are able to escape to nature amidst this pandemic lock down.

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abangtech · 4 years

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NASA and SpaceX confirm SpaceX’s first ever astronaut launch is a ‘go’

NASA and SpaceX are closer than ever to a moment both have been preparing for since the beginning of the Commercial Crew program in 2010. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon spacecraft are now set to fly with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken onboard, making a trip to the International Space Station, and both the agency and SpaceX announced today that they have officially passed the final flight readiness review, meaning everything is now a ‘go’ for launch.

According to NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Kathy Leuders during a press conference on Monday, everything went well with all pre-launch flight checks thus far, including a full-length static test fire of the Falcon 9’s engines, and a dress rehearsal of all launch preparation including strapping Hurley and Behnken into the rocket.

The only remaining major hurdle for SpaceX and NASA now is the weather, which is currently only looking around 40% favorable for a launch attempt on schedule for Wednesday, May 27 at 4:33 PM EDT, though during today’s press conference officials noted it is actually trending upwards as of today.

SpaceX and NASA will be paying close attention to the weather between now and Wednesday, and since this is a highly sensitive mission with actual astronauts on board the spacecraft, you can bet that they’ll err on the side of caution for scrubbing the launch if weather isn’t looking good. That said, they do have a backup opportunity of May 30 in case they need to make use of that, as well as another window on May 31.

Hans Koenigsmann, VP of Mission Assurance at SpaceX, noted that there were “no showstoppers” during the static test fire on Friday, and also commented that seeing the actual astronauts climb aboard the Crew Dragon during the dry dress rehearsal really drove home the seriousness and impact of this moment. It will mark the first ever human spaceflight for SpaceX, and the first time astronauts have launched from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Koenigsmann went through the schedule for launch day, which include Behnken and Hurley getting ready and suited up around 4 hours before, be drive over in the custom Tesla Model X astronaut transit vehicle at around 3 hours prior, and get into the capsule at around 2.5 hours before launch time. The rest from there is somewhat similar to other Falcon 9 launches, he said, with the exception of the escape system arming at 45 minutes prior to launch, and the arm retracting 10 minutes later, at which point the automated launch system takes over just like it does for other Falcon 9 flights.

Post-launch, Behnken and Hurley will spend 19 hours on orbit, with orbit-raising burns and also a manual flight test (the rest of the time Crew Dragon should be under fully automated control) for around 30 minutes just prior to docking. Then, it’ll dock and open the hatch around 2 hours later.

The departure schedule for Behnken and Hurley to leave the ISS is in flux – NASA will provide that date, sometime between 6 weeks and 16 weeks from launch. The astronauts will then back into Dragon, suit up, undock from the station, and land in the Atlantic around two hours later for recovery.

This is the culmination of many years’ work, and will be the first human flight for the Commercial Crew program. If all goes well, SpaceX could then begin flying astronauts during regular operational missions for ferrying astronauts to and from the Space Station as early as later this year.

Source

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un-enfant-immature · 4 years

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NASA and SpaceX confirm SpaceX’s first ever astronaut launch is a ‘go’

#TechCrunch

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iwillsendapostcard · 7 years

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Robert week: Day 6- Write a scene, the way you wished it had gone.

[Edit- I’ve realised this is more of an extension to an exisiting scene. Whoops]

Obviously, I had to pick the Robert and Connor home Farm scene. I wasn’t going to write this scene because I am sure that there are other people in fandom much better equipped to write it than me. But then @trashmouthsugden reminded me that I promised her some conbert smut. And then my hand slipped.

I tend to write my smut scenes with Robert being the one who is better at verbally expressing his desires and talking dirty. With this fic, I wanted to flip the dynamic and find out how Robert would react when someone is explicit about how much they want him.

Take It (2.5 K) Read on AO3 here

Conbert. Rough sex, sex against a wall, dirty talk, swearing, and what I would consider to be very mild spanking (one instance).

This is probably the most vanilla thing I have ever written, which says more about me than It does about this fic 😉

It’s like that moment between when you strike a match and when it lights. That split second of waiting for the spark to blare to life. Unsure if it has worked. And, if it has, unsure if you will end up getting burnt.

He leans in, the match is struck, and for a moment Connor can see the very beginnings of a flame shining back at him in Robert’s eyes. But he blinks, the moment is gone, and there is nothing but coldness and ash.

The envelope is shoved back into his chest.

“Go on,” Robert says, voice thick with something Connor would have once said was desire. “We’re done.”

As if to emphasise his point, he walks away, back turned to Connor in an imitation of the last time they said goodbye like this.

Part of him wants to just throw the envelope at Robert’s head. To tell him to stop being obtuse and to just take what he wants for once in his life. Not to scheme and manipulate or plan and plot. But to just take.

The other part of him, the louder bitterer part, wants to make him suffer for it. The greatest insult of his life has always been the fact that Robert wanted other people, other things, over him. Stuff it. Let’s see if they can make him happy. Connor knows they won’t.

So, he’s up on his feet. The lightness of his step hides the heaviness of his heart.

He throws a wink at Robert over his shoulder as he leaves. A dagger carefully aimed to hit Rob where it hurts the most.

Lashing out and hurting each other always was their style.

***

Five minutes later there is a knock at the door. Worried that it is Lawrence having forgotten his keys, Robert is on his feet in an instant, caring son-in-law mode on. So, he’s incredibly surprised to see Connor’s silhouette through the frosted glass.

“What do you want?” The question is out of his mouth before Connor is even fully through the door.

“You,” the younger man says. And before Robert can do anything else, Connors hands have reached up into his hair and pulled him down into a searing kiss.

Robert breaks away.

“What are you playing at?” he gasps.

“I’ve had enough,” Connor pants back at him. “I want you. I know you want me. So, just stop with your stupid rules. I’m taking what I want.”

They’re kissing again and Robert is too surprised to do anything but kiss back. Connor hasn’t exactly ever been shy, but he’s never been this forthright either. The change is shocking. And exhilarating.

“Oh yeah? You want me?” Robert can’t help but ask between kisses.

“You know I do, you cocky bastard.”

“Why?”

Connor stops, his hand having already worked under Robert’s shirt, the skin on skin contact starting to burn him.

“Jesus, Rob. Are you really going to make me say it?”

