Nearly arrested several times, often lost (sometimes on purpose), and dealing with unconscious travellers, lost luggage, delayed connections and even a lorry load of spilled toilet rolls, travelling has given me a plethora of experiences. Combine th...
This may well be a foreword. It's definitely not four words though. It may contain multiples of four words, the occasional four word sentence and, as a traveller, I tend to keep moving mostly forwards. Or occasionally slight diagonally, but that's usually due to luggage issues, unconscious people, or Brian, who I will explain later.
In the following pages, I sally forth across large bodies of water, battle the elements (and Brian), deal with fellow travellers, accordion playing trains, rescue stupid people, get helped out by truly awesome human beings, and try as many different types of food as I can.
This is being written while I can't travel due to the pandemic. At the moment the only travel I have is occasional vague perambulations around the local neighborhood with my four-legged friend, Arthur. He does a remarkably good Scooby Doo impression at 6am and has a penchant for squirrels, but is otherwise ambivalent to travel.
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Arthur ^^
I like travel as there's always something new to see. Even if you've been somewhere before, something new often pops up, and all you have to do is approach things in a different direction or change how you're looking at what's in front of you.
"Look up!" was something my art teacher said to me in my first year at secondary school. I was hopeless at art, but that always stuck with me, and it's amazing what you see above eye level, particularly in architecture, and also if something is falling out the sky towards you of course.
"Look down," was something that was said to me by one of my lecturers at University. Studying geology meant that the clues were usually at ground level, and it's amazing what the land can tell you if you know how to look at it, and it's useful for avoiding potholes too of course.
"Look around you," is something I picked up by doing martial arts. If you are aware of your situation, its potential dangers, and where the exit is then you are less likely to become a victim or a statistic, and also be able to find your way to the toilet in a cafe.
"Stop, look, and listen," was a very successful campaign on UK TV in the 80s that tried to help kids cross the road safely. I perhaps took that one a little bit too literally, but I do try and pull over to the side of the pavement / sidewalk rather than stop in the middle of it before I drop anchor and ponder my surroundings or look at my phone.
I like looking at things. But I think I tend to look at things differently to many people because of my path through life, various jobs and experiences, and I guess largely just due to how my brain is wired. I try to avoid falling things, and falling into things. Not always successfully I might add, but it's always worth a go and tends to hurt less.
I am the person who takes a road because I've not travelled it before, who follows an interesting sign, or goes to look at something weird on the map. Maps tell stories, as do places and indeed people, and stories fascinate me particularly the ones you don't usually hear, the ones that make you stop and look so you can try and hear what your surroundings are telling you.
I like travelling and I generally like people, although both delight and terrify me in equal measure. I like my food and drink too, and tasting new things is always fun, particularly if you're being shown someone's favourite place to eat by that person. A meal or drink (or both) in good company is one of life's little joys.
I am lucky in that I am comfortable both in my own company and in that of other people, and in recent times I have spent a lot of time travelling on my own due to business trips. Some of them have been memorable for reasons both good, bad, and indeed slightly odd, but I think my oddest trip was the first time I went to Canada for day 1 of a new job: my luggage travelled a lot further than I did, an unconscious man made for an interesting interlude, and I made an unforgettable impression on my new colleagues.
Oh, and there were definitely great meals. Mmm... food...*
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*- I do not include what is served on aeroplanes as food unless they're serving biscuits with a cup of tea. Sustenance perhaps, but that's about as far as I can stretch that definition.
