So, after my frankly depressing post last week, things have taken a slight turn. I’ve just booked a series of tickets for 8 days away in a little over a week’s time and I’m beyond excited. I can already feel my itchy feet returning. Here’s the plan:
Leg One
Fly to Murcia to visit my BFF who moved out there in April. I haven’t seen her since she joined me in Goa for her birthday in February, so it’ll be awesome to catch up. There’s also a week long fiesta happening in her village, so it’ll be time to partay!
Leg Two
Grab a train and head north to Madrid. There, I’ll be meeting up with a friend I met in Chiang Mai. He’s off to Indonesia in early September and then making his way to Thailand again, and since I’d been toying with the idea of seeing Bali, I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to get some inspiration. There’s nothing like being with someone who’s about to head off backpacking to plant ideas in your head!
Leg Three
Fly to Marseille, grab a train to Nimes and then a bus to Uzes, my favourite little French haven. I’ll spend a few days there with Sylvie, the fab host I stayed with a year ago. I’m hoping being there will give me time to rest a bit and re-evaluate things. I’ll also be meeting up with the musicians who inspired me to backpack in the first place and one of them is off to Mali soon.
Leg Four
Fly home and book a ticket somewhere else (I hope).
I’m so, so excited, and the grand total of all those flights and trains? Approximately £140 – how cheap is that? It’s a great, sunny day here today and I’m feeling massively optimistic. I can feel my shoulders asking for the load of a backpack……
Natalie K. Martin 