Sunday morning musings

The places you can go while you sip your tea on a Sunday morning are fantastic. Actually, sipping tea while trying to scroll through pages of trips that look like you should be jumping on the next train/plane is physically difficult. So I have gulped my tea to focus on my next ‘might not happen but I can enjoy researching’ holiday.

Given the nonsense of returning from Spain, air travel is becoming too much like UK train travel. Have sat on too many trains waiting for them to move/had them cancelled last minute and this seems to be creeping into air travel. We boarded at 21.50 and as soon as boarding was complete, the captain gets on the hoot and says “Sorry, folks, bad news. We have had trouble getting our slot from the French controllers over the Bay of Biscay, and will be parked here for an hour or so. We are in negotiations and there is a chance it could be less. Please remain seated…” blah blah blah – you know how that goes on. Two hours later, we took off. Perhaps the negotiating skills could be improved. We arrived back in London and finally walked through the door as dawn was breaking (slight exaggeration but it felt like we had been travelling for 24 hours). I worked out I had been sitting down for 10 hours in total (including the drive to the airport). Numbness had started to set in.

Back to musings – Husbant’s WhatsApp got hacked so spent a good half hour trying to help him fix it not realising he had tried to fix it last night. The power of communication! Anyway, I probably confused people by creating a list of shared contacts on WhatsApp and sending them a message to ignore the message from Gary. Makes you want to go off grid for a bit, actually.

Which brought me to my latest holiday thought. I love walking. I have been lucky to go on quite a few walking holidays with some great mates. Just walking from one place to the next, up and down hills, by streams, the sea, lakes, getting hot, rained on, hailed on, sunnied on and chatting, laughing, crying all day – so fab. Husbant asked me once “But what do you talk about all day?” Wow – where do I start. Luckily I am at the age where I have forgotten what I have talked about just after I have talked about it. But I do know we have some great conversations.

Today’s ideas include a walking holiday in Spain – a bit rugged, a bit rural, some nice swimming options – Instagram appears to read your mind and was offering some great trips. So if anyone is free this September or maybe May next year, let me know. Am open to all options – could be Italy or Greece. Could be cycling rather than walking, or a bit of both. Not a triathlon or Iron Woman though (is that a thing?)

Have also thought about a trip to India and a 26-day at Hinterland yoga retreat (I have been a couple of times and it’s a great reset). Would love to take some trains in India too – maybe up to the far north. The world is such a big place. Instagram/Facebook has replaced the old travel agents shops called things like ‘Intasun’ or ‘Going Places’ with their glossy brochures of gleaming hotels on the Costa del Sol. With their algorithms, they offer me a hiking holiday in El Torcal de Antequera one of the most unique karst landscapes in Europe, an invitation to take part in The Snowman Race in Bhutan (the world’s toughest ultra-marathon – something wrong with that algorithm) and so many million pound house lottery draws (does anyone actually do those?)

Need to stop looking and actually start living the day.

May you be well and happy today.