Robyn's Wanderings

Sunglasses required for Himalayan hillsides

“Put your sunglasses on, because you ain’t going home till the morning comes.“ Frank Sinatra

Yes, the blog has been quiet for a while and hibernating much like our blogger in Toronto, Nicola Arnold. Luckily both the blog and our Toronto-based writer are back!

And what could be better to bring her back? Well spring and the sun of course. How is she going to see it? Well maybe some sunnies? Or perhaps a pair of aviators? You’ll just have to read and find out:

Clocks have changed, snow has melted, layers are unraveling, and sunshine is creeping out. And in my case, eyes are squinting.

I said adieu to my favourite sunglasses in the fall, and not just because it was wintertime. I inadvertently cut short their lifespan. One fall day in October I swung my legs out of bed and stood up. With a resounding CRUNCH (or was it just a tiny snap?), I broke my beloved red sunglasses in one swift step. Darn it!!

Now, as Canada creeps out of a wintry hibernation, I’m realizing I need to hit the shops to find another pair. For a few snowy month, who needs sunglasses? Granted there are, of course, sunny days that break up the monotony of a white winter. Then there’s the occasional winter getaway to a tropical (or sub-tropical ie. Bermuda) destination. Or even ski trips where sunglasses are required. But overall, lack of warmth = lack of sunglasses.

The French Alps, sunny side up

RIP spectacles. No, they were not expensive nor designer. No, it was not the end of the world. Replaceable of course, but they were just the best glasses I’d had in awhile and had their benefits too. It was a memorable buy – a 2-for-1 deal that I shared with my friend, buying at the same time cupcakes and enjoying a lazy spring day eating cupcakes in the park with our new summer accessories. Colourful red frames. Reflective lens making for fun photography. Sat in place without nerdy adjustments. Bought days before my 6-week trip to India (with temperatures soaring in the 40′s Celcius and sunshine beating down… much needed protection!).

We got 2 for $25... sunglasses of course, not cupcakes!

“My look is attainable. Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large sunglasses, and the little sleeveless dresses.“ Audrey Hepburn 

Let’s take our sunglasses and make them internationally & culturally cool:

- if I had travelled to Australia or South Africa, I may be sporting some sunnies
- if I was still gallivanting around Paris or Chambery, I would be saying mes lunettes de soleil
- if I was in the US of A, I’d be rocking some shades
- if I wanted to rock out to 1980′s music, I’d would belt out Corey Hart’s “sunglasses at night“.
- if I wanted to be trendy I’d have Aviators, or Ray-Bans, or some hipster style…

The kids definitely enjoyed rocking their sunnies as well

Where had my sunglasses had the pleasure of accompanying me on my journeys? Well, bought in Hamilton, Ontario, they were then transported to the sunny beaches near Hamilton, Bermuda. Their first main trip included several weeks in India, proving to be a great photo-taking device for Himalayan hillside sunsets and Taj Mahal, amongst other sights. Next, their adventures led them to Scotland, Germany and Croatia for some summer sunshine and family/friend reunions. Finally, they settled in Toronto where they ended their days prematurely.

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses! ………. HIT IT!!“ Blues Brothers movie

Visiting Taj Mahal when it was 49°C (120°F)

As the sun is here to stay, it’s time to go hunting for a new pair of sunglasses. The sunlight hours are extended and new adventures await…

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain 

Girl in Peru herding sheep when she should be in school!

I am sorry to start this week at the end, but this is my last column in The Royal Gazette. 

Why? I am told it is costs, so now your Bermudian wanderer will be found on her website www.robynswanderings.com.

For my last column, I thought I would leave you with some lessons I have learned from my endless traveling that began before I could walk.

I recently had the chance to completely embarrass two of my cousins at their school with a presentation on this very topic and how it relates to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are eleven goals the UN declared the world should be working towards.

These are good, vague goals such as empowering women and ending child mortality, however, the problem with many of these goals, is that they are based on very Western notions of “right” and fail to consider a family’s financial and cultural position.

So I introduced the 200 bored students to a six or seven-year-old girl I met while biking through the Peruvian countryside. She should be in school, but instead her family needs her herding sheep through the fields to survive. Luckily me and these sleeping students have gone to or are going to school so, we have choices.

Which is ironic when we come to my first lesson for you today and to these students: never let studying get in the way of learning! I have lived in New York, Florence, Rome, Arcachon, Istanbul, Prague and London. I traveled around India and Sri Lanka for three months in 2003 and in 2009 I took my longest expedition yet: 23 countries in 12 months.

And during these years, I also finished college with a double major, completed a masters in International Relations and a Journalist degree from the National Council for the Training of Journalists in Newcastle, England.

My studying was never sacrificed for my travels…..it became part of it. Florence was a semester abroad, London was too and New York was the base for my Masters degree.

Study in London? why not!

