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...