Perpetual traveller

I recently discovered that a term 'Perpetual Travel' actually exists. Wikipedia gives a full explanation of the term.

I have always wanted to travel and just keep travelling, but I hadn't known there was ever a name for it.

So, if I've always wanted to do it, what keeps stopping me and sending me home?

Two things made me return from my last big trip (which was a year). One was that I felt that living this lifestyle wasn't appropriate. It's incredible how many people tell me that I should be at home working, living a normal life. Or contributing to society by having children (ah-hem, the world is already over populated!). So I tried it, even fell in love, but I got bored. (I didn't try having kids! - I've never felt that way inclined).

The second was that doing this lifestyle alone means that I rarely get to explore the things that I really want to. Like going to the national parks. Interestingly, unlike most people it doesn't bother me to visit things alone, it only bothers me that I can't go to them. (For reasons of safety or tours needing minimum numbers).

So, I have resolved to really try to meet another perpetual traveller to share this lifestyle with. Here's hoping.

Norway: expensive!

I took a flight from Malaga (Spain) to Stavanger (Norway) to visit a heavily pregnant friend. I will, of course, take the opportunity to see some of the country too.

The first thing that struck me about Norway was the colour of everything. The light seems to have a different clarity to it and it's really lovely. It makes it seem as though the edges of everything are all the more crisp.

It's cold here, of course, but when the sun shines during the day it can be quite nice. I'm pleased I haven't yet throw away all my worn out layers.

The other thing that people will tell you is that it's quite expensive here. They're not kidding! A coffee in a cafe is about $6. A smoothie and a sandwich $30. And this was just a cafe in a shopping centre.

My highlight so far was taking a hike to Pulpit Rock. 2 hours of rugged hiking up, another 2 back down, and a bus and ferry journey each way. Here's a photo.

Malaga: mystery unsolved

4 nights in Malaga, and I still can't decide if I've been here before, but I think I probably haven't. Let me explain:

This is my 3rd trip to Spain. The first time, in 1998, I came just after a couple of months travel in West Africa. Somewhere between Barcelona and Madrid I became sicker than I had ever been, and although I remember Barcelona (a wonderful city), I also only remember the sight of a bullring on a hill, lying in fever in a Madrid hotel room, and going for help at the hospital in Madrid. The rest has been wiped from my memory, although we (I was with a boyfriend) certainly visited other places.

Malaga doesn't deserve 4 nights but I'm waiting for my flight to Norway. Yesterday I made a day trip to Granada to see the Alhumbra, it was a waste of time because you need to pre purchase tickets to the Alhumbra, and I hadn't known that.

It turns out that instead of going Seville- Gibraltar-Malaga with a day trip to Granada, I should have travelled Seville-Granada-Malaga with the day trip to Gibraltar. Oh well, live and learn.

Speaking Gibberish

We've all heard of speaking gibberish. But in actual fact it's a term that refers to the way the people of Gibraltar speak. It's a combination of English (it's a British territory) and Spanish (it's a tiny piece of land on the Spanish Iberian peninsula).

As it turns out, I speak a lot of Gibberish. To me in was like listening to Hindi, most of the speech was the foreign tongue, with English phrases thrown in.

Gibraltar is also known as the rock, as its predominant feature is a big rock that everyone wanted, and the British got, due to its strategically good positioning. From Gilbralter it's just 14 miles to Africa, and all sea traffic going to and from the Mediterranean can be monitored.

I stayed in La Linea, it's cheaper and meant that I didn't have to pass customs with my luggage.
Gibraltar isn't big and only took 3.5 hours to look at, as I did a taxi tour which was cheaper and easier than doing all that I did via the cable car option.

Lost backpack!

After deciding not to continue with the camino I wanted to just grab a cheap flight I'd seen to Norway (to visit friends), but I thought I had best return to Seville to get my backpack from the hostel where I'd left it in storage.
That hostel was fully booked, so I stayed across town and walked across in the morning to get my pack. But they couldn't find it. We looked and looked. It wasn't anywhere in sight.

I was amazingly calm and quite uncaring. "Oh, we'll talk to the other staff when they come in, and call me".
After 4 hours had passed with no phone call I was sure it wasn't being found. I shrugged my shoulders. Shame about losing my new sexy jeans. Shame about returning and missing that cheap flight. Better buy some new things and keep going.

But then they called me. Found!

So I picked it up and booked a (twice the price) ticket to Norway for the end of the week. Then I hopped in a bus the next day to explore a few more places in Southern Spain.