Tales of a nomad: The black marker.

Here I was. Stuck in a grey and lifeless town on an early Sunday afternoon. The streets where deserted and most shops closed. I started feeling claustrophobic, I needed to get out of there!

I grabbed my few belongings; which summed up to a backpack with clothes, my travel diary and a sleeping bag, and walked to the bus stop. The only person there was a bored old lady sitting behind the counter playing sudoku. I walked over and asked her for the next bus out of there. she looked at me sheepishly -next bus departs tomorrow at 9a.m.

-What?!

-Next bus. Tomorrow. 9 a.m. She replied slightly annoyed

-Oh no, I moaned -I reeeeally need to get out of here today. Really. I insisted, although I could tell it was taking me nowhere.

She just shrugged. I breathed deeply trying to push the claustrophobia back.

There was only one option: I walked to the nearest gas station and asked for a large cardboard box. A middle aged asian guy shook his head in disapproval as he handed me the box, I ignored him, I was already nervous enough. I went outside, tore off one of the sides of the box and got a black marker from my backpack.

After a few minutes I looked at my finished sign. Anywhere out of here! it read.

Raf (Reminiscing the first time I hitch-hiked).

Comments

Ephemeral Art Museum

If there is one thing to absolutely love about Palermo, it's the amazing quantity and quality of Street Art. This would be a perfect place to have an Ephemeral Art Museum! Raf

A Surf town with no waves

It's a small yet colorful town on the sea-side, cars go by with boards and kayaks on their rooftops. Boys and girls with bleached hair longboard barefooted on the coastal road. There are plenty of surf shops and surf schools around. They built an artificial reef which cost millions of dollars and works only as a home to fish. If you search online, it is tagged as a surf destination. Yet, there are no waves. On a really good day, you are lucky to get a 3 footer. That has only happened once in the past 3 months. It's like a pretend town. It's beautiful, but it's built around something it doesn't have. Hopefully the summer will prove me wrong. I would be really happy to be proven wrong.

Getting Ready

Days until departure: 12 Preparations have started. I am taking advantage of a lull with my clients and my own bootstrapped projects to focus on making sure I pack everything we need while trying to keep to the absolute basics- an oxymoron in itself. The goal is to travel with one backpack each and dispatch a duffel bag. I am the Queen of Lists Where are we taking off to? North of Sweden, in the Gulf of Bothnia (Ever heard of it? Me neither until about 2 months ago). Way up north in the Gulf of Bothnia, see where Oslo is for reference Why that destination? We've been on the lookout for a sailboat for a couple of years. Although we've saved some money, it's on the lower side and not enough to buy a sailboat that meets what we need, so we've been hunting for an opportunity. Those who know us understand that we are quite frugal, so our requirements are pretty basic. We've visited a few boats, but none were right, either because of their price or condition. But now

Raf's Travel Diaries

Search This Blog