There's an Australian Youtube blogger who has, as one of his famous lines, 'destination f**cked'. I can't help think of that as I ponder a retirement destination for the Silver Bloggers theme for this week, bored with this relatively small state of ours with shut borders on all sides. Our prime minister won't even let you out of the country if you live in another country or hold that passport, so my husband can't even return to England. If he was allowed, he wouldn't be allowed back. So we're kinda stuck, and trying to see silver linings. Our gypsy hearts that long to travel are feeling quite black right now. We console ourselves by saying that we wouldn't have wanted to travel until 2023 anyway, as we won't be financially able to by then, and that'll be good timing for when we do 'retire', or at least leave the secure prospects we have here, rent out the house, and go on any number of the dream trips we've thought about over the years.
Cue 'The Unlikely Voyage of Jack De Crow'. Written by an Australian guy who was teaching in Shropshire when he decided to sail his mirror dinghy through the waterways of England and then decided to just keep on going across the channel to Europe and onwards to the Black Sea, it's a humourously entertaining book that tickled our adventure bones. A mirror dinghy, if you didn't know, is tiny - it's only 3.3 metres long. We have one, in our driveway, and I refuse to go sailing in it. It hurts my back to sit in it, and it's a feat to not get knocked on the head by the boom when we go about. It's a one person boat, though it was touted as a family boat back in the day. It's called a mirror dinghy because The Daily Mirror sponsored the design. You could build it from a kit and throw it on top of your ordinary car and take the whole family sailing. A very, very poor man's yacht. The husband has very fond memories of a mirror dinghy in childhood, which is how we ended up with one.
The husband sailing the mirror dinghy, right
We've talked about driving the Defender from Vladivostock to London (the Afghanistan route is clearly out, and so is Burma) which we may still do (once simply puts the boat on a container and flys to meet it) should we be allowed to travel at all in the next few years. We also talked about buying a yacht and sailing round the world, but I don't think I have an ocean crossing in me.
But I do like the idea of sailing to the Black Sea from England in a small boat. It's entirely possible - some people even row it. We like the idea of a purposeful journey. Of lazy days on the river, of watching life on the riverbanks. Of mooring up and stopping to walk around in small European towns. The fact the Danube goes through Germany is appealing too - my grandmother was German. It seems to me quite a sustainable way to travel. Rivers to me are centuries old thoroughfares - they supply water, carry trade, support life. Humanity gathers on rivers. There is a real pull to a gypsy life on a river, to me.
Image Source
Whatever vehicle or vessel we decide upon, I'm certainly drawn to the more Eastern part of Europe, and into places like Russia and Albania. We also want to do something big, rather than laps around Australia, which has got very, very small for us. We'll be renting out the house undoubtedly. I suppose vaccine passports will be in order - gawd knows how this system will work, and what deals Australia will make with the EU to recognise our system over there. Sometimes it all seems completely unfeasible. But a girl's gotta dream, right?
Me, living on a dutch barge, England 2020
This post was written in response to the Silver Bloggers BOW question, which you can find here.
With Love,
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A watery gypsy life definitely has appeal. But you need more of a wild and wooly hairdo to totally fit the part @riverflows. But, as you say, dream away. I think for many (most) of us that's going to be the best and only form of travel for a while
It's really disheartening. It's so hard not to feel despair. I try to focus on the positives and be grateful, but I still feel resentful!
Nice Blog
Sorry mate, round here we expect better comments than that.
Oh your post has awakened so much nostalgia in me, warm memories :)
First, about boats and rivers. From the age of 10-16, I was engaged in sports rowing every summer (Although I was pretty hot for a teenager, I think :).
First of all I loved training, because it was held on open water, on the Dnieper (Kremenchuk Reservoir, to be precise).
Despite the fact that the training was strength-based, you still could not tear yourself away from the grandeur of the river and the surrounding landscapes.
When I was older, I often visited Karelia, my grandparents have a house there. There I got acquainted with completely different rivers... stormy, narrow, restless, surrounded by rocks. I tried сanoe slalom a couple of times. It was a strong feeling...fear and joy, I didn't dare to continue doing this. In any case, both of these so different places in eastern Europe have remained in my heart forever.
And returning to the second reason for nostalgia. In your post, you mentioned the silver blog. I found a wonderful topic for the contest there, to tell about my grandparents. Perhaps it's worth doing this, my memory is filled with memories of them.
I had wanted to travel when I was in my 20's, before I got this sick. Now I am perfectly happy to stay here on my farm. The occasional foray off, like the road trip a week or so ago, for a couple hours, is enough, exhausting enough. To be well enough and unable, I try to think back to when I was in that place....
Great post and I’m so sorry and annoyed to see Australia following the same failed and immensely damaging lockdown policies that other countries are now abandoning from bitter experience.
We have also been looking at a Rhine Danube river exploration and I have spent a lot of time looking at liveaboard boats.
Thanks.
Yeah, I'm not suprised that our government have responded in such a way - it's kinda typical really. Backward as usual. Get me out of here. I would just go and be done with it but my son and my parents are here - what can I do? The fact it'll cost me nigh on 20k to get home IF I can get home is a bit of an issue.
Ooooh, what liveaboard boats have you looked at? What are common on the Danube/Rhine? Are you talking of a paid for, tour like short trip or something longer and more independent?
I'm actually looking to buy a family cruiser power catamaran that I can convert to solar electric engines and use to cruise the Med, Black Sea and European Rivers.
