2013 in Review and Plans for 2014

2013 was really my first adventurous year. In summary:

• In January I hitchhiked from Stirling to Prague - by car, lorry, ferry, foot and finally train. 
• During the spring semester I spent two weekends hiking around the Scottish Highlands and Trossachs
• In June I volunteered in Skyros again, via Athens
• In July I flew to Romania (via Italy..!) and taught for a month in the east
• From the end of July I visited (with an Interrail Pass) Cluj-Napoca, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bordeaux, Lyon and Grenoble
• At the end of August I lived in an airbnb flat in Como for a week before spending a week (respectively) with one family in Sardinia (brief stop in Milan) and another in Chef-Boutonne.
• After working hard during the Christmas semester (earning, not studying, of course) I flew to Australia via Beijing, and spent Christmas in Melbourne and New Year at Point Lonsdale. 

And the highlights include but are not limited to:

• Finally fulfilling a childhood dream - visiting the Spanish Riding School in Vienna
• Learning to drive a horse-drawn cart in Romania
• Lying out in the field with the horses under a full moon in Skyros
• Enjoying the music of Grail in the Old Town Square, Prague
• Reaching the summit of 'Le Dent' in the Alps
• And finishing off the year by swimming with seals and dolphins in Australia.

Grail in full swing

There were low points too...

• Stubbing my toe so many times while wearing sandals that the nail turned black
• Cooking overnight in a Budapest bedroom without air conditioning
• And worst of all, learning of the death of a close friend.

The bad experiences, however, couldn't outweigh the value that travelling has held for me over the past year. And that's why I'm planning for another big adventure in 2014.

Plan #0.5: Improve this blog
As you can already see, I've given the blog a bit of a makeover, and in 2014 I hope to improve my travel writing skills and develop the blog further.

Plan #1: Driving tour of Scotland

In the second part of the university's spring vacation, Lachy and I are planning an epic voyage by car around the Highlands and Islands. Definite stops will include Inversnaid, Tomintoul and the Isle of Skye.

Plan #2: Purchase ticket to Iceland (complete)

On August 19th I will be flying from Edinburgh over to Reykjavik to spend a few days in and around the capital before heading to the far north to volunteer on a dairy farm with many horses, where I'll also be lucky enough to be taking part in the biggest Icelandic horse roundup in the country. If I can get a few days off, I wouldn't mind attending Iceland Airwaves, either; a big music festival in Reykjavik.

Plan #3: Return to Skyros (part two)

Sometime in October I will head back to my favourite Greek island to spend six weeks or so working with the world's greatest breed of tiny pony. And for the first time, I'll be working in weather my body can understand, and I might actually be quite productive!

Plan #4: Christmas in Cumbria and Hogmanay

Since the last Christmas season was spent with another family in another hemisphere, I promised my parents (well, my mum) that this year I'd be at home. And I am determined to attend Hogmanay for my birthday this year, something I've always wanted to do but - despite living so close to Edinburgh for so long - I've never done it yet.

Plan #5: (technically, this one is for 2015) Move to Australia

That's right. Lachy is transferring and I'm moving to Melbourne with him. Much adventure awaits. Much excitement, much excitement indeed. 

Hello Melbourne.

Budapest Diary

This is a transcript of the diary I wrote three years ago in Budapest. Not very exciting but it puts the poem into perspective a bit I think. And there's more written here than I can recall in my memory, which is sad, but really drives home the point of this blog. If I don't write it down I'll forget, so. My notes from today are in italics.

Thursday 25^th February 2010

Flight was long but I wasn’t as scared as I might have been (I'm not afraid of flying any more). The architecture in Budapest is incredible but every possible surface is covered in graffiti, except St Stephen’s Basilica. There are adverts for escorts and sex shops everywhere, so strange. Ate in a restaurant called Kárpátia, the food was incredible and so was the interior. High curved ceilings and huge wooden divides and every surface painted on. Next door was live gypsy music, very busy, but our room was quiet.

