Tag Archives: Travel

Traveler’s nightmare: Thanksgiving in Miami

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I thought I would do a special tbt today, in honour of the only time I’ve actually been in America for Thanksgiving. The holiday as a whole was amazing, but Thanksgiving, not so much. It’s easy to see why.

Thanksgiving is like Christmas. It’s a time to be with family. It is not a time to be a tourist alone looking for a restaurant that will serve you the closest thing to a traditional dinner. That is my strongest memory of Thanksgiving. The whole nightmare that was the restaurant.

But first, the positives. In November, when it would be grey and rainy and generally miserable back home in England, at least I was waking up to this view:

Miami Beach

 

So no complaints there.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Rascal House. Why? It was near, it wasn’t too expensive and most importantly, it was open.

It was also the worst experience I’ve ever had eating in America, and that includes the time we were accosted by a crazy lady wearing a wedding dress in a McDonald’s in downtown LA. True story. Who knew someone could care so much about chicken nuggets on their imaginary wedding day?

Anyway, the food was mediocre at best, and looked like it had been carefully plated from a distance of about six feet by someone with a slightly better than average pitching arm. It was the kind of food you poke at suspiciously when it comes out, making sure there are no nasty surprises underneath.

Perhaps the waitress delivering it – the one with the twitch and track marks of a seasoned heroin user – was another reason I was uncertain. In fairness, she looked like she wanted to be there less than anyone else in the room, and that’s saying something.

Waiting for my pumpkin pie (I wasn’t going to have anything else now, was I?) gave me even more opportunity to look around the room. The restaurant was actually rammed, but I’m assuming by the conversations I overheard that it was full of families who didn’t want to be with each other enough to cook and invite their relatives into their actual homes. Several arguments, a sense of seething animosity that cut through the air – it was like being in one of those hidden camera shows of the 80s, but with a stronger hint of desperation and danger.

The pumpkin pie, as it turns out, was not worth waiting for either. Forgive my British assumptions, but I thought it was meant to be sweet. And cooked.

Luckily, we could see the funny side (maybe the waitress did slip something into the gravy after all) and spent much of the meal in fits of giggles as we watched one disaster unfold after another.

The best bit of the whole day was grabbing a beer and watching the football game back at the hotel room. But it was certainly one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

It’s time for a Time Out

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This year has been a crazy and exciting year for me. I’ve circumnavigated the globe, changed jobs, become self-employed as well, and walked hand-in-hand with people who are going through things much worse than anything I have had to deal with.

There comes a natural point in which I realise I need to take a time out. It happens every year, usually much earlier than this, but putting it off any longer is futile. I need to unplug from the world, reassess where my life is going and how to make the most of the few weeks which remain before the end of the year.

Research is mounting up to show that not enough people are doing this. One of the leading causes of burnout, people are simply not stepping away from the world of work, the drama of their social lives, or even the constant bombarding of information from the internet. People are feeling overwhelmed and overloaded and it is pushing so many people down the road of unhappiness. Even the fact I’m sharing this in a blog post is indicative of the ubiquitous pressure to connect and share with the world at large. Don’t get me wrong, connections are very valuable and an essential part of life, but is this just the written version of the selfie?

For the past ten years (at least), I have put great faith in stepping away from it all for at least two consecutive weeks each year. Time to read, time to be creative and thing of new projects I want to tackle. There is nothing like being freed from your daily obligations to get the creative juices flowing. It has always been of great benefit in my work life too, allowing me to successfully cope with the pressure of day jobs which have been a vortex for my time and energy. Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case as much this year, which – hopefully – means it should take even less time to unwind and relax.

I have picked out my selection of books to read (fiction and non-fiction for variety), a couple of notebooks to both journal in and devise cunning plots, and a determination to remove that little wireless button from my life for a bit.

There may also be cocktails, but maybe not. That’s just part of the freedom to do what I want to do.

 

My favourite things about New York

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A quick Throwback Thursday to one of my favourite cities in the world.

I’m lucky enough to have been to New York three times. The first time was filled with relatively unhappy memories as it was in the wake of my father’s death and I was taking his place. That still feels like a painful tug at the heart, but I’m happy I got to see New York when the twin towers were still there.

New York is the setting for at least three of the stories I’ve written and I suspect it will be in many more. It has everything you need as a backdrop.

I’ve done New York in the winter and it was the perfect place for Christmas shopping. I have to say, it was probably the one time where something was as romantic as it is portrayed in the movies. Christmas trees, the displays in Macy’s, skating in central park. Not to mention my favourite picture taken from there, a winter sunset from the Empire State Building:

Sunset in New York

For me, that photo really captures what is special about New York. It is standing there, proud on the river, no matter what, and I can’t wait to go back again.