“Yes. I rather think that I am,” he replies, leaning down to nip at the place where Connor’s jaw meets his throat.

Connor grips the hair at the back of his neck, pulling on it sharply so that Robert has no choice but to look where he is directing him.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the last time we did this. I want you. I need you.”

The words light something in Robert’s chest. A hungry growl escapes before he can reign it in. He’s pulling Connor across the room, throwing him against the wall with more force than is strictly necessary. It doesn’t worry him though; he knows that Connor likes it rough.

Even if he didn’t, the way that Connor is moaning and thrusting up against him would give him a fairly clear idea of how he feels.

“Is this what you were after when you said you wanted ‘gratitude’?” Rob snarls against his skin.

“This and more,” Connor admits as Robert divests him of his jacket and shirt.

Now that he has decided on this course of action Robert is filled with an incredible need. He might never have fancied Connor like he did Chrissie or Aaron but there’s no denying that the younger man has a breath-taking beauty about him. And knowing that Connor wants him, was desperate enough to come back for him and to voice his desires so explicitly, has him harder than he has been in a long time.

Connor can clearly feel this as he shifts his hips against Robert’s and rubs their clothed cocks together. His hands are undoing Robert’s buttons as Robert runs his hair through thick auburn locks. But he stops him when he reaches to peel the shirt from Robert’s shoulders, instead turning Connor around in his arms and pushing him face first into the wall.

“Please,” Connor is moaning already.

“You always were such a desperate slut,” Robert says, the fondness of memory tinging his voice.

“I’m only like this with you.”

“Liar.”

“It’s true,” Connor gasps as Robert’s hands brush his dick as they unbutton the fly of his trousers. “Christ, Robert, you make me so hot.”

“Yeah?” Robert palms at Connor’s cock through the cotton of his boxers. He’s half surprised Connor is wearing them.

“First time I saw you across the bar I knew I had to have you,” Connor continues as Robert finally shoves his hand inside his pants and wraps his hand around hot and throbbing flesh. “You had a suit on, and that smug grin of yours. You walked in as if you owned the place and I was hard for half an hour after.”

“I did own the place, eventually.”

“You owned me as well.” In any other context, the mention of their shared past would be profoundly uncomfortable. But now, in this moment, the mention of their previous power dynamic makes Robert’s blood run hot. Connor thrusts his hips back to brush impatiently against Robert’s dick. He clearly feels it too.

“They were good times,” Robert says biting against Connor’s ear lobe.

“I want you back,” Connor says. “We had a good thing going. You were so good to me Rob.”

“I’ll be good to you now,” Robert promises. He pulls down Connor’s trousers in one movement, exposing his lily-white arse to the air. His fingers reach straight for the hidden pucker, his muscles remembering the way across the dips and crevasses of Connor’s arse.

“I want this so bad. Couldn’t think about anything else when you called me. Thought you might want a little fun. But nothing is ever just about pleasure with you, is it? There always has to be a scheme behind it. Or something to gain. Why won’t you just give in and let yourself feel?”

“I’ll show you how I feel,” he says, and roughly shoves his fingers into Connor’s clench. He expects dry skin and a gasp of pain but the flesh parts, wet and warm and welcoming.

“Little slut,” he gasps in awe. “Stretched and lubed and all ready for me.”

“I did it in the bus station toilets on the way here,” Connor confesses. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. About this. I had to do something to distract myself.”

Rob’s hand comes down quick against the round flesh or Connor’s arse. The smaller man gasps, half in surprise, half in pleasure.

“That’s for being presumptuous,” he explains as he rubs his palm against the red mark that his hand has left.

“More, please!” Connor begs. “God, you feel amazing!”

“Tell me what you want.”

“Anything, please!” Connor begs. “I want you in me. I want you to go so deep I can feel your cock in my throat. I want you to make my arse so sore I can’t sit down. I want to feel you for weeks after. Christ, Robert, you don’t know what you do to me!”

Connor did always know how to say the right thing. Robert might be trying to keep himself detached from everyone these days but there’s no denying that Connor’s words are getting to him. His chest swells with pride as he realises how desperate Connor is for him. That Connor’s desire for him drove him to prepare himself before showing up tonight, in a dirty bathroom in the middle of nowhere, ready for a fucking that he had no guarantee would happen.

It would be cruel not to give it to him.

The back pocket of Connor’s trousers is still in easy reach, and there he finds a condom which is quickly opened and rolled onto his dick. He notices that he needs to calm down, or else this will be over too quickly. Rob wants this to last.

“You feel so good,” Connor sighs yet again as Robert slides in with one easy stroke. Even through the latex of the condom, Robert can feel the heat radiating through Connor’s body. He chases the sensation pulling Connor closer to him with a hand on his waist, the other pushing Connor’s face up against the wall. Robert wonders if the expensive wallpaper he has forced him against will leave an imprint on the boy’s pale skin.

Instinct is driving him more than anything else at this point. In the back of his mind there is a need to prove to Connor that the boy’s desire for him is justified. To reward the way that Connor came to his door and so brazenly demanded this of him.

Connor thrusts back into every movement of Robert’s. His arse is clenching and twitching away, milking at Robert’s cock and driving his desire even higher. Every thrust comes with a moan or exhale, Connor not even bothering to censor himself. It’s thrilling to hear.

“Yeah, take it,” Robert growls into the back of Connor’s neck. “Take it all.”

Connor keeps asking for more. He begs with his body, lifting his leg to change the angle at which Robert is penetrating him. Rob helps him, moving his hand to grasp at Connor’s leg, manipulating his willing body to bring them both the most pleasure that he can. When that grows tiresome, he turns Connor to face him again, hoist him up against the wall, and encourages him to put his legs around his waist so that Robert can focus on pounding into him. When that isn’t enough, he grabs Connors hands in his own and pins them against the wallpaper, stretching his body out before him.

The contrast between them is striking. Connor is now completely naked, his trousers long since discarded onto the pile with his shirt and jacket. Robert, on the other hand, only has his shirt and jeans undone. But that always has been their dynamic; a power play of stripped bodies and open desires. Robert might be the one that is fully clothed but right now he’s never felt more exposed.