Travel, unfortunately, is too often seen as separate from “real” life or an escape from it, superfluous and indulgent. But travel, living or studying abroad should be seen as a requirement and valued because how can you feel compassionate about eradicating poverty if you have never actually seen poverty? How can you understand the complexity surround the MDG that states we should ensure primary education for children, if you haven’t seen my little sheep herder? Travel makes these situations a reality.

Travel will also teach you strength! There are really two types of strength: an inner strength that I learned while I was sitting with my head in a toilet in Egypt thanks to a salad!

Recovered from food poisoning and ready to take-on the world!

As I wished that I could die, or at the very least go back home to my mom, something inside me changed and I decided that I had to keep going. Two days later I visited the Pyramids and I got through the food poisoning.The second type of strength? Seriously,…do you know how heavy a 20 kilo backpack can get? I didn’t think so. Do you know how those 20 kilos feel when you have to walk a mile to leave a Greek ferry terminal and find your hotel?

For my third lesson, I draw directly from the MDG’s: the promotion of gender equality and empowering women. Sure, in Bermuda we have some work toward empowering women, but as I found myself traveling solo around the world, I also started recognizing how much being a woman truly mattered.

I began my travels with a travel buddy, but we separated in India so I found myself traveling solo throughout Southeast Asia and South America. At first I was scared and then I realized the world was not as scary for a single woman as I thought; it was easier for a single woman to find friends to travel with than a single man. Women are less scary.

But I also realized how much my safety was up in the air when I was on the back of a motorbike to go to a boxing lesson in Thailand and the driver went a separate way from the friend I was going with. I made him stop, I got off and I walked back to my hostel.

You learn that women in certain areas of the world have to be dressed from head to foot and if you are a woman in these countries, men will not speak directly to you. Empowering women is given a global perspective when you travel.

My lesson four came with some difficulty for me. I am a runner. It’s my stress release and conditioning, but when I began traveling I wasn’t able to run, so I had to find other ways to exercise, like hiking for five days through Patagonia, Chile!

Hiking through Patagonia (notice the famous towers behind me!)

Where am I going with this? Well I am telling you that travel will teach you in many ways, that you have to roll with what you have. Sure, initially I got annoyed at the lack of running, but then I found ways to supplement it by riding a bike through Vietnam or boxing in Thailand and walking….everywhere. I also realized that only foreigners were the ones working-out. The locals were like the teenagers in Battambong, Cambodia waiting opposite the restaurant I was eating in for scraps and it started to put some things in perspective.

Which brings me to lesson five and appearances. The more you travel the less you care and I don’t mean, not keeping yourself clean.

Well, unless you’re in the middle of the woods in Patagonia and the closest warm shower is not the glacier you sleep next to! Believe me, five days of dirt is better than an ice shower!

What I mean is that it does not matter is if you are wearing “Seven” jeans or Miu Miu dress or carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. Instead, you start to look at people as people. You start to understand how little other countries have and how that $1,000 bag is a year’s work for some families.

Sleeping next to a glacier? Probably not going to shower there!

And you start to learn my lesson number six: trust. Like I trusted a Laotian man who walked onto our overnight bus and told me and my Californian travel buddy that he knew we were going to the 4,000 islands and we were to follow him. We did and we had the easiest commute to these Laos-Cambodia border islands of any travelers we met.

Before you trust everyone, however, my lesson seven is as you travel you learn there is a balance to trusting and trusting your instincts.

Like the time I was in Varanasi, India and my travel buddy decided we should take the offer of guidance from an Indian boy to a hotel.

Varanasi sits on the holiest river perhaps anywhere, the Ganges. It is also an auspicious town where you are forever blessed if you die there because your body will be cremated on the ghats and sent back to its maker in the Ganges.

Beautiful Varanasi!

With this background, we were led, to my reluctance, by my travel buddy’s trust into a tiny hole in the wall where we were shown scarves and drugs, not a hotel.

I was out of the hole in the wall in a shot, marching far away from a situation that I knew would only go badly for us.

It’s a fine line, trust, that becomes trickier when you travel and you are trying to understand a new culture without insulting everyone you meet by running away.

Which brings me to lesson eight: do not fear different cultures. For this lesson I have to warn you against my kind, journalists, as well as, politicians (though I am definitely not the later). Often, minor conflicts in countries or strikes become national tragedies with a stroke of a pen.

Example? The Iraq War. I could have listened to George W. Bush when he lampooned almost every Muslim country in the world and launched an attack on Iraq, but I didn’t.

I moved to Istanbul, Turkey at the beginning of the war and was met my some of the kindest people I have ever met. The sky is pierced by minarets where the call to prayer echoes five times a day and the people on the ground will stop you on the street just to speak to you out of interest.

I am proud to be a Bermudian, too, but I also learned from travel not to be too proud to appreciate and try to learn from other cultures. These are sometimes frustrating differences, but they make life interesting!