New Zealand must do activity: Mount Cook Stargazing

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Last week I did my quarterly review and it was incredible to reflect on all the changes that have happened in my life this year. So I thought I would do a Throwback Thursday to one of the most amazing experiences I had shortly before leaving New Zealand back in July.

Of course, July is Winter down under, so whilst my friends from the northern hemisphere were cheerily talking about the prospect of a long and warm summer, I was travelling to the snowcapped peaks of Mt Cook.

Mt Cook Stargazing

 

I was there to do the Mt Cook Stargazing Experience and I can hand-on-heart say that if you are ever in that part of the world, it is a must do. I’m known to be a bit hard to please sometimes (who doesn’t demand perfection every now and then? ahem), but I would truly give this experience 5 stars. I was completely blown away. Plus, it’s a handy stop off between Christchurch and Queenstown, so you’d really have no reason not to.

Attached to the in-the-middle-of-nowhere, zero light pollution hotel, is the Sir Edmund Hillary museum. Apparently, despite his own rather well known adventures, Mt Cook remained his favourite mountain. Which makes it pretty special when you think about it. I love the way his statue faces outwards towards it, with a faint sense of longing.

Mt Cook Star Gazing

 

Such longing is inspirational, but I’m not foolish enough to grab a set of crampons and go crazy climbing. I did manage to do a bit of a hilly walk though before the sun began to set. Which was amazingly beautiful in itself.

 

Mt Cook Stargazing

Once it is dark, part of the experience is an hour talk explaining the universe. I found it fascinating, and clearly everyone else in there did as well, regardless of age or culture. It was a great way to prepare for what lay outside, a short drive away.

As part of the experience, they set up astronomy telescopes to be able to see planets. The stars themselves need no such human intervention. The last time I saw stars like that, I was out in the middle of the ocean in a sailboat. The amount of light pollution on this planet is astounding and I’m sad that, despite all my travels, I’ve never been able to see a sky like that in the northern hemisphere. Without a proper night camera I couldn’t get a photo worth putting up here, so I will simply have to do my best to describe it.

Remember those huge pieces of black cardboard they used to have in school when you were a little kid? You’d put transparent glue on there and then throw silver glitter in what you thought was an artistic fashion, but was in fact too much to create anything but a mass of sparkle. Then you’d get that one kid who wouldn’t shake the pot gently over the paper, but instead fling it straight out with a stiff arm so there was just a thick line of glitter through the middle…

….that was the Milky Way I got to see that night.

Visiting the top of the earth. Alaska

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Today’s Throwback Thursday: Alaska.

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Irrespective of anything else crazy that happened this year, Alaska has been on the cards for a long time. Mainly because I was starting to get cynical about whether or not there would actually be any ice left if I waited until retirement. Okay, that is a gross exaggeration, but there were reminders everywhere of just how much ice has indeed receded over the past 20 years.

I was writing a story about the Alaska/Canada border while I was here, so technically this should count as research. Hopefully I managed to get more of a real feel for the place by actually being there than I would have done relying on my imagination alone.

Right in the middle of the picture you can see some mini icebergs that are the most vivid aquamarine. Maybe turquoise. It’s hard to say, because it was a colour so pure it almost defies belief. My humble iPhone fails to do it justice. But that is why I love getting into the great outdoors to experience the wonder of nature whenever I can:

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Fixed Schedule Writing In An Unscheduled Life

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I’m spending a lot of time on the road lately. Not in a glamorous, jet-setting kind of way. Mainly on roads that start with M, in fact.

Normally I love travel. It’s a way to recharge, to be inspired, to discover something new. Hopefully there will be a little bit more of that before the year ends. For now though, it’s more business hotels than spa resorts and swimming pools under blue skies.

Even though I love the unpredictable adventure of travel, I need routine in my writing. Combining the two is not that easy.

Writing from my home desk isn’t so bad, but writing from hotel rooms is a bit uninspiring. I’m starting to find coffee shops a bit more freeing, although I generally need to have headphones in to avoid being nosy distracted by the conversation. They also force me to write longhand, which makes me focus more on my words.

The net effect of all this is a serious downturn in production. Which sounds a bit businesslike, but writing keeps me sane. Actually completing stories and getting them out of my head is the most rewarding thing I do. I’d like to think that if I ever have kids then they would be more rewarding but quite frankly, I wouldn’t put money on it.