He hides his face in Connor’s throat and distracts himself with biting the skin there in time with his thrusts, alternating between kisses and licks in order to make Connor’s monas sing. Connor, bless him, takes the cue that Robert is so clumsily trying to give him.

“Rob, you feel so good inside me. You’ve no idea how much I’ve needed this. How I’ve wanted this,” he says between moans of pleasure. “After the last time, I didn’t wash the sheets for days after. I wanted to remember how well you had fucked me on them, to remember what we taste like together, what we smell like. I fell asleep with the scent of you for days and only washed them when you had completely faded. There’s still a cum stain on my carpet from the last time you fucked me like this. Do you remember?”

Robert did. A celebratory shag for a job done well. A deal that put him on the path that lead him here. Had he known then what he knows now…?

Robert thrusts faster, desperate to drive Connor’s desire higher than his own.

“Fuck!” Connor exhales on a particularly well-aimed thrust. “How are you so good at that? You’re so hot, Robert. You don’t need me to tell you that. But you are. Nothing feels as good as you inside me. Only you make me feel like this.”

As if to prove his point, Connor cums with a gasp, his body straining against where Robert is holding it pressed to the wall. His eyes roll back, his face is contorted in bliss and Robert feels a rush of pride in knowing that he has caused this beautiful man to lose control.

Connor comes back to himself by increments. His legs are shaky when he puts them back on the ground, but it doesn’t matter because he sinks to his knees anyway. Before Robert can really register what he’s doing Connor reaches around Robert’s cock to pull the condom off before engulfing Robert in his hot mouth.

Rob has to brace his hands on the wall as Connor lets out a moan of pleasure. When he looks down the sight threatens to overwhelm him. Connor Jensen, on his knees, face covered in pretty bruises, hair mussed completely out of style, ropes of cum shining on his chest. His distraction must show as Connor grips his arse, encouraging him to trust deeper into his throat. Rob doesn’t need to be asked twice.

They might not have fucked many times before Robert changed tactic and fell in with the Whites. But blowjobs? Those they had plenty of practice with. Connor clearly hasn’t forgotten the lessons Rob taught him either; his mouth is still as hot and inviting as his arse was.

His nails scratch against wallpaper as he cums and Robert briefly wonders if he’ll get yelled at for damaging it. Connor swallows everything like the good boy he is and smirks up at him from his position on the floor.

“Well,” Robert breaths. “Did you get what you wanted?”

Connor sits back, his head resting against the wall, and runs his eyes up the entire length of Robert’s body.

“If you think I’ll be satisfied with just that then you don’t know me at all.”

Robert pulls him up by his hair and drags him to a bedroom. He’ll give Connor more of what he wants, but only once he begs.

***

It’s later when he’s ventured to the kitchen to find a glass of wine to wash the taste of Connor out of his mouth that he overhears Lawrence on the phone. A brief conversation later and his fate is sealed and his favour restored.

After all, when someone offers you what you want you should always take it.

#robertweek2017 #rw2017 #robertlove #robert sugden #connor jensen #conbert

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doberbutts · 7 years

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if i'm not mistaken you have experience with traveling and sleeping in your car, right? could you tell about some of the things you took into consideration when deciding to do that? i'm planning on making a trip across states sometime in the next several months, and trying to do it as cheaply as possible.

I did this last year from Maryland to Ohio, and also from Maryland to Vermont. During the Ohio trip, I spent the better part of the week living in my car. The Vermont trip was much less time spent in the car because I was staying at Hotel Boyfriend. I cannot drive for more than 3 or so hours before I faint, so for these long trips I ended up having to make several stops and that significantly slowed my progress, creating the necessity of learning how to live out of a car. Having experienced it short term, I can say that I feel fairly prepared for any situation that would require me to live out of my car long term as there was a lot that I hashed out between both trips on what I did and did not find an acceptable tradeoff on hotel vs car.

First things first: parking. In a lot of places, to combat homelessness, you actually aren’t allowed to just park and sleep in parking lots and such anymore. As a result you either need to get really creative on where you leave your car (or risk being towed or having the cops called and knock on your window while you’re sleeping) or you need to figure out where the safe places to park actually are. My car was mostly parked in the lot of rest stops or truck stops at night either near the outbuilding or right under a light for safety. Note: I also had Creed with me, and he is a very good deterrent and also “someone’s approaching the car” alarm, so I was also able to park and sleep just about anywhere and feel very safe. I debated parking behind a Walmart a few times but didn’t want to risk a disgruntled employee calling the cops and me being told to move. Don’t try hotel parking lots. You will be towed. Most make you pay for that shit nowadays.

Second: bathrooms! This is the other reason I hung out near rest/truck stops, access to running water and a (relatively) clean toilet. Some rest stops also have showers or some other way to wash yourself if you’re a stinky motherfucker. You want to find a spot that you can readily access these things or somewhere you can enter looking somewhat like a slob with minimal judgement. It’s been suggested to me that some rec centers and gyms will let you in if you show up super early, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Third: sleeping! Find somewhere you feel relatively safe or take your dog(s) with you or both, have a good back-up plan if things go bad, LOCK YOUR FUCKING DOORS WHILE YOU SLEEP, and you should be golden. I personally find car seats super uncomfortable to sleep on so what I did was purchase the thickest dog bed I could find, put human bed memory foam on top of it, and pull a fitted sheet around it, then laid my back seats flat and slept on it back there. It actually was a really decent, if somewhat truncated, mattress that afforded me a decent night’s sleep. I also had Creed’s wire crate folded under it and flipped upside down to serve as a makeshift springboard and I can tell you that I have never slept better in a car. Not even those air mattresses can compare to that. I had my fleece blankets and bathrobes as covers, my regular bed pillows as my pillows, and used a thin sheet to cover my back windows so that I could sleep without the street lights disturbing me.

Fourth: balancing air vs bugs vs rain! This is something I ran into on the Vermont trip- I’d balanced this with bugspray and a popped sunroof in Ohio but then in Vermont Thor decided he hated me and sent various thunderstorms and sadly I must report that bugspray does not protect you from rain. I later went out and purchased anti-bug screens for my windows and a portable sun screen to go over my car that, in theory, should somewhat protect me from downpours. It also will let me sleep in the car without pressure cooking as I’ll be able to have my windows all the way down and the worst of the sun reflected off my car- so we will be hot but we won’t die.

