travelling

This adventure begins with charting the waters of the internet - being familar with one set of laws and posting blogs dedicated to the journey then being shipwrecked and without a craft for some time. The new vessel is sleek and modern and new plastic smelly. The lappy may not go with me overseas but some form of the technology will. For those who read the old blogs - you shared the preliminary planning. For the new passengers, welcome. All old entries lost to the sea.

This is not a holiday - this is travelling.
Holidays are soft and mellow, lazy and idyllic - laden with overtones of luxury and undertones of private pleasure. Reading, wallowing, savouring, layering the fat.
Travelling is pushing past the comfy pillows and turning the nose up at the hammocky slumbering. No comfort and daydreaming on this journey.

Richard's turn to choose the destination (but it happens to be my choice too).
Somewhere reeking of cultural ancestry and steeped in culture. Somewhere oozing art and the romantic book backdrops of Austen landscapes and Tolstoy tapestries. Art and libraries and museums to build the wealth and knowledge of our craft. England and Eastern Europe, Estonia and any other 'e' places.

52 days away and microplanning each day to hold the most rewarding forays. The quick overview has us in Hong Kong then on to London, Vienna, making our way through the Czech Republic, on to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Singapore and home.

Our love of real rather than artifice has led us to choose accommodation that we think may suit the feel of the places we are peeking into. A castle in Scotland, a lighthouse on the coast of Wales, an apartment in Paris, a hostel in London, Beatrix Potter's farm in the Lakes District.

A rifle range in Riga, trekking in the forests to reach medieval villages, linen factories and whiskey distilleries, churches and arty things, hot and cold, old and new - all part of the bumpy ride. Buses, planes, boats, trains and Shanks' pony...and much of the latter with a not so little bag.

A blog a day to keep boredom away.

Hope to hear from you ..... keep posted.