A small greeting from the here and now. I'm still close to Helsinki, where I will have a new year en famille with a Finnish version of raclette. A thousand things are buzzing around my head. 2016 has brought a lot of change. I've started travelling full time. It was a dream first, then a plan and now it's my reality. A reality I have to deal with and continue to work and improve on. I need to make this lifestyle a viable way to live. I still see most of my budget shrink rapidly. My current nightmares are about waking up penniless in the tent in the Kazakh desert, mixed with the feeling when I wake up that this might not be so bad. Where would I spend my money in the wilderness? Fear plays a major role in all this.
Currently, I'm waiting for my Russian visa. The first visa I have ever had to organise. I have never left Europe. For me, it's a strange feeling to have to get this piece of paper. I can't imagine that this was normality between EU countries only a few years ago. In my irrational moments, the imposition of a visa feels like the rejection of the whole nation. When I was born, mere thirty years ago, my grandparents had to cross the Transitstrecke to Berlin to see us. Now I'm sitting in my room in Seutula and feel treated badly by the Russian state. Pfew, I look forward to the days when getting a visa is my new normal. I presume, the day will come.
With my stay in Russia mostly organised, I have to fix the "After". After Russia come to the biggest challenges, the wildest adventures, unknown countries and cultures. The closer I get to something I fear, the smaller the problems and the greater the solutions become. Every time it's the same, and still, fear shakes me up.
Everything feels pretty wobbly. My research for the next steps is hard. The routes change, I get lost in seemingly important details, and all the time my mind wanders to India. Until I get there, summer will have come and gone. Maybe. If it doesn't go well, I have to travel quickly for a while and maybe get on a plane. (You see? My head is spinning.) Will I be able to see Chennai? Or will I have to leave from Delhi directly to Bangladesh?
For this new year, there is only one priority for me.
TO CONTINUE.
CONTINUE to set one foot in front of the other
CONTINUE to write about it
CONTINUE to try to reach people
CONTINUE to see, think and feel
Thanks to all who read, comment and make this blog come alive with me.
I wish you all the best for 2017!
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