Fifth: electricity! Have a good backup plan for when your electronics because you no longer can charge things overnight without risking that your car battery will not be alive the next morning. Another reason for me to hang out near rest stops- no one minds if I use their sockets for a few hours until my phone is charged. Carry one of those portable batteries, it’s saved my ass more times than I can count.

Sixth: food! You can’t cook without a kitchen, you can’t store anything except nonperishables without a fridge, and if you think you can live on PBJs and stale chips for a few weeks while also driving around or being physically active you’ve got another thing coming. Find somewhere you can easily either purchase or make food and keep a case of bottled water in your car. You’ll need it. If you know how to start a fire and you’re somewhere fires are allowed, purchase food that you can cook but only enough that will last 10ish hours because you’ll have no where cold to store it. You can increase how long your food will last if you buy a cooler and ice but, ice gets pricey especially in the summer and depending where you go there’s no guarantee you’ll find a cheap steady supply of it. Otherwise find the nearest place you can get to for decent, filling food that won’t cost you a fortune, and factor that into your trip costs.

Seventh: car trouble! AAA or some other rescue service is a MUST because if something CAN go bad, it will, as evidenced by the Vermont trip in which I drove up there one way and then did a combination of hitchhiking and rental cars in order to get back home because my car was very, very dead on the side of a mountain in Vermont. A trip that was going to cost me a total of $200 ended up costing me $7000 (and remember I don’t make more than $12k/year) which completely destroyed my savings and my inheritance and I am still paying off and will be for the next 2.5 years. You guys want to know why I don’t have a second dog and haven’t taken more trips? You’re looking at the reason right here. I’m not saying plan for something major to happen and go more than 40x your original budget but you probably don’t want to hitchhike 500 miles back home like I did. I mean, I’m still alive and the other person was not an ax murderer and we’re actually FB friends now but still, that should probably be avoided.

Eighth: dogs! If you’re taking your dogs, you’re going to need to balance what they need too. Food, potty, and travel costs are all a thing, and just like car trouble can get you in some serious financial dire straits, so can a sudden health problem with a dog. Especially because you will be away from your regular vet and you may not know where to find the closest DECENT vet in the area. Creed is a road warrior and really likes this camping in the car thing but he also doesn’t really like being cooped up long term, so we had to find places where I could walk or run him and also know my car would still be there by the time we got back. That’s frequently easier said than done. Also, if you have a BSL breed, expect to not be welcomed when walking around with the dog. You’re a stranger with a scary dog. Suck it up and find somewhere you don’t make people uncomfortable.

That’s all I can think of right now, but I’m sure I’ll remember some others tomorrow morning. Cheers.

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adventurinosdospainandportugal · 7 years

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Lisbon and our day trip to Sintra

We took the bus from Seville to a southern seaside town in Portugal called Faro. There was some translation difficulties with the bus driver, as his first stop was at the Faro airport, and we were trying to ask him if there was another stop in Faro. We ended up risking it and staying on the bus, knowing if there wasn't we would be heading to Albuferria two hours west, but luckily the risk was worth it and the bus also stopped at the bus station in Faro. We waited for a few hours in Faro till we boarded our train to Lisbon. It was a pretty uneventful train ride, interesting to look out at the countryside. Something I noticed is that there are lots of buildings abandoned with collapsed roofs that are falling apart. We got to Lisbon and took the metro to our hostel which was pretty easy to find. First impression of the hostel was awesome, really cool common spaces and a nice atmosphere. Our hostel room had 3 beds and a cool lounging bean bag chair, definitely the biggest hostel room I've ever stayed in. Every night a chef prepares dinner for those interested and willing to pay 10€. Grace and I joined in and really enjoyed it! There was prosciutto and melon salad to start, they melon was so sweet and fresh. The main course was a mushroom risotto and the dessert was tiramisu. Overall an incredible meal for only 10€. Not only was the food amazing but the people were amazing too! We met a retired couple staying at the hostel named Loyd and Franny from Halifax. They were so nice to talk with over dinner as well as a girl from Buenos Aires. We all ate and chatted for 2.5 hours until the wine we were drinking began to catch up with us. Franny actually reminded me so much of Laura Knickle, a very close family friend of Jason's. She just had this positivity and energy about her that seems to match Laura's. The next day in Lisbon was actually a good day to leave the city because it was a workers holiday and everything would be closed. We went on a Sintra day trip organized through the hostel with only 8 people. We drove along the coast on our way there, it was cool to see so many surfers out on the water, looking like Tofino with all these black specks in the water bobbing up and down waiting for the perfect wave. On our way to Sintra we stopped at a beautiful beach with incredible waves. I was making a video of my feet walking into the water when an unexpectedly large wave arrived, coming up higher than any other wave in the last 20 min, soaking my pants up to me knees. Needless to say it was pretty funny, and I dried off after about an hour. Our next stop was in the region of Sintra, but not yet in the town. It is called Cabo de Roca, the most western part of the European continent which used to be known as the end of the world. Walking around this area and looking out at the ocean you can appreciate that hundreds of years ago someone looking out at the ocean would feel that this is the end of the land and the beginning of the sea. After this we headed from the coast towards the foothills of the Sintra mountains where the actual town of Sintra is found as well as various monuments. The town of Sintra is tucked into the foothills of the mountains, with narrow winding roads, and big stone walls with moss growing on them surrounding the road. Sintra has an interesting history in that it has been a place for the wealthy to get away for vacation, especially during world war 2 as Portugal was considered neutral. All these extravagant houses have been built, along with the different monuments in the Sintra region truly makes it a unique and magical place. We arrived in Sintra, driving on the incredibly narrow roads with barely enough room for two cars, but somehow our guide Lara managed to always make it through. We stopped for lunch and had authentic Portuguese food. I had a dish that had fava beans with chorizo, pork pieces and blood sausage in it as well as deep fried green beans. It was good but blood sausage is definitely not my favourite. After lunch we had some tasty Portuguese desserts, one cheese-custard like tart and another flaky almond dessert. If I've learned anything about Portugal so far is that the country has so many pastries, and each region has their own unique type. After lunch we headed off to the monuments that we wanted to see, we each picked two, a majority of us did the same ones, which was fun to explore them as a group. The first monument I visited was the Castle of the Moors which is a hilltop medieval castle built in the 8th century. It was incredible to explore this massive monument, so grand especially for how long ago it was built. You could walk along the wall of the castle from turret to turret, taking in the views of the town of Sintra below, the palaces put there more recently and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. I love visiting things that are so old, I can't imagine how much effort it would take to build by hand a massive stone fortress that is still standing strong to this day. After the Castle of the Moors we headed to Quinta da Regaleira which is an estate built more recently in the early 1900s, containing a mansion with gothic , Egyptian, Moorish and Renaissance architectural features. The most amazing part of visiting here was actually the enchanting gardens and grounds. Within the grounds there are references to the Knights Templar and the secret society of the Masons. There are underground tunnels that you can explore, with their entrances not being obvious to someone without a map of the property. The tunnels connect two Initiation wells/inverted towers which have some use in the secret society. The wells plunge 27m down into the earth, with a spiralling staircase the entire way. There are multiple theories on the symbolism of these wells and the one I liked the most is that you start in the tunnels, in complete darkness, finding your way to the well, which is also finding your way to the light. Some say the meaning is that you have to be lost in darkness and hard times before getting to the reward of light and positivity in your life. Unfortunately the staff running the staircase were forcing people to go down the stairs instead of up (to increase flow of people) so I didn't get to have this existential experience, but nonetheless it was cool. After Quinta da Regaleira we headed into the town of Sintra to do some cheese tasting as well as try some port wine. Following our wine and cheese tasting we grabbed Traveseiro pastries, which are a puff pastry with almond cream, originating at the tiny bakery in the town and to this day are only made there. We got back in the car and ready to head back to Lisbon. On our way to the hostel we were driving through the neighbourhood of Belem which is home to a world renowned bakery called Pasteis de Belem. This bakery invented this other famous pastry which again is only made in this particular bakery with a secret recipe. The pastry was a warm egg tart that you put cinnamon sugar on. It was delicious as well and as I mentioned earlier, Portugal is all about the pastries so it's fitting that our day ended with a famous pastry. We were there just before closing but in the middle of the day people wait for up to 2 hours to buy these pastures. Back at the hostel we headed to bed pretty quickly as it been about a 13 hour day of explorations. Thanks for reading and I'll be sharing how our last couple of days in Lisbon are soon! -Alanna

