adventuritous

sorry it's been a little quiet around here lately, I've took an unintended small break from le internet. My phone has been sent away for repair, so it's a little weird not being able to check my emails, or more importantly instagram!!

Over the weekend I visited the big smoke, by myself. I have definitely found a slight sense of freedom, knowing I can confidently leave Theo for a night or two and know that he is perfectly fine, and doesn't love me any less. This means I can hop on a bus, travel to London and spend some time with my dear friends. I do miss him so much whilst I'm away, and wish he was there so I could show him off to my friends with all the funny things he does, but my god, it's nice to have so breathing space!

Ever since I was a teenager I've had quite a longing for adventure and travel, and would often trek to London and beyond to go to gigs, travel the country to see friends who lived in different places and just generally have a lot of fun seeing and discovering new places. Thanks to my parents who let me do all this (or maybe didn't know what I was really up to some of the time!?) I have developed a deep sense of wanderlust.

After I finished college I took a gap year, worked three jobs to save the money to travel. I went interailling around eastern Europe for a month, came back, worked some more then went traveling on my own to Scotland and Norway. Each trip I made taught me something, but none more than my solo trip to the Northern lands, where I spent much of it in solitude with only the mountains and the fjords as company.

 (Sarajevo/ Busdapest/ Berlin)

 Scotland/ Norway

In my second year of Uni I decided to sack it all in and go traveling around India and Nepal for six months. I wish I had gone under different circumstances, and for different reasons, but none of that matters right now. As even though I might have made bad decisions at the time, they all worked out for a reason, and had they not, then perhaps our dear little Theo might not exist! Anyway, that trip really opened my eyes to so very much, and gave me the opportunity to travel with one of my best friends, Jonny, too. Which to this day makes me so happy to think of the memories we made and share together. Like our little secret of the amazing things we saw. And I did return to University to finish my course, but probably with a little bit of a different perspective.

This post has gone off at a slight tangent, and I'm not really sure what it was supposed to be in the first place, but sometimes I like a good old ramble, and to show you some photos!

I feared that when I had a baby that it would put an end to my adventures, but on the contrary, really. Trying to plan your days with a little one makes you be more adventurous, by creating fun outings and showing them all the things that you find special or remember from your own childhood. I'm not the type of person to sit around indoors, I can't while away my hours on the internet, (I never have been able to, even if I had that luxury now!) and I just get a bit crazy if I don't go out and do something once a day. This blog hopefully documents the little adventures we go on, and I try and provide Theo with rich experiences (that doesn't mean we don't occasionally take a trip to Ikea just to waste a rainy afternoon, but sssh) that hopefully he'll start remembering! We try and do things that are free most of the time, or things that cost very little to do, with the occasional treat of things that cost more, but are worth it.

When we go on holidays or bigger trips away, we try and save as much as possible, and do things cheaply. We've been so lucky so far that we have family and friends we can stay with whilst we go away, because without this we certainly wouldn't be able to afford to go away! We plan in advance and try and get the cheapest travel possible, because I need to do these things. It's in my bones, I need adventure, it makes my heart so happy to have a change from normal life, and funnily enough it makes me glad of my normal life when I return. I don't know what all this is trying to prove, but for me I think it's just step in the right direction to making me think long and hard about the things that make me happy. When I wrote about motivation here, I got some great advice, and Jo said to me to think about a time when you feel really happy, energized and motivated, and this is that. I feel happiest when I'm planning a trip, going on the trip, dealing with the extra struggles that may happen whilst we are on the trip, and returning home to my own bed from that trip. It makes me feel excited.

When an opportunity to go away on a little adventure by myself arises, I jump at the chance. I've written many time before about how time with my friends alone really helps and I know I have to try and do this when I can. I booked cheap bus tickets to London, left early on Saturday morning, and returned Sunday evening. We walked the streets of London, visiting the Photographers gallery, eating Japanese food in Soho, record shopping, stumbling across more free art exhibitions, one in a warehouse used as a squat, with art installations, music and good ale. In the evening we went back to the amazing Turkish restaurant in Harringay, then to the pub, then back home for wine and merriment. The next day we lounged, cooked up a huge brunch and enjoyed the company of good friends. It was such a great mini adventure, and good to be in London again, I love it, but it makes me so glad to return to small, quiet (in comparison) Bristol to my two loves.

So in conclusion, even though I may not be able to work to save and afford to pack up and go off on a huge adventure like the ones I've been lucky enough to already go on, (even though I would love to do one big trip as  a family before Theo starts school...maybe a trip to visit my friend in New Zealand! (If we win the lottery...)) I can still satisfy my traveling needs by planning and going on mini adventures, such as Berlin, or just staying local and visiting beautiful places in the UK.

All is well once again, and I'm planning our next adventure!

p.s here's some little photos of Theo, so you can see what they get up to whilst I'm away!