Rome is not Rome until you live there

And the best way to understand is lesson nine: living in another country. Rome is not Rome until you try and run errands on your lunch hour. While the tourist areas of the city will remain open all day, where I worked was traditional and a siesta in the afternoon was the norm. So, study abroad (and my column on how to do that is on my website www.robynswanderings.com) and/or get your TEFL certificate and teach English and make money while you live abroad! What could be better?

And finally, let’s be honest: travel teaches you how truly beautiful the world really is. From the lush green tea plantations in Sri Lanka, to the highest capital in the world where women wrestle, La Paz, Bolivia, or the best steak you will ever eat in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a bone church outside of Prague in the Czech Republic or floating in the dead sea in Jordan, the world is a weird and wonderful place that you should not squander.

Tango in Buenos Aires!

We are really lucky we can travel to see all of this beauty. Many people will never be allowed to leave their countries. So, do not waste your time on this lovely planet, working or reading this column – get traveling! I will be on www.robynswanderings.com from now on.

“To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.” – Isaac Newton

Red Beach on the Greek island of Santorini is worth a visit.

It’s Monday morning and for those who might be sitting at their desks or trying to stay warm against the snow that sit outside, Nicola Arnold is here to make you jealous.

Our Bermudian wanderer is missing home, so this week she takes us around the world to visit beaches! So warm yourself with these images and plan your next holiday:

Has it really taken me almost a year of blogging to write about beaches? I come from Bermuda, for goodness sake, home of the pink sand and turquoise waters. You can illegally snatch some sand in a bottle if you visit a Bermuda beach (or inadvertently take some home in your shoes, swimsuit, suitcase… it gets eeeverywhere!).

What better time to think about beaches than when the weather in Canada takes a drastic turn towards the 0°C (32°F) mark? [Sorry, Bermudian/American friends, as I have converted to Celcius-ism given my years of living in Canada and Europe... there's no going back now!] I was actually happy there will be a high of 12°C on Sunday… until I saw that the current temperatures in Bermuda are around 22°C.

So, beaches. Let’s think warm, breezy thoughts…

In Croatia, reserve your spot on the pebbly beach early.

I’m lucky – I grew up on a 21sq. mile island, surrounded by ocean. It’s not a big mystery as to why we often had visitors in the summer months! I know that proximity to an ocean beach is not the norm. So when we don’t live in the tropics with a beach down the road, and we’re not sitting in a hammock under the palm trees, where do we go?

In Toronto we have The Beaches, bordering Lake Ontario. The islands and coastline in southern Croatia, known as the Dalmatian Coast, lead out to the Adriatic Sea (across from the boot of Italy). You could also find a beach in an enclosed area, like a bay or a harbour. What about when you make a special trip to Scotland to see the Scottish Highlands and the Loch Ness Monster? You may find yourself on a beach on a loch – whether you brave a quick dip or not!

Walks along a beach at Loch Lomond, Scotland - breezy but not warm.

Do beaches automatically bring up images of the Caribbean, Hawaii or Fiji in your mind? Perhaps you start dreaming of that trip you once did along the Great Ocean Road in southeastern Australia? Somewhere warm, tropical and sunny, right? For the most part, we think of bright summer days, cooling off at the beach. Summer holidays, a weekend vacation to the coast, or a much-needed winter getaway. Would you ever think about the beaches along the South African coastline? Probably not… but South Africa offers more than safaris and game reserves!

Welcome to the beach in Durban, South Africa.

And let’s not forget types of beaches. I grew up with sandy beaches, and even with sand there is variety – pink, white, grainy, fine…etc. On beaches elsewhere, the sand is red, white, black, grey, or some other rainbow mix. Further still, some beaches have no sand at all. Think pebbles, rocks, or stone stabs.

Winter vs. summer beach visit - boots just do not cut it!

Story time! Once upon a time…

Okay, okay: In 2005, I met a fellow foreigner while studying abroad at high school in France. We were in the same exchange program, and we became good friends. I was excited that she was a Canadian, from Ontario, as I was headed to university in Ontario in the fall of 2005. During our spring break, we joined 45 other exchange students on a bus trip through Spain, France, Italy and Austria. In the south of France, she and I dipped our feet in the ocean as it was a sunny day in the French Riviera. I joked that I had been landlocked in northern France for 7 months (my longest time away from Bermuda at that point), and she vowed to come and visit me in my sub-tropical island of paradise.

Cheers! From France to Bermuda, we are beach buddies... where next?!

Fast forward 3 years: In May 2008, my friend and I reconnect at the airport in Toronto to fly to Bermuda… she was my first friend from Canada to visit!! My family and I made sure to show her the best of Bermuda summers – the rum cake company (free samples!), the ducking stool (she was chosen as a victim to be dunked), taste testing rum swizzles at Friday happy hour, cross-island ferry rides, swimming in the crystal caves, and, of course, THE BEACH.

**While putting this post together, I realized that there was too much to cover all at once… Bermuda will be Part II of the beach blog**

Lists while teaching English abroad?

