So, I’ve been back now for a week and I’m so very badly missing my holiday! I visited Spain for the first time and caught up with an old friend, as well as my friend who I met in Thailand who is now in Indonesia (jealous? me?). Then, I headed to France for Uzes and Montpellier…just, wow. I knew after last year that I could live there, but this time…as soon as I headed towards Uzes, I had a huge sense of calm. It seems my heart has found a home. Pictures and more detailed posts to come.
Anyway. Enough mushy stuff. As the title suggests, not very much of my trip went to plan – it was just another reminder to me that trying to control what happens in life is a complete and utter waste of time. Luckily, for me, the changes were all good. In a nutshell:
- It turned out that getting to Madrid airport in the dead hours of the morning from Alcala de Henares was more than a bit tricky (note to self, check transfers to the airport are possible outside normal hours next time). It was no biggy, though. There was a train from Madrid to Nimes that took 6 hours – and as we know, I love trains.
- Except, we didn’t factor in the waiting time to buy a ticket at Madrid Atocha station. As we were waiting in the seemingly never moving queue, my train left without me. Another note to self, ask if there’s a counter for international tickets. Because there was. And I could have caught the train if we’d have known. Oh well. In the end, it meant an impromptu flying visit to Barcelona, somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit.
- Except, I didn’t stay very long. I literally found a bed to sleep in and had to be up for a 7.20am train. I eventually arrived in Nimes at 11am on Saturday and headed straight to the Market in Uzes to catch up with friends. It quickly became apparent that two days there simply wouldn’t be enough, so…
- I extended my trip by four days. This was a combination of helping out my host and also because I got a little sick (as much as I love trains, I hate the air con – always makes me ill).
Were all these changes costly? Yes. Massively so. But then again, I had a blast. Because I stayed on in Uzes, I got to take part in the full moon party with my musician friends, my host and her lovely friends, and the other volunteer staying there too. I also got to hang out in Montpellier a bit, somewhere I’d been intrigued about for ages. And, more importantly, I got my itchy feet back.
Central America is no more. I really want to go but the flights are horrifically expensive and the time away would be too short. In fact, it looks like I’ll be heading back to Goa to do the Shiatsu course I was interested in for 3 months. The moral of the story is? Go with the flow. Having a packed itinerary is just silly and in the end, much more restrictive.
Which means I have a tight budget and schedule to work to up until it starts in December. And, this includes editing and releasing Heart Shaped Bruise.
Deja vu, anyone?
x
Natalie K. Martin 