'Staying Alive By Not Staying Still'
A Journey Ends, Another Begins, in Buenos Aires, Argentina Changes Coming to Real On The Road Anyone landing here can see that I’ve neglected this website for some time. The …
Many readers will know that I enjoy visiting cemeteries and have seen quite a few along my journey. I’ve been to two cemeteries in my current destination and each has had special meaning for me.
It’s been some time since I updated my whereabouts and doings on this site.
Yesterday I spent flying from Paris to Philadelphia, with a stop in Dublin. Today I’m in my life-long friend Maria’s home in Collingswood, N.J., USA, where I will spend a couple of weeks, then to another friend’s house when Maria fills hers with family members arriving to attend a memorial service for her late husband, Craig A. Tahamont, who died of the complications of Alzheimer’s disease in July.
Craig was among my longest and best friends, and I’m honored to be giving one of the eulogies in his memory at the service here on September 23.
My last day in Albania, the photo was taken on the way to the bus terminal. About six hours to Skopje, Northern Macedonia, and a sleepless night in the bus station there with the other homeless.
The pair of Bunk’Art exhibits in Albania’s capital city of Tirana, each combine history and contemporary art in expansive underground bunkers left over from the Cold War period of 1978-91.
Earlier this week when I awoke in the morning there was no water in my apartment in Tirana, capital of Albania.
I notified my host, who said the pipes sometimes freeze when it gets too cold. The water came back mid-morning after the sun warmed things up a bit. But it could happen again at night, he said. Fortunately, it’s still flowing. But he did say it’s been colder than usual lately here.
Funny, my host in Estonia, where I recently came from, said there was more snow than usual in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, after I had arrived there in December.
Yet when in Finland, before I was in Estonia, it had been warmer than usual, my Finn friend said.
Not sure what to make of my influence, if any, on the weather, except coincidence, but should it really be getting colder the farther south I travel this time of year?
Nevertheless I’m in another comfortable apartment for this month of February, and the cost of living here — food and housing — is pleasantly affordable as I’d expected. I’m taking advantage of the opportunity to work on my book proposal as planned, while currently getting 108.5 Albanian “leke,” the local unit of currency, per U.S. dollar.
I’m centrally located so it’s easy to walk to the city center, and the past two days have been sunny and not so cold. So things are looking up.
As usual, my destination in March is as yet undetermined.
I have some business to attend to in Istanbul, and it is one of my favorite cities, but I’m most looking forward to getting down to the book proposal in Albania next week in what looks to be another comfortable accommodation. Hope so.
My place in Estonia was like no other I’ve been to, super well-maintained, clean, large, all the necessary amenities and more. But most important were the hosts, Jelena and her son Mark. Jelena and I both took a gamble agreeing to a long, nearly three-month stay, knowing very little about one another, but we became good friends.
They even entrusted me with the care of their beautiful home in Tallinn when they booked a Caribbean trip (who doesn’t want a break from the Estonian winter!) that started a few days before my departure date on Friday. I really miss them being around these final days of my stay here.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite unpublished photos (above, right) from my visit to Kathmandu in November.
I’ve blogged about my travels for more than six years and, it’s about time I talked about why I’ve done nothing but travel all this time.
It’s a fair questions to ask: What prompted me to reject retirement in the paradise of Hawaii and become a nomadic, solo world traveler?
What has kept me on the road into my 70s, still traveling, now in my seventh year?
People ask, “When are you going home?” My usual response is that there’s no end in sight to my travels.
Yet I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately.
It’s because I’m now fully into the promise of writing a memoir about my life and travels.
This time — Sunday, New Year’s day 2003 — it was in a beautiful, large outdoor public pool, ice chopped away from the sides (a few inches thick on the inner surface), allowing swimmers access to the water.
You may recall my first immersion in the frigid winter waters of northern Europe was in Finland, where I learned, after the initial plunge, how long-lasting the refreshing the effects of a plunge into near-freezing waters can be.
Note (I understand at least some viewers can’t load the video. I just posted it on Facebook. Here’s a link):
https://youtube.com/shorts/cuC7QfIvPcc?feature=share
I’ve fallen behind on my posts since I left Finland and I’ll start playing catch-up today. I left Finland several weeks ago and here are a few photos of my wonderful visit.
While my time in Finland’s Lapland region was too brief, it was still rewarding.