There are a number of ways to inspire your travels. Some people talk to friends, other watch TV and then our wanderer this week, Nicola, enjoys her travel websites.

This week? Nicola continues her wondering and wandering through travel websites:

Many hands make light work – correct? Why not lasso up all the things we are interested in and arrange them in coherent, readable lists? Websites, blogs, and articles are riddled with such options for you to save, favourite or bookmark things you like:

follow it. like it. tweet it.link it. youtube it. soundcloud it. vimeo it. flick it. stumble upon it. tumble it. blog it.

…do people still email it?
…or even, snail mail it?

So without further ado, I’ll share with you the websites I like, Travel and “travel” themed.

Here’s my list for “Top 10 Travel Websites of Interest“:

**Disclaimer: “travel” in the unconventional sense – adventures, memories, personal journeys, and the like**

1) http://abiglife.wordpress.com/
- Finding a blog whose tagline is “From Sydney to Germany via a Greek Island“, I knew I had hit the jackpot. As my tagline might read “From Canada to a Greek Island via France“, this blog makes me reminisce of all things European. Enjoy!

**Of course, with a weak spot for Greek Islands, I must also mention this blog: Oia Santorini. Sunset paradise.**

2) http://fiercewarrior.blogspot.com/
- My friend J. shares some special yet unconventional travels… her journey through eating disorders, mental health issues and things to cherish in life. With a stretch of the imagination, we can all be considered fierce warriors journeying through life.

3) http://travelintwo.com/
- What happens when 2 Bermudian sisters travel through South East Asia? They blog about it, of course! Meet Eloisa and Arantxa:

“We are two sisters, Eloisa and Arantxa, from the tiny island of Bermuda who are passionate about travelling. We plan to blog about our six month journey through South East Asia, getting off the beaten path, hiking mountains in Indonesia, cycling through Bali, exploring Beijing, and meditating at an ashram in Kerala, India. Join us on our fun-filled adventures!”

4) http://www.blogto.com/
- For anyone living in/visiting/exploring/deliberating about/enjoying Toronto… this is an excellent blog to follow on the exciting TO lifestyle & culture, especially the ‘best of’ lists… most importantly, for food discoveries!

5) http://1000awesomethings.com/
- Do you want a pick-me-up? Think about all things awesome. Some will resonate to your core, make you laugh and remember “that one time when…”. Travel back into the memories, friends, and enjoy. Bonus? Written by a Torontonian, Neil Pasricha, to boot. Check out his TEDxToronto video here.

For example? Finding fun ways to photograph the coastline in Durban, South Africa. AWESOME!

6) http://dearphotograph.com/
- Time travel, anyone? From another Canadian creator, hailing from Kitchener Ontario, comes Dear Photograph. Tagline: take a picture of a picture from the past in the present. Who doesn’t like old photos, paired with a modern twist?

7) http://www.drawastickman.com/
- Creativity. Whether creativity sneaks into your life as part of your studies, your job, your hobbies, or every fiber of your being… this exercise and the adventures that ensue challenge us to use our imaginations… they are not just for children and storytellers! Create your own story, and your own stickman.

8) http://dadsonvacation.tumblr.com/
- Because my own dad travels in a kilt these days. Because Hawaiian shirts are just a no-no. Because you always see that one tourist… that one guy… who is just in an awkward situation. These holiday dads make your vacation just thatmuch better.

9) http://thetravelpresse.com/
- Like attracts like, so when I met a fellow Bermudian frequent flyer/young professional living in Toronto, I knew I would be a fan of her travel blog. Throw a glance in this direction, too, and jump into the writings of a passionate traveller!

10) http://wonderopolis.org/
- Wanderers should also wonder… so here are some questions to get you wondering.

**Bonus** If you are into art history… you may also be into this website: http://www.smarthistory.org/

I will forever be wondering & wandering - Jageshwar, India

And in the words of Porky Pig, “Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-… That’s all, folks.”

Edward Monkton says it best every time

Our wanderer Nicola turns 25 today! What better way to celebrate her birthday then navigating the world of Nicola? Well she couldn’t think of one either so here is Robyn’s Wanderings wishing her a very special birthday and a quarter of a century of Nicola’s travels:

A quarter of a century has come & gone, my friends. For me, at least.

For the third year in a row, I celebrate my birthday in Toronto, Ontario. This weekend coincides with two other big events in Toronto and throughout Canada - Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche all-night art festival, and CIBC’s Run for the Cure.

Everyone is celebrating for one reason or another! Therefore, I deemed it appropriate to write 25 Things About Me. Birthday and travel-related, more or less.