Plan to take the whole family (including parents if they will come) and be able to move quickly away from COVID crazy countries to more sane ones as the situation is very fluid.
Oh many that would be sooo amazing!!!! And I think boats have a bit more freedom so you're probably on the money there.
We just watched a silly UK comedy set in Birmingham in the zombie apocalypse, and the scene of them chugging down the canal at narrowboat speed as the zombies walked alongside them was pretty funny. I'm sure a catamaran is the way to go.
I never found travelling through ships/boats appealing. I have travelled small distances in public boats, and it makes me somewhat sea sick.
I live thousands of kilometers away from the sea, that could be the reason I love land.
Or I don't know how to swim.
Or a few astrologers have predicted that I might die drowning in water, lol😅
One of my worst fear is being stuck in the sea in a mirror dingy as you have shared in your post.
One man's adventure is another man's worst nightmare😖
But we are talking about rivers not oceans right?
I have done water rafting a few times. It was fun when done with friends, for a short distance like 10-15 km.
Won't do any more than that, or any longer than that.
Lol, I am made for land only maybe😅
Anyway, I do hope that all the travel restrictions do get lifted. And people can move freely like they used to before covid.
And all your plans come fruitful🙂
Till then, keep dreaming. One day, all those dreams will come true🙂
Oh, I googled that place - are you originally from the Ukraine? Do you still live there? I apologise for not knowing - I have a terrible memory!
Has your death in water REALLY been predicted? That's a little scary!
What?
I am from India. Live up north.
Lol, yeah. By a few different people. And so does, I would marry a couple of times. But neither of them has happened till now, as you can see I am still typing.
Maybe after marrying a couple of times, I will lose my sanity and drown myself willingly, who knows😵
I don't believe in these things. But my mom does. So, she is always worried whenever I go to water parks, rivers, or swimming pool clubs😅
OH sorry @looftee I was getting confused with someone else, I do apologise! And I did know that!
Haha you have to find the right woman!
Oh no, your poor Mum!
Actually I'm worried now...
It has to be extremely frustrating not having the freedom to travel, with the both of you so close to retirement.
The adventure you mention would be the trip of a lifetime and hopefully, by the time you're ready to sail off into the yonder, the restrictions that have been put into place will be lifted.
Dreams are ideas put into motion and not having a choice to do as one wishes has put many dreams on the back burner.
You mention vaccine passports, that's another issue that gaining steam here in the states.
They say that getting the vaccine is still a choice, but what kind of choice is it really if restrictions are being put into place for the unvaccinated that keep a person from living as they wish.
I'm hoping that by 2023, we'll be all much more free. It's hard to feel hope right now, but rational thinking has me hoping it'll all work out okay. The media has a way of making us feel worse.
It's NOT a choice at all - same with 'you can't work here unless you get a jab' - that's coercion. I can understand WHY - for example, in healthcare.... but still, I'm deeply uncomfortable with it from a freedom perspective.
That was f**cking awesome (I only censored 'fucking' cuz you did in the opening sentence).
I'm hereby summonsed to stop by your content more often. Court adjourned!
I didn't know you were exactly like us. I didn't skip one word, know what I'm talking about? You know where to find me.
:twilight zone theme music:
Ha, thankyou! I got halfway through yours yesterday and had to get back to work.... will return as soon as I can!
Living in a pariah country thanks to Delta, I completely get you. That aside, we've not even gone further than a 45 minute drive from the village in nearly a year. And that was driven (ha!) by The Husband having to have surgery. And that was the nearest place. I am so over not being able to be a people. And looking for gainful work having lost what little I had when the economic downturn (in South Africa) and then Covid struck.
I am working hard on looking beyond the murk and into the clear and what's keeping me going is the promise of summer. Albeit tempered by the promise of the fourth wave...
As for retirement, that for me, is wishful thinking. FTM, anyway...we shall see what I get round to writing.
In the meantime, hang in there and carry on searching for the silver linings. Or mirror boats...or... lol
Oh babe, that is rough. I'm sorry the silver linings seem so thin and I definitely here you. We are on the cusp of another wave here and getting supplies in for projects just in case we are locked down again.
I have to say that one of my silver linings are my small Hive tribe...
I hear that. HIVE can be a real life saver. Hugs to you my dear, I feel your anxiety and I wish you the strength to get through itx
Wow, so nice to read about your future travel plans, very inspiring 🙂 I really hope it's not in a too distant future🤞Really like your ideas:
I can really picture you there, (hopefully sharing about it here on Hive 🙂)
xx
And you'd have to meet me on the river somewhere!
Sounds like a plan 💚
It's a bummer you can't travel as you wish. This virus has changed our world for sure.
But as you said, we have to keep dreaming.
How did I miss coming back to this blog? Can I blame the silver threads???
I love your dream of 'sailing the seven seas'...well, almost! But how awful that your husband can't come home without being kept prisoner and not being able to leave again!
We have gone away once last year in November and it was a dream come true but then Delta came along and messed everything up again!!!
At least we can travel locally, but I really hope all this madness can come to an end and we can start living our dreams!
I'm blaming the silver threads for sure!!! Hahah I forgive you - been busy myself and it's hard to keep up - and now it's #gardenjournal time and I'll have to keep up with that! Bloody delta. We're in lockdown currently - it's quite strict and I'm OVER it!