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everyonethinksmynameiskayla · 7 years

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In my new digs

So, where were we? Oh yes, Goudiry with my messed up hand and head. I spent the final night in Goudiry sitting in my pajamas in the Goudiry radio studio (which was on the second floor of the building we were staying in, which was not a hotel but also not not a hotel) talking to the owner of the station, a dreadlocked reggae artist and painter. I was in my pajamas because I was wandering around looking for a bucket to flush the toilet and I ran into him and he was like you’re doing research here why haven’t you come on the radio to talk about it?? He wants me to come back to Goudiry to do so and also to go to the music festival that he organizes there at the end of February, so we’ll see.

The next morning at 6 am we got a sept-place (the late 80s model Peugeot station wagons that are all about ten minutes from doing that ridiculous Looney Tunes thing where literally every part of the car falls off and the people inside are left sitting in the open air on the seats on the ground) to Tambacounda, a fairly painless 2.5 hour ride. We then waited for almost 5 hours at the garage in Tamba for a sept-place to Dakar to finally leave. I got the seat in the front which is key but the seat had this cover on it that was made of faux-fur which is not ideal when you’re sitting on it while driving through the plains in the sun and also only going like 45 mph the entire time because the driver had no idea how to drive a stick and was always in the wrong gear. But eventually, around 9 PM, I got back to the house and was swarmed by the family because everyone wanted to see my hand. I spent about 45 minutes explaining what a concussion is and also that the scabs on my hand, which everyone was freaking out about, were not the problem, it was in my bones that there was a problem. But in any case the next day Issa took me to the hospital, where they called me in to the consultation just to tell me the x-ray machine was broken and send me to a different office about 10 minutes away. We ended up taking another girl and her mom with us because the girl had a broken ankle and couldn’t walk but they didn’t have a car. So I got my x-ray and then we had to take it back to the original place so the doctor could look at it and by the time we got there Issa was about to have a stroke because there was a soccer game (part of the African Cup) that Senegal was playing in starting in 10 minutes and we weren’t home yet. But then the doctor took forever to tell me that my hand had a small fracture and that I just had to wear a brace for three weeks because he was too busy hitting on me and asking me irrelevant questions about my life. Then he made us go to the pharmacy next door to get the brace and then come back so he could put it on for me as if I don’t know how velcro works. I thought Issa was going to jump out of his skin, I even asked the doctor if we could speed the process up so he wouldn’t miss too much of the game.

So since then I haven’t done much other than prepare to move in and move in to my new apartment, which my friend Moussa (he’s the middle child in another CIEE family and he’s probably my best Senegalese friend other than Issa, mostly because I trust the two of them completely to not get weird and profess their love for me, which Senegalese men have a tendency to do sometimes) found for me and then helped me buy furniture for and move in to with Issa’s car. It’s actually right down the street from his house, where his mom has quasi-adopted me and where I am almost every night for attaya because Moussa makes incredible attaya. I generally go back home to eat lunch every other day or so because if I don’t for more than three days in a row Maman calls me to ask if I’m alive. Anyway, my apartment is in a neighborhood called Ouakam (or Waakam, it depends on how who you ask, Wolof wasn’t a written language until recently so spelling tends to be up for grabs, which can be really confusing when you’re trying to learn it) which is a really vibrant, young (as in the age of people there) neighborhood where a lot of big lower middle class families and also students live. There’s always lots going on, markets (including the one where I bought my bed and table and chairs, which we transported from the market to my place by putting the entire table upside down on the roof of a taxi and then rolled the windows down to hold it on ourselves as we drove), etc. and people call it Dakar’s village because everyone tends to know the people in their “cité” which are the sub-neighborhoods of Ouakam (mine is Cité Ascena, if you’re curious, go into google maps and search the Brioché Dorée Ouakam Cité Ascena and my building is about three minutes from there). The building has three floors and I think there’s three apartments per floor. I’m on the first floor. Here’s a video tour: https://youtu.be/jezNEnjQIEQ.

