Welcome to My Travels

As i prepared to write a short text that should eloquently describe the magic and mystery of unscheduled, unpredictable travel in an area that, despite being so close to home, is still largely unknown, i realised why this sort of journey is so appealing. It is not just the exciting adventure that you are soon to embark on, it is also the mundane familiarity from which you will elope.

I sit here after work, on my sofa, laptop aptly on my lap and the TV half watched in the corner of my eye. This will be a wholly alien experience within 48 hours; for two weeks we will be living a simplistic, nomadic life free from sofas, TVs and work. The menial act of securing something to eat and somewhere to sleep becomes a challenge far beyond walking to the kitchen or climbing the stairs.

Work was finished with an empty inbox, intray and desk of issues. I have watched Hollyoaks, re-runs of the Simpsons and will watch Peep Show later. All that remains is to buy most of the stuff i want to take with me and pack it. In the bag that i need to buy. Despite there being 37 hours until i need to leave the house for the train station, the only items i have are my passport, which took an entire day to achieve, and a camera. This is, of course, not to say that i am so capable of surviving on my unusual charms and limited knowledge of the area that i simply don't need to prepare. I certainly don't claim to be an urban Ray Mears who can create anything he desires so long as he deforests enough of the indigenous area. The point of under preparing, though, is that it sets the correct tone for the forthcoming days; to plan is to contradict the spirit of adventure. If we were organised, thorough and well researched, we would detract from the fundamental reason why we have chosen to 'holiday' in a way many people would see as more demanding than their 9-5: the magic and the mystery of the unpredictable in the unknown.

James.