A Deep Breath

It was quiet in the office last week. Not horrifically so, we hadn't resorted to braiding each other's hair and singing German folk songs, but quiet enough.

In the absence of work and after taking stock and sorting everything on the desk alphabetically however, I decided to follow a winding road and explore Norway ... digitally of course. You can cover a great deal of the country on google maps, moreso than I actually imagined - I don't think there was a fjord missed or a hytta unseen - and it made for quite the questy afternoon.

Unfortunately this virtual escape did the opposite of making time pass by. Instead it instilled in me a longing to sit once more, cramped and stifled in the coach of Air China (or whatever similar airline my meagre savings could afford) and sharing my personal space with a rotund version of Gilbert Gottfried for barely an hour short of my breaking point, thence at last to be released into the wild, fresh air of the North once again. Freedom! Beautiful freedom!

I have this crazy idea of exploring the Scandinavian tip of the world by motorbike, and possibly not returning for a while, instead content to live in various seaside cottages of small towns, where I would pass my hours chatting to locals by evening at the pub, learning about their fishing exploits, and the days wandering the coastline and tundra with some awesome camera in tow to catch that perfect shot of ... whatever it is the North felt like providing. This in itself shows the thoroughness of my thought processes, and perhaps the fallibility of my plans. One can dream.

In any case, for now I'm just glad to have conjured up the money for a trip to Turkey and Berlin in the coming months. This particular e-ticket will land me first in Istanbul, capital of that mysterious, humid bastion of east & west which I'm eagerly awaiting to explore again, map in pocket, phrasebook in hand and with a small group of friends.

I will be posting some photos (taken with my less than awesome camera) on this blog, and hopefully some new articles will be inspired. Huzzah!
</excited rant>

Jimzip