The new CIEE students are here now (which is actually the reason I got an apartment, since because the new student arrived there wasn’t room for me at the house, I shared a room/bed with Mimi until I moved out). Seems like there are some cool people but it’s a bit tough right now because they’re still in the phase at the beginning where no one wants to miss anything so they do stuff in groups of at least 20 which is just too much for me especially since they all always have a thousand questions for me and my head just starts to hurt. But Issa introduced me to another former CIEE student who’s back her writing her undergraduate thesis and living with the New York Times West Africa bureau chief as a nanny for her kids, which is cool because then I get to go over there and play with their cats and use their washing machine and eat their cheese. Her name is Brittany and when we met it was one of those sort of instant “did we just become best friends???” moments; we’re basically introvert and extrovert versions of the same person.

^ Playing with Spotty

Also here’s a ridiculous photo of Issa and I at Lac Rose:

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travelteatv · 4 years

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This past New Year my friends and I were incredibly fortunate to stay at the holiday home of one of our friend’s parents in a small village near the Austrian border, not far from Udine and Bled.

We flew into Venice and from there it was roughly a 2.5 hour drive to the village; we arrived in darkness and so couldn’t see the exterior of the house or the village, but were immediately blown away by how enchanting the interiors were.

We didn’t have any kind of big plans for the long weekend but we did have a hire car and warm clothes, which left us with a lot of possibilities. It always blows me away when in Europe, just how close together everything is. We were there for 5 nights in total and during those days, spent time in 3 different countries. One evening, we even stopped in Italy for dinner before returning to the house for the rest of the night. It sounds like something from a romcom but I promise you, it’s true.

If you’d like to replicate the trip, I can’t of course recommend their holiday home specifically to stay in as it’s a private residence but there are plenty of hotels and guest houses in this part of the world and I couldn’t recommend it more. It’s a literal breath of fresh air (especially for me in contrast to living in London, the air is ridiculously clean it feels expensive). From there, the world is at your feet and there are so many opportunities – a day in Venice or Ljubljana for example, would not be out of reach.

The trip itself was magical, we drove to and walked around two lakes (Bled and Fusine), explored the village, ate/drank in local restaurants (plus one stop off in Tarvisio, Italy for dinner) and then drank wine/played board games in the evening. Ok yes, we did also go to Nassfeld ski resort and get our hire car stuck in the snow but hey, you win some you lose some.

LOCAL VILLAGE (VORDERBERG)

Until we were actually on the trip, I had absolutely no clue of the name of the village we were staying in. Although lovely, it’s not particularly well known nor does it have anything super special about it, in fact there are quite a few similar places to stay in nearby, so don’t worry if you can’t find somewhere to stay in this village in particular.

Saying that, it’s a incredibly picturesque Austrian village with beautiful churches and stunning scenery surrounding it. For us it was perfect – lovely to walk around in the day but also an easy place to use as a base when visiting further afield towns/lakes.

NASSFELD

One of the largest ski resorts in Austria, I would have loved to have skied but our entire group didn’t, it wouldn’t have been fair to, so we only intended on stopping by here to grab a quick drink to admire the scenery and take in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, our car didn’t feel quite the same way, as it did not enjoy the ice (even with winter tyres on) and decided it would not be going anywhere unless a larger vehicle came and towed it. Before you say anything, yes we tried everything to try and get it out ourselves, as did some well meaning passers by, but nothing worked.

This did mean we had a bit longer to take in our surroundings but sadly, it got dark fairly quickly and a lot of what we saw ended up just being pitch black (especially as we had to turn the lights off on the car in order to preserve the battery), which we didn’t hugely appreciate. Saying that, I won’t deny that we did actually end up having quite a good time in the car – yes we could have cried but instead we laughed. Is this a sign of insanity? Maybe. Still, we lived to tell the tale and a nice gentleman named Patrick from roadside assistance saved the day.

Thanks Patrick.

LAKE BLED

Well and truly ‘influenced’ by constant Instagram posts, I’d been desperate to visit Lake Bled for a long time, to the point that I was even considering an entire trip surrounding a stop here.

So you can imagine my joy, when Hamilton told me just how close the house was to Bled (about an hour’s drive) and that it would easily be possible for us to visit. The drive itself felt like a fairytale and we were in town by mid morning. Bled itself was bigger than I expected it to be; I think I imagined just pulling up to a lake without much around it but boy was I wrong. Parking is a bit irritating but we ended up managing to park near a petrol station about a ten minute walk from the lake.

We spent a really nice couple of hours walking around the lake, and ate our lunch on some steps by the water while admiring the church on the island in the centre although didn’t take a boat out, which it looked like a lot of people were doing (it was absolutely freezing and so a boat ride didn’t seem too appealing).

It’s a really lovely way to spend a day but I’ll be completely honest in that I don’t really know what else there is to do in the area; I’m aware there are some castles you can visit and a lot more walks to undertake but I couldn’t give any specific guidance on that.

LAGHI DI FUSINE (TARVISIO)

These had been discovered and recommended to us by our friend’s parents, and were only a 30 minute drive from the house which was incredible fortunate as we decided to visit on New Year’s Day when we were a touch hungover from the night before’s celebrations.

We pulled up near the lake and went for a good 1.5/2 hour walk; it was so peaceful and relaxing, the perfect remedy for a hangover really. You could definitely spend longer here although it’s very icy in the shade; I took a couple of tumbles myself attempting to walk up some icy steps and regretted it immediately (luckily I’m generally very clumsy and somewhat used to falling down, so my pride wasn’t too shattered).

It was then in Tarvisio itself that we stopped for a pizza (at Alpino) on the way home and no, I will never get over that we had dinner in one country and then simply drove back to the house for the evening in another country.

I would love to return to this area at some point for some R&R – it’s a perfect trip for all occasions really, especially if you’re into hiking/skiing. Apparently in the summer months, a lot of people swim and canoe in the lakes which sounds wonderful – I wasn’t quite brave enough to attempt those things in January but maybe I’ll come back in July/August at another time in the future.