1. I took my first flight at 4 months old and we moved to Bermuda… I slept the whole way
2. As a child, I was little enough to sleep on blankets on the floor below my family’s airplane seats on overnight flights.
3. I celebrated my 18th birthday in France, enjoying champagne and strawberry shortcake with my host family.
4. Two plastic figurines join me on travels: a California Raisin & Simba from the Lion King [Looking at that link for California Raisins, I found out that "Ben Indasun" is my toy!]
5. The first Broadway show that I ever saw was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
6. Katie and I saw snow for the first time when we were visiting family in England one Christmas.
7. My first winter sport experiences include 2 middle school ski trips to Colorado, and ice skating in Rockerfeller Center in NYC.
8. I saw the movie Lion King at the cinema in Africa, while spending a summer with my grandparents in Zimbabwe.
9. …Speaking of Disney, I’ve been to Disneyland California, Walt Disney World Florida, and Tokyo Disney… I have yet to conquer  Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland & Shanghai Disney!
10. While visiting Japan for 3 weeks, I rode bicycles, developed a love for corn chowder, and dressed up as a meiko for a day [The meiko blog link is very similar to my own experience. I wish I had photos to post of Japan, but sadly they are in Bermuda, tucked away in an album... I took 6 rolls of film on that trip!]
11. Once, I fell asleep in my soup at a hotel restaurant and my parents & sister have never let me live it down.
12. While taking a home-video at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Katie and I danced around singing “We are space aliens, we are space aliens”. Oh, the good old days!

If you are reading this sentence, then congratulations – you are almost halfway through the list!

Your birthday: a day when you are allowed to wear the crown.

13. On my 10th birthday, I open a cereal box (nice gift-wrapping!), and dug through it to find 2 plane tickets to Oklahoma. My best friend’s family had recently relocated there, so it was my dream trip. We kept in touched, reunited in Europe & Bermuda, and are still best buddies today!
14. My week-long high school French trip to Paris served as a taster for the 3 times I would live in France as a student – in Lorraine, in Paris, and in Savoie.
15. Both sets of my grandparents moved to Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) post-WWII – one half from Croatia, the other from England.
16. Give me a window seat on an airplane any day.
17. The top 3 countries that I’ve been to that hold a piece of my heart are: France, India and Greece.
18. The longest flight I have been on so far is 13hr from New York to Tokyo.
19. After graduating university, I was treated to a First Class, overnight flight – champagne included! [A rather big step-up from sleeping on the floor of the airplane seats... re: #2]
20. My dream islands to visit are the Maldives… one day, I hope.
21. My 21st birthday turned out to be an awesome surprise party, although I had planned to do homework that evening…
22. When we visit my grandmother in Croatia, we go for 6am walks including a morning swim in crystal-clear sea – much chillier than Bermuda waters.
23. … Despite my affinity for Croatia, I must hark back to my adoration for Greece. Islandy. Laid-back. European. And f-e-t-a! [In fact, I'm celebrating this weekend by going out for a Greek feast... OPA!]
24. Hurricane Felix hit Bermuda in 1995, and we got our dog shortly afterwards from the SPCA. We changed his name from Felix to Chipo.
25. Lastly: Katie and I share this birthday month (October 17th and 2nd, respectively), and we are family friends with two sisters in Bermuda who have eerily similar birthdays (October 17th and 1st). We were meant to be friends!

Here's for a sweet treat... or 6.

Who knows, perhaps if I eat my vegetables and walk everyday I will make it to 100. If we still write blogs 75 years from now, perhaps I can write my “100 best travel experiences”. For now, though, back to the cupcakes!

Sometimes, the words you speak just don't add up!

Happy Sunday everyone! We are well into the end of the weekend (unless you are traveling like me. Sorry it had to be said!), but good thing we have an amusing little note from our wanderer Nicola.

Nicola, this week, is applying for a job (sacrilege!). Have no fears…the position would still be in our traveling world and hopefully she will continue writing. Before we can jump to that position, however, a job interview had to be completed. Been? heard? Have I confused you? Well let Nicola explain:

Shoulders squared, legs folded to one side, sitting up straight, hands clasped. Smiling but not grinning, enthusiastic yet not overly excited. The job interview was progressing nicely, when all of a sudden I realized that the words flowing out of my mouth were wrong. Horrendously wrong. WHAT did I just say??

Luckily my brain was able to catch the error, which my mouth then sought to rectify. Sending out a ripple of laughter in an interview room is a great way to calm the nerves… careless mistake turned comic relief. What was my faux pas?

In an effort to say “I have never been to Kenya or Ecuador”, I had actually uttered the phrase “I have never heard of Kenya or Ecuador”. Riiiight…

I've monkeyed around in South Africa... but have never heard of Kenya!

Clearly, that is not the case! As a university graduate, fervent traveller and someone with a keen interest in country geography… I have INDEED heard of Kenya and Ecuador.

I've stood in front of a door... but I've never heard of Ecuador!

But you never know… perhaps being quick-thinking and righting your wrongs scores you points in an interview. Heck, if I get the job I will know more about Kenya and Ecuador than ever before – and hopefully get a chance to visit these exotic destinations! All shall be revealed in due course…

Emily's last photo taken in Hong Kong

Happy Thursday everyone! We haven’t heard from our wanderer, Emily Ross for a while as she transitions from traveling around Asia to returning home, but now she’s back!

