Robyn's Wanderings

Storm clouds are approaching

The wind has picked-up and more importantly South Shore in Bermuda is growing its waves as we speak, or write or blog or you get it.

Colin is a comin’ and, no, that’s not a dig at your Colin buds (or Bermuda’s own Collie Buddz). It’s a Tropical Storm and it seems to have my island in its sights.

For most that means heading inside. For most that means taking in the furniture, bunking down and hoping for the best.

Not your thing? Are you looking for the storms? Well Warren Faidley does just that. A storm chaser he also offers tours!

Yep you looking for a vacation with a kick? A trip with a tornado? He’s your man and book before September and you can save $1,000.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7SP5Eaowuo]

You’re not sure what kind of storm you want to find? Don’t worry he offers the gamut:

1: Springtime storm chases and tornado chasing in Tornado Alley — you ride with Warren!

2: Chase convoy — you drive your own car or rental vehicle as part of Warren’s chase convoy during the springtime
tornado chase season.

3: Executive Monsoon Safari and Photography Adventures during the July summer thunderstorm season in
Tucson, Arizona.

4: Executive customized chases, education and extended storm chasing during and after the normal chase seasons.

Here’s his site.

Call me crazy….no wait call him crazy, but that sounds like the last kind of holiday I would go on. But hey that’s me and that’s not you. So check it out, but not before, if you’re in Bermuda you get prepared for Colin.

What does Colin require? He’s a demanding quest. These storms are. Ugh. Give me this or I will blow your house down. Buy this or I will take out your lights. Seriously, so rude.

Luckily Bermuda’s houses are pretty prepared for the weather. A roof might go in the worst of winds, but rarely does a house go down completely. What does knock Bermudians out is the lack of electricity which means then no water.

Why? because we catch water off our roofs and it is stored in tanks under our homes. Electricity out = no water pump.

So prep one: fill your tub and other containers with water.

Prep two: buy gas for the BBQ or coals so eating isn’t a problem.

Prep three: ice and a cooler for food. I don’t think Colin’s going to be bad, but if electricity goes out food could go bad.

Finally prep four: buy canned food, food for pets and any prescriptions necessary for the next few days! Storms are tricky things and one never does know.

For more info check-out the Government’s Emergency Measures website. and right now www.weather.bm is saying Colin’s only blowing at 45 mph.

We can handle that Bermuda so hunker down, buy your food/beer/wine and we will get through this!

Traveling on Thai public buses!

Difference good or difference bad? Frost could you explain? Because right now I am traveling down a path I have a lot of knowledge about in some areas and yet is a hell of a risk in others. So my Friday Photo of the day? Me exhausted on a Thai public bus! Open doors, along dirt roads = tired and dirty traveler!

While I could navigate my way around the world last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, now I’m back home. I kept the travel column in The Royal Gazette newspaper (every Monday so check it out!), but I’m also trying to do something new – establish myself as a freelance and travel writer.

Sometimes I don’t know what I am doing. Sometimes I am trying to do new things. Sometimes I try to approach the idea from different directions.

I like it. I enjoy it. Or, well, I wouldn’t be doing it. But it’s not easy. I have the critics and the cynics sitting on my shoulders: How can you wander Robyn when you are on a 21-square-mile island? How can you be a travel writer when you are not traveling all the time? Don’t you ever want to settle down? Don’t you want to have kids?

And the truth is: I don’t know. Is it weak to admit this today? I don’t know. But the truth is I am trying. I am trying to travel down a path that I have never been on before.

I am trying to do something I have been subconsciously working on all my life. I have wanted to travel and experience the world since I was 11-years-old and begging to go to boarding school. The “wanderlust” has never stopped. I am always curious. I want to see it all.

And now I am trying to translate this energy into what I do. But besides the cynics I have other road blocks and diversions that spring-up.

Surely if I can survive a five-day trek through Patagonia I can tackle anything?

While on the road it might have been rocks falling off the side of the Amalfi coast in Italy that closed the road. It might have been breaking-up with a boyfriend while on the trip. Now it’s tackling health insurance, pay roll tax, pensions and balance in life.

Questions loom over me. Should I spend money on upgrading? Should I go on that trip? How do I figure out how to combine my trip with travel? And how do I have a vacation?

I have confidence in myself or I wouldn’t have chosen to wander through this territory of freelance and travel writing. But that’s not to say I don’t question myself. And that’s not to say I don’t stress about things.

The other thing I am learning? The other path I am traveling? It’s down the path with people who are willing to support me. Willing to take a chance on me. And figuring out who is not.

None of this is easy and, yet, I love what I do. How do I make that work?