Friday 26^th

Much nicer in the daylight. The architecture is really beautiful if eclectic! Saw some sights via a tour bus, got off, went into the labyrinth of Budavár. Frightening. Lunch was soup in a café, spicy apple with ginger quice [sic] the only vegetarian option, a bit too strong and sweet for me. Walked to Gellért spa but too expensive, then to the Citadella, very high up. Have booked tickets for a ballet at the opera house tomorrow, Mum & I. La Bayadère.

Parents bought me Hungarian secret box. The key is hidden inside and it has the tree of life on it, very beautiful. (I can't get the box open now.)

We ate in a restaurant called Spoon, a boat moored in the Danube. The food was amazing. I had gnocchi (for the first time, now I eat it all the time). The view of the palace and bridges lit up was incredible.

Saturday 27^th

Off to the flea market at 9am, disappointing, very like a car boot though a bit stranger (a lot more porn). National Gallery very beautiful from the outside but expensive so we missed it out. The House of Terror museum was very sobering, the former headquarters of the Nazi and Soviet governments, then called the House of Loyalty. The cells in the basement where prisoners were tortured and killed were near intact and particularly horrible.

Had a muffin in the café and then went shopping. Bought a beautiful scarf and some clothes. Ate pizza, very good, in the Queen café. Found the Guinness Pub for Dad’s rugby match, then Mum and I went back, got changed and went out. Searched for the Marquis de Salade restaurant (éterrem) but couldn’t find it, ate nachos and brownie instead in Balettcipo which was very good, sweet pair of pointe shoes hanging in the doorway! Rushed to the Opera House. Good seats though (very) uncomfortable. (We peeked into a box and took a picture there.) The performance was amazing, particularly the sets and costumes, and La Bayadère is a really good story. (Some gripping commentary.)

Sunday 28^th

Went looking for cruises this morning but there aren’t many in winter so we had to leave it. Strolled up Vaci Útca, the main shopping street, and Mum & I bought another scarf. Had a cake and hot chocolate in the Anna Café and then went to the Basilica to have a look around. St Stephen’s hand was there and you had to pay to light it up for two minutes. Walked over to Parliament and then had lunch in Balletcipo, quesadillas for me. Went over to the Opera House but the tour would have finished too late.

Taxi is coming to pick us up in 45 minutes and flight is at 6:20pm.

My diary was pretty perfunctory back then I guess! The poem is a bit more exciting.

The City Dead

This is a poem I wrote when I was in Budapest three years ago. It contains everything I did and felt about the city but I highly doubt it makes sense to anyone but me. But my next post will be the diary I kept in Budapest to see if that clarifies anything. Each stanza is for a different day.

I.

descend into heat-filled graffiti-lined and boarded
homes of homeless bundled dirtied
’til cool air drops to meet you, streets like canals
wide raced through by lights
the stone a canvas absent blank and beautiful.

buried places calling, music laughter long-forgotten
echoes bouncing off the quiet moulded, hang your coat
and drown beneath high ceilings ancestral colours
in thousands, you will feel alone.

bars and locks and darkness leer beneath balconies,
smoke and talk emerge from subterraneous
holes and at once space, and this untouched
and silent, alive or a corpse suspended.

II.

dawn breaks empty horns and wheels and frantic
mismatched beauties lined up, headphones please
this quiet, gather and meet or cower, bury fears
fathoms beneath, the dark will wind its way
around your throat, you are watched.

it is safe: apple ginger spice and soft familiar
butterless, a first kiss fog and fantasy from
fishermen to domed and grand and magic
hold your breath and run beneath olive leaves.

there are secrets here, the knowing’s in it
little pieces of a world long lost, not stolen
broken jealously hidden away and guarded,
wave-bound illuminating in the pitch it breathes.

III.

sunlight in the grey sharp and cuts and glows
on quests unfound and hopes unlived
the secrets here are that unnative unknown
and: exposed loyalty finds terror in putrid
cells, the light dances on the crucifix.

culture is dying, identity sighs
in juts and folds and spokes it glances up
a cello on the foot a car park laughing
music flares a chuckle a cough behind doors,

behind doors. in gold the heights, the heights
in red another world transported leaping
kicking fighting singing it is vital, vibrant
in half-lit rooms it stirs and jerks and gasps and lives.