And she’s back with a disclosure……a travel blogger, yes? Petrified of flying? Oh yes! Who would have thought a travel blogger afraid of flying, but Emily has found a way to deal with it and it has everything to do with….Akon. Huh? Read on:

Hello, bloggers!

I return, after a shameful month’s hiatus. I was sucked into the Bermuda Triangle’s hedonistic whirlpool, but now I emerge, ready to type once again!

Now, Asia is a distant memory, the skyscrapers of Hong Kong have evaporated as though they’d never existed. I ought to write a sappy love letter to Hong Kong…but instead I shall address a different but nonetheless prevalent issue in my travelling microverse.

Flying.

Necessary.

Unavoidable.

Terrifying.

Yes, travellers, I am afraid of flying.

Don't make me!

I haven’t always been: when I was a kid you had to wrestle me off the plane. But only once the kids meals and gift bags were gone did I see the plane for what it truly was – an unnatural, rickety death trap. Every bump my heart is in my mouth, every air pocket brings more stress than you can imagine.

I understand that it’s rather tragically comical for someone who comes from Bermuda to be afraid of flying. There’s no other way out. I will never, ever go on a cruise (I think if I’m unlucky enough to be eternally damned, Hell for me will be an eternal cruise. With cold showers) so sea travel isn’t an option. No, the plane is the only way off the rock.

Asia I pushed for ANY mode of travel other than flying. Bus, boat, train, hitchhike – sounds good! Let’s go! Anything to keep me below 30,000 feet. But of course, when flight was unavoidable, we were flying the budget airline. If you think I freak out on British Airways, you haven’t seen me on Air Asia. Lao Airlines? Cue hyperventilation.

How am I supposed to sleep on this death trap?

Thankfully, while I still have to fly in order to get to university this autumn, once I’m in the UK there’s no need for me to fly to experience the history and beauty of Europe. I can take the Eurostar, then travel round Europe by train! Oh, wait. The Channel Tunnel’s 250 feet under the ocean. Hmm.  Right. Well! I can go by coach! Catch the ferry from Dover to Calais, then free to roam about Europe!

Ack. So long as I don’t coach the whole way. I’ll never forget the 24 hour journey from Bristol to Prague….which could’ve all been so much easier if I’d just paid the extra 20 pounds for a 2 hour Easyjet flight.

So, yes, flying is the most convenient if still highly unnatural mode of transport.

Thankfully, though, the answer to my inflight terror was found in a pair of ill-suited headphones.

My brother gave me an iPod shuffle in 2010 for my 20^th birthday. Unfortunately, I lost many of the accessories to this iPod shuffle, including the headphones which allow you to pause, play and skip songs. Normal headphones work with the iPod, but you’re stuck with whatever pops up on shuffle. This unskippable feature and a serious of well timed musical manure became invaluable when tackling my fear of flight.

Man was not meant to be this high!

We’re flying over the Cambodian-Lao border. We encounter bad turbulence. I begin to panic…but then I realise that Akon and Kardinal Offishall’s ‘Body Bounce’ is playing on my iPod.

I am not going to die listening to Akon.

He will not be the last thing I hear.

The universe is not that cruel.

And I relax.

So pepper your playlist with awful, awful music. I can guarantee that it will come in handy.

Trying to board a plane!

“Sir due to some very serious physics, no matter how much you push you will not be able to get any further ahead.”

He had already stepped on my feet, bumped into my bag and made it clear through his throat clearing that all of this plane loading was irritating him before I spoke.

I was as equally frustrated as we tried to board our plane back from Barbados; however, before I trampled him, I realized no good could come out of stepping the person in on front of me (or behind) or getting exasperated. At the end of the day the plane was not going to leave with me standing in the aisle regardless of fellow passengers’ manners.

Which brings me to a Rock Fever Column I have thought about almost every time I travel (mostly while waiting): plane-boarding and disembarking etiquette. For a period of hours when traveling we will all be in the same bo….plane, so why not follow some simple manners?

My number one in plane-boarding manners: check your boarding pass BEFORE you alight onto your aircraft of choice. What good is that piece of paper buried under your laptop or hiding among the small office you have packed? Not much.

Number two on plane-boarding etiquette? counting. Sure if you are a two-year-old in nursery school trying to count out the most mundane task could be understood. A 50-year-old adult? Not so cute or understandable. Seriously do you need to read every number along the way to your seat? Surely it is understood if you are standing at seat 1 upon entry and you are in seat 26, logic would have it that you will have a fair task of traveling down the plane. Do you need to count and peer into every row you pass?

Ok maybe that one was more of a pet-peeve, so why not continue with pet-peeves? Counting is one and the alphabet is another. This pet-peeve comes with a free travel tip too! So for the alphabet-challenged: B always comes after A so if A is the window seat, B will be…..the middle! So where do you think C is? Right, the aisle. Of course planes change in size and the number of seats before the aisle so when you walk onto a plane look at how the seats have been arranged alphabetically so you know where your seat will be. Sure this gets tricky when you move from business class to our regular class, but I have faith in you!

