Easter Holiday: Permission to Wander
posted April 16, 2012
After a healthy mourning/photo-editing period of about 24 hours, I’m back online and in Bulgaria after returning from my Easter break. This holiday took me to Oxford, Edinburgh, Dublin, and London. I revisited friends and familiar places, and I explored new sights and scenes. It was a wonderful holiday; I boarded the plane to return to everyday life rather forlornly. But now, thanks to this blog, I can relive all my adventures!
Get excited.
I’ve yet to decide whether my posts will follow a more topic- or timeline-oriented pattern, but I may opt for a mix of both. The photos are edited, so now, it’s down to the actual writing.
In the meantime, I’ll gift le blog with an entry straight from my battered, trusty travel journal. Enjoy!
“Day 1: Operation Oxford (a.k.a. Getting there.)
I’ve now watched two trains to Oxford pull away without me. I am determined to catch the third, even if that means waiting outside in the cold.
I’ve given myself two goals for this holiday:
Come to be, not to do.
Be free to wander.
_
I want this to be as stress-free a holiday as possible. I want to joyfully soak up each glorious second of it. I’ve had to remind myself to relax several times today, already. See, I booked my flight to London, but I didn’t exactly work out the details of how I would get from London to Oxford.
Technically, I think all the information is available online, but in Bulgaria, I never seem to find the correct information. My policy there, is usually just to show up at the train or bus station as early as possible and hope everything works out from there. If I make too many plans, inevitably they’ll only fall through and become stressors, in and of themselves. So I opt for flexibility and tell myself, sometimes repeatedly, to chill out.
This is not how my family usually travels. It’s not my ingrained method of operations, but I make it work - most of the time, anyway. I still make plans; I just also plan to discard and recalculate at a moment’s notice, if necessary, and without too much angst. I don’t get emotionally attached to my to-do list, I guess is what I’m trying to say.
I want this to be my mantra for the whole holiday. I want to worry so little about the details of transport, that I’m able to fully grasp the joys of travel.
It’s only a few minutes until that third train, now. And while I’m sure I could find another way to get to Oxford, if I missed said train, I’d really like to arrive early enough to find some Thai food for dinner. Time to look sharp - calmly, of course.”
This is called a Cornish Pasty. And it is awesomely delicious. Somehow, I missed trying these, last time I was in England. They’re like portable pot pies, which was perfect for my travel style, this time around, enabling me to grab a quick and relatively cheap bite to eat, whether I was trying to catch a train or walking through London’s markets.
I bought a cappuccino for my train ride to Oxford, and it came with a tasty “stupid, little biscuit.” Gotta love British marketing.
original post available here.