Relief!

A good friend who went AWOL and got distracted by - ironically- Germany, is finally BACK!!!

Thank God...I almost thought I'd lose her permanently to the lure of their high standard, refined, cultured, genuine, intellectual and honesty valuing, nice-to-introverts dominant society for good (!)

Strangely all the stray birds are flying home for a visit...last week M was back from Asia, today my friend from Germany, and in the coming week Toyboy from Africa...yay! It's so nice to have familiar faces and actual FRIENDS back in my actual geography and timezone :)

Musings on Travelling Solo

It's pretty interesting as G and I attempt our first extended solo adventures simultaneously at opposite ends of the planet.

Thanks to technology we're able to drop short updates to each other frequently about our (near)daily dodgy situations/experiences...

Conclusion?

It's pretty dangerous travelling alone and being female. Men are very predatory (and desperate).

In any case I'm loving the +ves of rural life ie: the clean air, space, beautiful scenery etc...I've also encountered so many interesting people off the beaten track I would never usually meet - fish slaughterer, toxic waste remover, head monk, sailor, pilot, marine biologist, mime artist^^ to name a few...at the same time I've also come across my fair share of uncouth Neanderthals and seriously inconsiderate, selfish and completely frustrating pea-sized brain idiots and even had to share a room with one...it's summer and this chick turned the heater to maximum because she insisted on wearing a skimpy night gown and refused to use blankets and couldn't interpret the heat gauge on the heater and was too proud to seek assistance...as anti-confrontational as I am, fuelled by the sweat that drenched me and kept me awake at 12am and 2am etc along with the pursuit of common sense and justice fuelled me to let her have it! And when a pissed off person is backed up by rock hard hole proof rational argument, well it's a force to be reckoned with no matter how stubborn and idiotic one insists on being out of habit!

Moron chick aside, for the most part I've impressed myself with the latent ability (which I completely forgot I had) to be completely and seriously social with a wide range of people but I'm kinda of looking forward to getting back to the comfort of my own place, bed, space, bigger town/city conveniences at least for a bit...

oh one other thing, these countryfolk can seriously bake! I have had the most delicious raspberry friand and raspberry and passionfruit cheesecake...Mmmmm!

Couchsurfing: Just Curious!

image: turin chaise longue sofa from furniture123


Well-travelled R who just returned from a many monthed epic world adventure, *envy*, recently told me about "couchsurfing" - yeah, folks we live on an isolated island continent here- it takes a while for information to permeate through LOL

In any case, for someone who is limited by the fact that she doesn't do long haul flights (and let's face it when you're in Australia, that is pretty limiting), so anyway, the concept got me very excited- when travelling solo, I think being able to see a different place through the eyes of a local is totally unreal, however being a small sized female generally quite cynical about the good intentions of society, I wasn't sure how wise or advisable it is for someone like me to actually try...(in the event that I do get myself on a long haul flight.)

And, cos I pretty well hold my personal space as SACRED there is no way that I would want to have random people in my place since I can't even stand the people close to me living with me for too long! So I think it's kinda unethical using the service unless one has a couch to offer...

But hmmm...I LOVE.LOVE.LOVE talking to people from other countries, people whose experiences so differ from my own:
I love learning stupid phrases in all different languages!
I love learning country specific slang and culture specific ideas!
I love talking similarities and differences and I love exotic accents!
I guess that's why I love having penpals cos that's the next closest thing. I'm still looking for one that I'll still be writing to when I'm 60 though-hint, hint ;)

I'm still keen to explore the bits of Australia I haven't though as I'm still trying to stake out where I want to relocate in this vast island when I'm ready to set up shop. I'm really tempted to use this "couchsurfing"methodology not to crash at random strangers as such but just to get to meet up with some locals and learn about actual living in the new potential area though cos as always...I'm always drawn to places where I know absolutely noone-it's just more exciting that way! All my friends and family are total city slickers anyway :P

On the other hand I love exchanging stories with people about my country too...so maybe not 'couchsurfing' as such but a cross-culture or cross-locality interchange...that is, unless I ever decide to open a hostel...

I don't think so.