Then again not all of us are adults. Which brings us to number four: if you have small children please listen to the airlines when they allow you to board early. Sure it may be cute to you when your two-year-old takes each step by him or herself at the pace of a snail, but I can tell you no one else does!

Want to get in that plane? Follow my plane-boarding etiquette tips!

Then for those who do not have small children, but are carrying the equivalent in their carry-ons I have place number five on the list for you. Look I am not one to follow regulations unless faced with jail-time, but the size requirements for your carry-on luggage make sense! How many times have you watched (or been) that person whose wheelie suitcase cannot fit through the aisle, but it’s too heavy for them to lift so…..you wait another 20 minutes to board! It’s annoying, right? So don’t be that person and make sure your bags can either roll down the aisle or small enough to carry in front of you down the aisle.

The case for smaller suits aboard also relates to elbows in my number six spot. What am I talking about? I am talking about fellow passengers who insist on waving their large bags into the elbows of their poor fellow aisle-seated passengers. Not to mention the person in front of them who will get whacked by the oversized luggage. Oh and then, fellow passenger, you won’t be able to lift it to place the bag in the overhead bin!

And don’t be that person who brings their closet into my number seven or onto my plane. I know it’s annoying waiting at the other end for your bag, but it is more annoying for 100 passengers trying to board a plane when you cannot find a place for your closet.. As everyone waits for you to call the attendant, try every overhead bin and finally concede to checking it under the plane believe me you are NOT making friends.

Another suggestion for number eight? Make sure you board the plane as soon as you can if you have a lot of luggage in order to keep your luggage over your seat. Do NOT steal bins from seats you are not sitting in; that’s just not nice. Oh yeah and it also means those people will get stuck with bins in the back and will slow your disembarking time.

And when theplane lands? Don't clog the aisles! Wait if you're going to take a while.

Additionally? When you find your seats on the plane pull in. Pull into your row, wait for others to pass and WHEN there is a break proceed to place your bag in the overhead bin! Look it just makes sense. I know you want to get rid of your bag, but if it does not fit perfectly and you have to struggle you are ensuring that a hundred people behind you will be ready to fit YOU perfectly in the bin.

Which brings me to my final manners’ comment and the only one when it comes to disembarking: you have options to strategically remove your overhead bags that do not require everyone behind you to wait and watch.

Option one: make sure the luggage is over your seat and is light enough for you to remove with one fell swoop.

Option two: ensure that your bag is not behind you on the plane! Try and push your way through a group of people who have been sitting for hours desperate to go home, go on vacation or visit loved ones! Best of luck.

Option three: if your bag is ahead of you (maybe the bin ahead) ask the person in front of you to take it down while you wait for the plane to open its doors and everyone to disembark. Failing that wait!

And finally option four: if you have children or very heavy bags then wait for everyone else to get off the plane and then take your time deplaning. You will not be as stressed and the rest of the plane will not have to wait for you.

Ahhh wouldn’t it be nice if we could all think of the greater good when it comes to flying? And these are just a few of my own travel manners (and pet-peeves) what are yours?

Santorini offers black sand beaches, blue waters, and Connect Four

It’s Sunday and our wanderer, Nicola Arnold has been caught-up in….games! Of course travel is not always fun, but it is always filled with games.

From the haggling for the best price to the divide tourists in groups and conquer them with sales and even more typical games to keep you from being bored like scrabble! Here Nicola tells us all about her travels and games:

What is your defense to ward off boredom and tiredness during long flights/road trips/delays… and just to have fun whilst travelling?!

Try packing a deck of cards… it works wonders whether you are backpacking Asia, on a train in Europe or road trippin’ in the USA. Despite possible language barriers if you play with new travel buddies, you may learn new games or tricks along the way. [Of course you could occupy yourself with a puzzle book, an iPod or a Nintendo game - and you have every right to do so - but it may be more social and friendly to team up with others in combating idle time!]

On my travels in June, we brought along Travel Scrabble for a bit of enjoyment. Travel games are great since they tend to be magnetic and the little pieces don’t fly all over the place. Even when energy was low, we attempted to come up with half-coherent words. Sometimes, though, you just have to chalk it up to luck… and a bit of strategic board placement!

[However, I must admit that while my sister and I duked it out in Travel Scrabble, another member of our group (who shall remain unnamed), was playing Angry Birds on a smartphone. Sometimes you just have to let sleeping dogs lie... or in this case, let Angry Birds fly!]

Concentration levels were high in the search for clever words

And you know what is better than travel games? GIANT VERSIONS OF GAMES! You never know when you might stumble upon, say, a life-sized chess board at a park in Switzerland, or a 4-foot Connect Four game on a beach in Greece. Don’t believe me? I can bear witness to both! Who says they are just for children? We are all young at heart.

