journey – Page 2 – Let Luce!

Off to the Opera!

Posted on 29th Jan 20202nd Mar 2020 by luce

Tuesday 29 January 2020

Just over 24 hours ago, we arrived in Riga bus station totally unfamiliar with our surroundings. After a four and a half hour journey, we descended the bus, loaded up our backpacks and began the walk to the Old Town in search of the apartment that we had booked for four nights.

I felt a certain lethargy – that semi-sleepy feeling after being cooped up for too long. Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints about the bus (LuxExpress) and the journey. In fact, it was comfortable and efficient with free hot drinks available as well as a personal screen with enough choice of entertainment to please anyone. Actually, I was quite pleased to finally watch ‘ Darkest Hour’ which has been on my watchlist for a while.

Once we arrived, it felt good to get off the bus and stretch, but trying to get our bearings in the dark early evening took a little longer than we wanted as we stood in the cold damp drizzle. It was exciting to be somewhere new but there was that sense of uncertainty of where the apartment was, what it would be like and how easy it would be to find.

Now 24 hours later, we are already referring to the Cuba cafe (an absolute find of a bar a couple of streets away from the apartment) as our local; we have done our ‘mini weekly’ shop at the nearby Rimi supermarket and we have booked tickets to the opera – yes, the opera! This is on top of the 19,000 steps of sightseeing, which included taking in several places, such as the Freedom Monument, the Museum of Occupation, the Town Hall Square with the House of the Blackheads and also the orthodox Nativity of Christ Cathedral amongst others.

It’s odd how one day you can feel like a complete stranger in an unknown city walking down roads that are totally unfamiliar that you have to keep pausing to check the map, read street names and/or look back to assess your bearings. Then, the next day you feel such a sense of familiarity and you can wander around without your nose stuck in a map (well, almost!).

Wednesday 29 January 2020

This morning, we went for a run around the local park area and tonight we shall be sitting in the dress circle watching ‘Turandot‘.

When packing for this trip, I asked one of my daughter’s if I should take a particular smartish shirt and she said yes because there may be an occasion to look nice if we go out in the evening.

This may be the first and last time that I attend the Latvian Opera House so this is the evening that I shall make some attempt to not look like a backpacker. I certainly can’t guarantee posh opera clothes (no way do they fit in a hand luggage sized bag!) but at least I have ironed my shirt and I shall endeavour to comb my hair.

Travelling

Hounslow to Helsinki

Posted on 22nd Jan 20202nd Mar 2020 by luce

On our day of departure, I started the morning with a refreshing 5km run along the sea front. It was one of those beautiful sunny, cold crisp mornings, which is my favourite kind of weather. When I was teaching, my daily two mile commute (hardly warrants the word ‘commute’ I know, but I was heading to work so in theory it was) took me along the sea front and I would often wish that I was out on a run on those early mornings rather than driving to work. So before leaving for my travels, I was keen to make the point to myself that I no longer went to work! It was beautiful: there was one moment when I was staring out to sea and the sun beamed through the sparse broken cloud, which looked just like a thin layer of cotton wool that had been gently teased apart. The ray of light shining down on me felt like some sort of sign (don’t worry, nothing deep and meaningful) – like a thumbs up to the fact that I was enjoying a run rather than going to work!

We left after lunch – first a 30 minute walk to the train station and then a 2 hour train ride to Victoria followed by a tube to Hounslow where we were staying the night in close proximity to Heathrow ready for our early morning flight the following day.

I hate taking the Underground but on this occasion it was the most practical means to get to our hotel for the night. Being rammed into a crowded tube train during rush hour made us contemplate the poor timing of our departure and it momentarily took our minds off course from the excitement of our impending flight.

Tightly packed in the carriage, I watched the boy next to me (I’m guessing he was about 15) contemplatively touch the packaged sandwich that he had inside his Pret-a-Manger bag. I could almost sense him wondering whether he could feasibly eat his sandwich standing up in a jolting tube surrounded by commuters.

He eventually decided that he would attempt this feat. I grimaced as I smelt the aroma of fish waft into my nose. I didn’t think anyone in their right mind would choose to eat a sandwich in such dire surroundings and certainly not a tuna sandwich (the smell – urgh!), however the poor boy must have been starving because he worked so surely and intently to open the package and he literally couldn’t take his eyes off the sandwich for a single second.

As I now sit and reflect, I can forgive him. (How gracious of me!) He was desperately hungry and he didn’t realise he was standing a few centimetres from a vegetarian who last ate meat 37 years ago and can’t even remember a time when fish was on her plate.

Early Tuesday morning we arrived at the airport. We had an easy flight on a half-empty plane, where I was able to enjoy the first of my downloads (‘Treadstone’ on Amazon Prime if you’re wondering. I’m so pleased I spent that packing time prioritising my entertainment!)

I spotted this jacket of a man sitting near me on the plane – an exciting job to have!

The tube, the train and the English sea front now all seem like a long way away as I write this in our home for the next three nights: a centrally-located apartment in Helsinki with the added thrill of use of a sauna and laundry room. Luxury and necessity all in the same basement!

So now it’s time to discover this European city…

Everyone loves a reindeer in lights in front of a statue next to a Christmas tree!

Travelling

As long as I have my passport…

Posted on 20th Jan 20202nd Mar 2020 by luce

Our departure is imminent and I am still not packed as my mind is flitting about what to take. Accomodation is only booked for the first six days of our intended three week trip and so it is somewhat of an unknown entity what to include. I seem to be prioritising the entertainment: podcasts, playlists and programmes for when we are in transit rather than the necessities of clothes, so my backpack is still empty. Travelling light has always been a rule in our family – hand luggage only whether it’s a week away in France or a two week tour of the U.S. East coast so whatever doesn’t fit in, stays behind. It is no different this time so it shouldn’t be too difficult to pack.

As I contemplate which items of clothing to take, I find my thoughts wandering back to when we last took time off work to go travelling. Just over twenty years ago (April 1999), we packed up our car and left the hustle and bustle of everyday home/work life to travel around Europe. My husband had taken a six month sabbatical from work and I was on maternity leave.

In our reliable family-sized vehicle, we set off with our two daughters (aged 4 and 2) and our recently born son (just three weeks old). Despite trying all the recommended remedies to encourage an early birth, the baby was overdue and had to be induced, so our planned departure back then was not without an element of uncertainty!

It was an exciting European adventure, which involved a combination of planned destinations as well as spontaneous and impromptu travelling to unknown parts. We covered various countries, including France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Czech Republic. There were some nights when we were safely tucked up in a comfortable hotel bed and knew what we were going to be doing the following day and other days when we didn’t know where we were going to sleep or what the next 24 hours had in store for us.

All in all, those six months are etched in our family memories (although I know child 4 will be reading this and feeling left out as she wasn’t born at the time!) and despite people thinking that we were mad travelling with a young child, a toddler and a newborn, it was an amazing experience not to be missed and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is in a position to consider taking time out from their day to day life.

And so now twenty years on, we are off again. In theory, packing should be easier this time; with no young children in tow, my husband and I only need to think of ourselves. Really I need to stop scrolling through the plethora of podcasts and abundance of books to download and instead I need to actually fill my backpack so that I have something to wear on my travels. I know that once we have set off and I remember something I have forgotten, I’ll feel a momentary annoyance, but this will soon pass because as long as I have my passport, I’ll be fine.