No More Sleepwalking!


“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes 

When I’m travelling, I’m fully alive. A week can feel like a month because it’s packed full of new sights, sounds, and experiences. It’s harder to stay “awake” to what’s around me when I’m at home. I settle into comfortable routines, walk familiar paths, and fail to observe what is going on around me.

I’ll be back in Europe this winter and I’m determined to live my time there to the fullest. I’ve come up with some ideas to get me exploring more widely. Some are old, some are new. Lots of them can be incorporated at home as well as on the road.


1. Don’t stay in a hotel. Hotels are a neutral environment. If you really want to get a feel of a place, you need to live like the locals. Housesitting means that I not only shop locally, but I also figure out how the local garbage and recycling schedules work, and may end up purchasing a fundraising calendar from the local fire department.

I have mixed feelings about staying in AirBnBs. Some are run like a business and are unfair to the neighbours. But others are great. I had a chance to chat with my hosts in two French AirBnBs this past winter because the owners lived on the premises. And I love being able to do some of my own cooking.

2. Walk and use public transit. When I was in Wales, another housesitter for the same homeowners was surprised by how many people I had met locally. But she drove a car and shopped in the big supermarket in the neighbouring town, whereas I walked up and down the hill, shopped in the local village stores (the butcher’s had the freshest fruit and vegetables), and took public transit.

3. Participate in local activities. I am a regular at the local cinema in Quillan, France. I’ve also been to an archaeology lecture and amateur theatre performances. I’ve got to know some of the local ex-pats who’ve invited me to join them at quiz night and a fish and chips supper.


4. Go on a tour. I had no idea there were so many fountains in Aix en Provence or how many restaurants there were in Manchester until I went on a tour. I took two wine tours last year in Lyon. One was too superficial, but the other one was great.

5. Do something you don’t normally do. I had such fun making a Christmas wreath in Torquay last winter. I am not a crafty person and would not have done this if I’d been at home. But my wreath turned out well, and I was really proud of my accomplishment.

6. New initiatives. I have several new projects to try out this winter to help me expand my horizons.

I plan to photograph things that have surprised me, made me laugh, or delighted me.

I’ve purchased The Mindful Traveler Exploration Journal. I get bored keeping a traditional journal as I tend to record the same events every day. This journal, however, starts each page with a challenge or an idea: from setting an intention for the day, to considering the nature of impermanence, to getting a little lost or speculating about the people who live or use a building.



I will be in Quillan for two full months, so I’m going to look for places to volunteer, perhaps at the local library, so that I have more opportunities to talk French.

I had lunch with two British friends yesterday who gave me all sorts of great ideas about things to see and do. I would not normally visit a railway museum, but that’s one of the things I now plan to do while I’m in York. They are also going to put me in touch with one of their friends who lives in the town I’ll be visiting. The friend of a friend is in a band, so hopefully I’ll be enjoying a brass band concert this Christmas.

Now I’m turning it over to you. What do you recommend I do or see while I’m in England (Lincoln, York, Wetherby, Littlehampton, North Devon) and France (Paris, Quillan, Lyon)? What alternate approaches to travel or life have you found stimulating?

Please post comments on Facebook or email me. I turned off Blogger comments as I got so much spam. Thank you!

“I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere I needed to be.” 
Douglas Adams 

Photos are from a previous visit to Lincoln.

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