Don't mess with the Saturday chess players in Geneva

However, if life-size games elude you on your journies, be prepared to whip out some paper & pens for some good, old-fashioned, never-ending games of tic-tac-toe, dots & squares, hangman, or pictionary… whatever floats your boat! For even more simple ideas, start up a guessing game such as eye spy or twenty questions to entertain yourselves.

So in the words of Michael Jordan, “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”

We have exciting news here at Robyn’s Wanderings…….we have a new wanderer!! Or 45 wanderers! Ok, let me explain. A few weeks ago I interviewed the Bermuda Overseas Mission group about their traveling and volunteering abroad. Every year they travel to one off-the-beaten-path after another and help build homes for those communities.

Next week a BOM group of 45 will be departing Bermuda, so Adrienne Smatt, who works with them, wanted to join Robyn’s Wanderers to let everyone know about this interesting travel experience. You want to know where they’re going? What they’s doing? How to pack for the unknown? Well here’s Adrienne:

In an attempt to strum up some interest in what we do, I bring you the first installment of Bermuda Overseas Missions’ Out of Bermuda – Into Africa. We’ve never done this before. And by that I don’t mean travel to Africa, I mean blog about travelling to Africa.

Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Adrienne Smatt and I’m 23. As a recent BFA graduate from New York University, I don’t really have an occupation as of yet. Let’s blame that on the times and pretend I’m still a student. Despite that, I do have some passions, and working with BOM is one of them. Proof of that I suppose is my track record with this charity. I first got involved when I was at Bermuda High School six years ago. Since my first trip (to Botswana) with them, I have travelled all over the world building homes and meeting new people. This makes our upcoming trip to Zambia my sixth mission. We have a word for people like me. Veteran (“addicted” also applies).

Enough about this Veteran.

We’ve got one week to go and if you’re coming with us, chances are the excitement is bubbling within you. If you’re not coming with us… well… you’re probably looking a little green with envy. And if you’re not resembling a famously colored Dr. Seuss meal, you should be.

This installment of Out of Bermuda – Into Africa isn’t meant to preach about how great what we do is; hopefully, you already know about that. (If you don’t, no worries, you will if you’re a faithful reader.) This installment is about something a little more concrete, something all 45 people on this trip are going to have to do.

Pack.

So here are a few easy steps to think about when you’re packing your bags and heading to some far off land with a group of people you may or may not know well.

Know where you are going...Mexico?

Step #1

Remember where you are going.
This is not to imply you’ve forgotten that you’ve been booked on flights headed to Zambia, this is to remind you about weather. Here, we could cry in an attempt to fill our tanks because we need the water that badly. This is typical Bermudian Summer though – hot and despite the 95% humidity, dry. Wherever you’re going, that may not be the case. Because Zambia is in the southern hemisphere, it is their winter, temperatures get down to the 50s. For us rock dwellers, that’s cold! All of that to say, “think; pack a sweatshirt”.

Step #2

Scout’s Motto: Be Prepared.

Ladies, I know your black pumps are the most versatile shoes you own, but chances are if you’re going somewhere to build homes like we are, you won’t need them. So leave those at home. By “Be Prepared” I mean toilet paper may be scarce. I mean the electricity may go out. And I mean there will be mosquitoes. Bring a roll of your favorite TP, bring a flashlight and definitely bring some bug repellent – preferably with as much “deet” in it as you can legally buy. If you have any allergies, bring your meds. If you can’t eat certain things, bring supplements (peanut butter is a good standby for vegetarians).

Step #3

Don’t Assume Your Bags Will Get There When You Do.

With a group of 44 people travelling along side you, odds are, one of you will arrive before your luggage. Pack an outfit (including the unmentionables) in your carry-on bag. Maybe you even want to pack a toothbrush and travel-size toothpaste. This may cause the light traveler a little hassle, but if your luggage gets lost along the way, you’ll thank me later.

Step #4

Clear Off Your Bed.

Lay out all of the things you think you’re going to pack on your bed. Don’t gather stuff as you think of it and immediately put it in the suitcase. If this is how you pack, go through that process in advance. Unload all of your pre-packed items onto your bed and take a good, long look at them.

Step #5

Divide By Two.

I’ve told you to lay everything out on your bed because if your stuff takes up more than the area of the top of your bed, you’re in trouble. Nonetheless! This may be the most important step, so listen up. You should now be staring at your things. Take away half of them. You don’t need underwear for every day you are there. Do some laundry in the sink if you must. You don’t need your little black dress. You don’t need your hair straightener. But this brings up a good point: if you can’t live without some appliance requiring electricity, you may need a converter (this could also fit in with step 1 or 2).

With these things in mind you should be good to go.

1, Remember Where You’re Going;

2, Be Prepared;

3, Don’t Assume (you know what they say about those who assume);

4, Clear Off Your Bed;

5, Divide By Two.

I now grant you permission to pack.

Go forth.

Travel.