Expecting the Unexpected

  At the end of my first day of the Camino de Santiago, I sat on this beach for an hour crying off and on...tears of disbelief in what I was doing.   On November 25, 2022, I was recording a travel video soon after boarding Turkey’s Dogu Express, an overnight train through Eastern Turkey. I had dreamed of riding this train for several years, and here I was. Without warning, caught on camera, my tears well up, my skin tingled, and I was emotionally overwhelmed. I was having a “pinch-myself” moment. ****** I am living the traveling life…for 10 years now. Some say to me, “You are livin’ my dream.” Is it a dream? Is it Nirvana? Shangri La? No…it is life. There are ups and downs— mostly regular routine days that follow one on the next. It is not all newness and adventure. And even if it were, then eventually newness and adventure would become regular, commonplace…boring. There are down days, when everything bothers me. I want to go home…I want to quit…I want everyone to g...

 So called “coincidences” occur regularly in our lives, but I certainly notice them more when I am traveling. I am not sure, but I believe that these types of occurrences come about through some combination of fate and our own mindset. My journeys hold so many serendipitous surprises that I have ceased counting them.   During my time in Europe in 2017-18, most of my encounters with coincidences were related to the fact that I spend much of my travels connecting to other spinners and knitters. I will tell one of these tales here, but you will find more in the “Quest for Fiber” chapter (which will be published in a future post).   July 2017 I was in Scotland and since I love to knit lace, I decided to take an overnight ferry up to the Shetland Islands, which are famous for their gossamer Shetland lace shawls. Approaching the port of Lerwick on Shetland Island. While standing on the stern of the ferry as we left Aberdeen, I struck up a conversation with another wom...

  January 2014 As the plane landed in Lima at 11:30 pm, I was so nervous that I wanted the plane to turn around and return to the Houston airport. I said to myself, “Well, there’s no backing out now!” Getting through immigration and customs turned out to be a breeze. A very cute young man saw me through immigration. I told him that I would be here until May 5. He insisted on giving me a five-month visa. “Just in case…Welcome to Peru!” But… Then I had to find a place to sleep in the airport. I did not want to try to figure out where to stay over just one night when I would be leaving Lima immediately the next day. Besides, I was truly terrified to leave the airport in the middle of the night.  Outside the concourses there were no seats.  I found a place where other travelers were awaiting flights the next day and we all slept together on the floor. About 2:30 am, we were unceremoniously moved by the floor cleaners. The next morning, after having flown for seven hou...

I think I began traveling because I loved seeing new places and experiencing first-hand how other people live. Over the years, however, I have developed a personal philosophy about travel: not just about how educational it is, but about how it is a valuable tool for personal development, empowerment, and creativity; about how it promotes understanding among people who may be very different; and about how it could be a way to achieve lasting peace. From the time my homeschooled children were small, I told them that I would not pay for them to attend college. If they wanted to go to school, they would have to want to go badly enough that they would find a way. BUT…I also told them that if they wanted to travel, I might find a few dollars to help out. That is how strongly I feel that travel is the best education and mind-and-soul builder.   Am I a bad parent? Do I take this traveling thing too far? I don’t think so. An Avenue to Peace A few months into my sojourn around the worl...

People sometimes mention to me that I must be rich since I travel so much. Now, I don’t consider myself poor, but my savings and income are low enough that you would probably be surprised that I can travel as much as I do. I am, by nature, a person who watches where her money is spent. Some friends and family members have gone so far as to label me “cheap” and “penny-pinching.” However, if I had not watched those pennies/rupees/soles/soms over the past few years, I would no longer be able to hop around the world the way I do. Over the years, I have discovered that I can live much more cheaply traveling than living in the United States. There are lots of strategies I use to save money when traveling. As it turns out, these strategies sometimes result in richer travel experiences than you would expect. For example, since I am an independent traveler, I interact with locals much more often than I would on a guided tour. I prepare a lot of my own meals, which means that I shop in local mar...

 Women often ask me if I feel safe traveling alone. I do. I don’t think that I have ever felt like I was in danger since I began traveling again in 2014. I say “again” because I did travel alone when I was in my late teens and early 20s. There is a BIG difference once you pass about the 50-year mark. And the difference is that very few men around the world will “hit” on you.  Sorry ladies…it is just a fact of life. But I embrace this.     I notice when I travel with my 30-year-old daughter that there are times when she is glad to have an older woman with her. When she is out alone, in some places the catcalls and attempts to “pick her up” become truly annoying. I strongly believe that 99% of these attempts are just men entertaining themselves and their friends, and the incident would probably come to nothing. But I remember how uncomfortable I felt when it happened to me way back when. I turned 60 years old on my first trip to Peru in 2014. And it was libera...

Starting at the end of my second visit to Peru, I started hearing about this thing called “The Camino.” It is an ancient pilgrimage route that culminates in Northern Spain. More details about this remarkable path later. Suffice it to say, in 2015 I realized that my next trip would be to Europe. At first, I thought I would just go to Spain, spend five or six weeks walking the Camino, and then return home.  But then I started thinking—a dangerous occupation for me. At the time I was becoming passionate about knitting lace. As I learned of its origins, I discovered that one hotbed of famous lace knitters was Estonia.    As long as I was in Europe, I should go to Estonia! Now this is kind of like saying, as long as I am in Florida, I should just drop in on Seattle. But I could not ignore this idea.  Example of fine Haapsalu lace from Estonia. But not only that, I kept doing the same thing. “Oh, there are lots of knitters in Scotland, I should go there as well.”  “An...