Musing Practice

Travel 20

TravelTwenty. It’s like a TravelTen. Only more entertaining, but less practical.

Two and a half years is a long time to be away. It’s kind of too long to say anything coherent when somebody asks “What have you been up to?”

Rather than rattle off a shopping list of countries visited or blah blah blah about the vibrancy of the culture in Europe or mourn for another day trekking in South America, I’ve tried to come up with my top 20 of things during the period. Things you might not have known or guessed. Things that were out of the ordinary. Things that were a bit spesh. They’re not really in order of importance.

1. We worked on an organic farm for two weeks as WWOOF volunteers in Argentina. Huerta de Vida had no running water or electricity, but we are now well versed in transplanting tomatoes, digging irrigation ditches and building a natural construction house. I still have an irrational fear of chickens.
2. I fainted for the first time in my life in Berlin, Christmas 2007. After a sauna, where, instead of relaxing I spent my time lying on the warm wood fuelling an internal conflict. You know the ones: “what am I doing with my life. I don’t know what I want to do. Have I made the right decisions. Yada yada yada.” I finished my sauna, walked upstairs and folded into a mess on the bathroom floor. After picking myself up with only my ego bruised, I had a shower and promptly burst into tears.
3. We went to Paris for a one night only culture binge. We arrived off the Eurostar, around 4pm in the afternoon for Nuit Blanche, an annual evening of Parisienne brilliance, where museums, galleries and other spaces are open all night. Basically the entire city turns into a psuedo art installation. Highlight of the evening was sitting on the marble floor of an enormous cathedral gazing up at a black and white short film, documenting a group of blind people touching an elephant. Quite breathtaking. Hearing a chamber choir in Notre Dame was pretty spectacular too. We stumbled back to Gare du Nord station at 8am for our return train to London.
4. I did a two week internship at a BBC science magazine in Bristol. And wrote things like this.
5. I woke up in the dark FOUR times to climb steep things. 1) Final day of the W trek, Patagonia, Chile, to see sunrise onto “los torres”. Okay this was quite amazing, helped by the fact that we took our sleeping bags up there. It was ‘effing cold. 2) To climb up a volcano in the Reservo Eduardo Avaroa, Bolivia. This sucked. I made life hell for everyone else and our guide thought I had altitude sickness because I kept stopping to harrumph and complain. 3) To get out of the Colca Canyon, Peru. Mike walked ahead so I considered breaking up with him. 4) Final approach to Machu Picchu, Peru. This was fine but I grumbled anyway.
6. On a work jolly in London, I was at a fab restaurant and Sienna Miller was sitting at the table next to us. For all you trashy mag readers out there.
7. For my birthday in 2008, Mike organised a surprise trip to Barcelona for a long weekend. We got all Gaudi inspired, ate tapas, drank red wine and very nearly missed our plane home.
8. For Mike’s birthday in 2008, I booked us in for a dinner at Dans le Noir. This restaurant is completely pitch black, your waiters are blind (sans guide dogs), your food is a total surprise and you eat fine French cuisine with your hands. What a trip.
9. We studied Spanish in Buenos Aires. For three weeks, we were back to school. For the record, I scored higher in the test.
10. We went to an ATP music festival in the UK at a family holiday park. Not as weird as it sounds. Being able to play ten-pin bowling, mini-golf or those carnie basketball games when there are no bands is rad. Also, your own cabin at a festival… fricken cool.
11. Mike broke his nose by accidently punching himself in the face. Sorry babe.
12. We stayed on Sipan, a Croatian island that has a population of 600. In the granny flat of an older couple who spoke no english, instead communicating with us with “da’s” and pointing.
13. I became buddies with Jake White, coach of the Springboks, while I was following his team around Marseille, reporting on the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup 2007 (writing things like this). Okay well maybe not buddies, but he said G’day at the pub one day and also waved while I was at the beach with Jez. Buddies enough!
14. We played ping pong in a club in Berlin. As you walk in the door, you swap your ID for a bat. Entertainment sorted for the entire evening.
15. We took hallucinogenic vine during a Shaman ceremony, in Cusco. No hallucinations but at least the cleansing effect took place. I spewed like  a waterfall.
16. I got the: boys have a penis, girls have a vagina talk from a three year old Bolivian boy whilst volunteering with Proyecto Horizonte. It’s even cuter in Spanish.
17. I stayed overnight in an internet cafe (Manga Kissa) in Japan. Twice. Once in Osaka. The second time in Tokyo so I could be at the Tsukiji fish market super early. This was such a chaotic yet strangely functional, fascinating place. I had uber-fresh tuna sashimi for brekky. Yum!
18. We crashed our hire car in New Zealand. When I say we, it was Mike. Nobody was hurt, but it was a wee bit scary.
19. We had a very East London evening. A house-party in Hackney, followed by some bar-hopping and topped off with an underground carpark rave in Shoreditch. Boy did we think we were cool.
20. We fit 8 people (plus the driver) in a taxi. A slightly crazy evening with some other backpackers in Bogota, Colombia.
21. We came home. At the moment, this is feeling just as massive as the previous twenty.