Top Tips

If you are considering taking a trip of this kind, here are a couple of things that might help you on your way:

Road Taxes:

Please be aware that different countries may have different taxes/tolls for the roads. For example, to drive on the roads in Slovenia, you need to buy a ‘vignette’. These can be purchased from garages/petrol stations for different lengths of time (ie a year, month or week). I believe a week’s vignette for a car is 15 euros. Make sure to double check the restrictions in whichever countries you wish to go to before travelling.

Italian/Slovenian Regulations:

In general, during winter months in Europe you will need to be prepared with winter tyres and snow chains but there may be extra items required such as fire extinguishers. More often than not, a hire car company would provide these for you but make sure to check – our hire car company didn’t charge us extra for winter tyres but some will try to.

Hire Car Restrictions:

To my knowledge, you aren’t allowed to hire a car in Europe unless you’re over the age of 21 and have held a driving licence for 2 years. Also if you’re under the age of 25, you might sometimes be asked to pay a ‘young driver surcharge’. It’s annoying but happens quite a lot.

Snacks:

Oh how helpful hindsight can be… On the afternoon/evening we got stuck in the car we were all super hungry but none of us had thought to bring any snacks. I usually always pack car snacks (partly for the boredom on a long drive) but for whatever reason didn’t think to, which I very quickly regretted.

Warm Clothes:

This might seem self explanatory but do consider when you’re packing that the mountains are going to be cold. Like really cold. If it’s a bit sunnier then it might not be as freezing but it’s definitely worth layering up, especially if you’re on a walk – it might seem alright in the sunshine but as soon as you walk into the shade it’s going to get cold! On that same note, make sure to try and bring sensible shoes. Walking around the lakes, wherever it wasn’t sunny, it was generally very icy and in a lot of places almost impossible to walk (this is coming from someone who fell down twice on the ice).

Monzo/Revolut:

Slovenia, Italy and Austria all use Euros however not all European countries do. If you were looking to go further afield to say, Croatia or Bulgaria, then you would need a different type of currency. I would always recommend taking at least a small amount of cash for each country you are looking to visit but separate to that Monzo/Revolut cards can be great options as they allow you to use them in any country without an exchange charge, which can come in very handy. The apps also tell you how much you have spent in both currencies, so you can keep an eye on your spending. I don’t go abroad without my Monzo now (not an ad I just genuinely really like using it).

Food Shopping:

Lidl and Hofer (Aldi) are great options for affordable but quality foods. We tended to eat breakfast at home, then pack a lunch for wherever we walked to in the day and eat out in the evening, which definitely saved us a lot of money.

Abi

@travelteatv

A Long Weekend in the Austrian Mountains This past New Year my friends and I were incredibly fortunate to stay at the holiday home of one of our friend's parents in a small village near the Austrian border, not far from Udine and Bled.

#Austria #Austrian Alps #bled #italian alps #laghi di fusine #Lake Bled #nassfeld #skiing #slovenia #tarvisio #Travel #winter

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ladystylestores · 4 years

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NASA and SpaceX confirm SpaceX’s first ever astronaut launch is a ‘go’ – TechCrunch

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belardtheworld · 4 years

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87 days.

That’s how long I’ve spent my time at home this year.

The shortest time I’ve been home in Singapore in between travels was for a night, and the longest, 24 days.

For those who’ve been on the road long-term, this might be nothing to you. For someone who only recently transitioned from full-time Singapore robot life to being a full-time digital nomad, I would consider that a feat.

I’ve not celebrated my birthday at home for 3 years, ever since I graduated from university in fact. This will be the third year I ring in Christmas and New Year’s overseas.

Knysna, South Africa

These are the trips I’ve been on in 2019:

November 2018 – January – Japan

February – Bhutan*

March – Laos*

April – Telunas Resort

Bintan Lagoon Resort

May – Vietnam (Hanoi)

June – Australia

June – Vietnam (Da Nang, Hoi An)

July – August – Japan

September – USA (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii)

October – South Africa*

November – Sri Lanka*

That brings me to a total of:

4 new countries (Bhutan, Laos, South Africa, Sri Lanka) and 1 new continent (Africa!) conquered!

Plane rides always have a way of making me immerse in my thoughts, and reflect back on everything I’ve experienced. I wrote some of these on my 36-hour plane rides from Colombo to London to Los Angeles to Kauai (which drove me almost insane) while jamming to sentimental music.

The time has come as the year draws to a close. I can’t help but reflect on what a fruitful, tumultuous and life-changing year it has been.

Girls I played and stayed with in Bhutan

I’m truly humbled and very privileged to be able to live my life the way I do. I’ve visited developing countries that come from humbling economies and humbling families yet be at peace with what they have and live with what the Earth provides.

It fills me with gratitude every time I get the chance to be exposed to environments like that. It makes one feel truly lucky in the greater scheme of things, and remind us of the greed that humankind brought upon themselves and the misery that they cause themselves because of their ever-increasing need for more.

Kauai, Hawaii, my home base since November 2019 🙂

I’ve also had the privilege of being in places that truly make me feel like a home away from home, and places where I couldn’t wait to be out of.

All these experiences culminate to form and build myself as a person, through character-building, value-teaching moments.

Coming from small city Singapore where we’ve been sheltered, putting myself out there, I’ve experienced 2 near-death experiences, and outdone myself so many times this year, breaking so many personal records.

This year had been an intense one – I’ve never felt such profound kindness, sadness, love and fear, so much so that I almost feel that my heart cannot take it sometimes. So much is happening so fast, faster than I can internalize and absorb and accept.

This is what happens when I’ve been on the road non-stop for 2.5 months, over 3 completely different continents, cultures and environments.

Read my individual trip reflections here.

The monumental times that I’ve had which are edged in my memory, the adventures that have coloured my life, the chances I’ve taken that made me feel alive – this all brings me closer to discovering myself. It makes me a part of who I am and builds me to who I will become. It is also a HUGE motivation for me to travel.

My heart is full – so full – of gratitude for the life I’m privileged to create on my own as a digital nomad and full-time traveller.

Read: A Reminder To Celebrate Yourself Today

Truly, I am so personally proud of myself to have created the life I have now.

