I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet!

This trip was not intended as a vacation nor as a race to see how many countries I could visit in 3 months – but more of a personal pilgrimage. I wanted to travel with no real agenda, except to fulfill my volunteer jobs and to deepen my understanding of how I fit into the bigger world outside myself.  I don’t except every day to be full of fun, adventure or “ahhh moments.”  Some days are quite mundane, just like back home.

I attempt to have a routine each day of meditation, reading, writing, and exercise. I am doing miserably in the exercise practice and need my cross fit family to motivate me. I have two great companions I see every day and that is my Kindle – a farewell gift from my amazing team at my previous job and my small book of meditations by Thomas Merton who really speaks to me.

I chastise myself daily for not studying the languages a little more and not being more disciplined.  I have come to the conclusion that I am just a little lazy. In addition to being a little lazy I am also not a detail person and make way too many assumptions.

This gets me into constant trouble – not reading through the details of my bus pass and getting off at Amsterdam Central instead of Amsterdam Sloterdijk made me miss my bus.  Assuming for some odd reason that 20:30 was 9:30 instead of 8:30 had me running and banging on the door of another bus to let me in. But fortunately everything in life is figuraoutable.  And somehow, with the help of some guardian angels, I seem to survive.

My travel rules are simple.  1.Trust your instincts.  2. Don’t travel with fear, the world is a much kinder and safer than the news would have us believe.  3. Strangers are more likely to be helpful than harmful.

Aside from being bit lazy, and not looking at details, I do have a few redeeming gifts for traveling alone. I like my own company, I love to read, I can sleep anywhere, and I can eat anything – even bugs don’t bother me. And more often than not, looking at the big picture, not getting mired down in the details serves me well.

So with no agenda or deadlines, except to be back in Budapest by the end of October, I continue to move on when I feel the earth move under my feet and the sky come tumbling down!

I   have moved on to the Netherlands and will post that blog later this week as soon as I can get the overwhelming marijuana smog out of my head! (just kidding – but it is legal here )

Tourist don’t always know where they have been and travelers don’t know where they are going.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference.  Robert Frost

I am on a budget and just sold most of my household back home so now I take photos instead of buying- here are some things I did not buy.

Handmade pillows in Hungary.

Dresden china and Dutch tulip bulbs