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Solutions

So, in an attempt to not be loopy by Christmas, I’ve started exploring some strategies to help me get back on track.

Acknowledging Energy Levels: Currently I’m covering hundreds of miles each week, so if I have a four hour drive home one evening and crawl into the house at nine, then I should take it easy on myself if I get up an hour later the next morning. I can’t seem to shake the guilt though – not to mention the fact my body insists I wake up anyway – so I have started to allow this to be non writing time. Instead, by focussing on more routine tasks, like website maintenance and reading articles, I get those tasks off my list that I would usually do at the end of the day or weekends.

Taking Better Notes: Ideas come to me at odd times when I’m busy.  I’m trying to make sure that random flashes of inspiration and ideas get captured in a notebook so I can dig them back out when the right time comes. Bullet Journaling is a great way of helping with this.

I Don’t Feel Like Writing (But I’m Doing It Anyway): If I focus on only writing in the morning because that’s when it comes easiest to me then words just won’t get written. Instead, I’m trying to make myself do it later in the day. Creativity doesn’t come as naturally to me in the evenings, so I’ve been spending more time in places that do add a spark of inspiration. This was how I rediscovered the enjoyment of writing with a pen and glorious notebook in coffee shops (decaf, naturally).

It’s not working 100%, so I’m totally open to new ideas and suggestions if there is something working for you?

The best place in New Zealand: Lake Tekapo

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Thinking a little bit about Throwback Thursday made me realise that even in the space of less than a year, there have been so many twists and turns that it seems to be okay to do a throwback to only about three months ago. Specifically, to here:

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This is Lake Tekapo and is one of my favourite places ever. If you look closely, you can see the tiny chapel in the middle. Talk about views from the pews. It was one of my favourites from New Zealand when I was over there a decade ago, so going back this time was something special. Only a few hours outside Christchurch, but it felt like another world away from the construction and the temporariness of life there. It was a quite place, where I could get out a notepad and just mull over ideas and life in general.

Over time it had changed a little bit, but I was lucky enough to go there three separate times this year.

NZ wasn’t the place I needed to be any more, but I do miss the lakes and the mountains on a blue sky day…

Fortune Cookie

Short Stories For Fun

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The concept of doing a series of short stories keeps ticking over in the back of my mind. They’re not really a form I would usually consider, but I think it could be fun. Not only for me to write, but also as in funny ha-ha. I can’t quite see myself as a comedy writer, but I can see how the short story can be useful for short bursts of pithy characters full of wit.

One of the key elements in my head is a recurring character who is already quite well rounded in my imagination. I’d like to play with a little bit of darkness too; I can’t imagine getting away from that too much, no matter what form I was writing in.

Of course, there is the possibility that this is just a new shiny thing to distract me from the many current projects I already have on the go. Plot bunnies do always turn up, after all, when you least want to be distracted by them.

Perhaps I’ll just try one out to see where it goes as a lunchtime project or something.

Wow, that whole post was more stream of consciousness than I’d intended. Oh well…

World’s Cutest Library, Banks Peninsula

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I have officially found the world’s cutest library:

 

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How adorable is that? It’s in Tai Tapu village, which you can find on the main road out of Christchurch to the Banks Peninsula. In a country whose European heritage is actually not that old, it was quite a find. The building itself is not actually that old (1932) but having spent so much time in a place where pretty much everything has been levelled, I was thrilled to find it at all.

Plus the lady in their was lovely, offering to take out a book for me in her name. She was happy for me to just meet up with her in Christchurch and hand it back over at some point when I was done with it. This was the Kiwi friendliness that I remember from last time.

Plus, there’s a nice cafe on the corner, so you can completely justify making the trip if you have a nice brunch. Calories are free when you support local libraries, honest.

Christchurch City Drive (Pre and Post Earthquake)

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So, I’m leaving Christchurch. There are a multitude of reasons, most of which are too boring to mention here, but the best way to explain is probably visually.

Whilst playing around on youtube, I found the following clip which was created before the earthquakes that have devastated the city. It made me think of the Christchurch that I visited last time. Not only that, it runs right along the area where I have been living the past few months. I was inspired to do the drive as it is now, and recorded the experience for posterity.

Pre-Earthquake:

This is what the same drive looks like, June 2014. It’s iPhone only I’m afraid, but much of the bounce is simply due to the warping of the roads:

It is a completely different world. Even so, this only captures a small part of it. It’s a shame that I couldn’t get them completely in sync due to the natural traffic variations, but you can still get the idea.