Outdoor jacuzzi at Brahman Hills, South Africa

Every time people ask me how I built my way to where I am now, this is always my answer:

Since I’ve started having to work, I’ve always dreamed of being able to travel more, to travel for work, and yet not have to be tied down to the corporate race through most of my prime. I don’t want the prime of my life to be frittering away. I couldn’t stand being a means to someone else’s end and have my life – something I am in control over – slip right through my hands as I trudge through each day to work feeling miserable.

I want to make each day count.

And here are the lessons and takeaways from being on the road this 2019.

Friends are your support system

You see, the thing with being on the road long-term, is that most things are ephemeral (except your suitcase). Most people will walk in and right out of your life in a blink. You may only have one night, one drink, one day, and the memory that you shared with them is all there is to it.

There are people I’ll never see again, but whom I’ll remember the lessons I’ve gleaned from. There are those I’ve never met but bare it all to. Then there are those I spend a day with and feel instantly connected to. There are those who’re from an entirely different continent who’s seen me at my worst and my most vulnerable, who share my burden that nobody else does.

Me skydiving in Taupo, New Zealand

Read: My Most Epic New Zealand Experiences (That Money Can't Buy) From 6 Months Here!

Like how a random chance meeting in small town Fox Glacier, New Zealand in 2018 over a common topic on skydiving would have us reconnecting over a phone conversation again while I’m in South Africa and him in India.

As long as you open your heart to them, there will be some who will inspire you, some who will show you a different perspective and outlook on life through their life’s trajectories. Some will have a profound impact in your wellbeing and life, even if you were virtual friends.

Each one of them will inevitably make a difference in your life, however minute it might be.

If there’s one pivotal thing I’ve learned to put more value on in my life this year, it’s human connections. It’s hard to explain how crazy it is for me to have met people in the most unlikeliest situations – at the hotel gym, Couchsurfing, at events, in a bar, through mutual friends, a mutual lover, on social platforms, common interests…

Read: Best Ways to Make Friends On the Road Without Endangering Your Life

The skydiver, pilot, surgeon, conservationist, fashion designer, photographer, teacher, military man, surfer, yogi, bartender…

People who’ve touched me, loved me, broke me, warned me, healed me, changed me.

I know I wouldn’t have felt so much, learned so much, grown so much, if I didn’t put myself out there, be vulnerable, or had I not opened my heart to these people in my life. I don’t know if I would have done it any different, but I sure as hell have a lot to learn from them, and myself.

Listening to their stories made me feel so fortunate to come from a loving, intact family, for parents who do everything they can to make sure I’m brought up as well as possible, who do their utmost to keep the family together as humanely possible as they can, who are as loving as they possibly know how and who teach us the values to be a moral, upright person.

It makes me marvel at fate and the power of human connections.

It’s also nice to get some recognition from the friends from home whom I’ve not spoken to since school. I love receiving random messages from people telling me how proud they are of me for what I’m doing, and how happy they are for me. I’m happy that my path has allowed me to rekindle old friendships over beers and deep conversations. Wei Quan, Zhi Kai, Scott, Yeni – thank you for your love!

The meaning of travel

The Old Rectory Hotel & Spa, Plettenberg Bay

Wine tasting at Ken Forrester Vineyards, Stellenbosch

Breakfast on our room deck, Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa

Sure, I love my glamorous lifestyle (when I do live them). But there’s more to it than travelling glamorously.

It’s as if the more you see, the more you leave a part of you in those places, And the more those places leave us with something.

While it used to be crossing countries, destinations, experiences or continents, lately I’ve learned to travel slowly, to find meaning in the places I’ve been, to make a difference in the lives I encounter along the way.

It’s taught me to follow my heart to where it leads me, even if it means going back there again.

Am I a person driven by emotions? Admittedly very much so, my oftentimes irrational, naive emotions. Emotions that lead to wrong decisions and detours. Yet it is these emotions that brings life to living, that brings sparkles to my eyes, that warms my heart and that feeds my soul.

And that’s the only way I know how.

View from Cape View Clifton

Travelling gives me so much love, hope, magic and joy that I could never find anywhere else.

The infinite possibilities of meeting the wonderful people I’ve yet to meet, the beautiful places that would leave me speechless and make me dream of living in forever, experiences that would take me ten thousand feet high and in the depths of the ocean, the opportunity to walk in the shoes of lives I might possibly be in in another life – these can’t be substituted with anything else.

I’ve learned so much from living with people, from following my heart, from my mistakes, from picking up the pieces of the mess I walked right into. I console myself with the fact that sometimes in life, it’s the hardest hits that mould us into stronger individuals.

It teaches me the most important things in life, most evidently that money provides comfort but it cannot buy happiness. It teaches me about contentment, in human connections, in survival.

It makes us humble, grounds us, reminds us of our primal needs. Most of all, it continuously reminds me to never let anyone or anything make us forget that we have the power to make choices instead of letting circumstances define us.

That’s the beauty of travel.

I catch myself staring out the plane window (omg those 30-hour flights), the car windows on road trips, over the balcony, into the ocean, and up when the moon is shining its brightest. And that’s because I’ve learned to live and let live instead of continuously chasing after something.

The heart vs the mind

If there’s one other thing I discovered about myself and meeting people who’ve touched my hearts, it’s the insanely difficult battle between my heart and my mind. As much as I try to do right and be a logical person, I constantly struggle between following my heart and making rational (but-heart-wrenching) decisions.

Most of the time, the heart wins, and in opening myself up, I become vulnerable. This was why I’d been subjected to a lot of heartbreaking moments – being lied to, betrayed, used, feeling remorse… Somehow, I still find it in me to forgive, to believe in second chances, to believe in the good naturedness of people.

And so, the greatest lesson of all this 2019:

When we look up at night, the stars are a reminder of the brief time we have on this planet. Everyone we meet, everyone we love, how we got here, what path we choose and who we choose to remember are all part of our story.

We cannot allow our stories to be written for us, because we don’t have forever. Sometimes, all we have is a single opportunity, and it’s up to us to seize it.

The more I immerse myself in wholly living, the more I know I’m no longer the same person. I feel like a completely, totally different being. This scares me as much as I embrace this me.

Peace and love to all, Bel

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2019 in Review – Life Lessons from A Year of Full-Time Travel 87 days. That’s how long I’ve spent my time at home this year. The shortest time I’ve been…

#Inspiration #Personal #Travel

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