There's an Australian Youtube blogger who has, as one of his famous lines, 'destination f**cked'. I can't help think of that as I ponder a retirement destination for the Silver Bloggers theme for this week, bored with this relatively small state of ours with shut borders on all sides. Our prime minister won't even let you out of the country if you live in another country or hold that passport, so my husband can't even return to England. If he was allowed, he wouldn't be allowed back. So we're kinda stuck, and trying to see silver linings. Our gypsy hearts that long to travel are feeling quite black right now. We console ourselves by saying that we wouldn't have wanted to travel until 2023 anyway, as we won't be financially able to by then, and that'll be good timing for when we do 'retire', or at least leave the secure prospects we have here, rent out the house, and go on any number of the dream trips we've thought about over the years.
Cue 'The Unlikely Voyage of Jack De Crow'. Written by an Australian guy who was teaching in Shropshire when he decided to sail his mirror dinghy through the waterways of England and then decided to just keep on going across the channel to Europe and onwards to the Black Sea, it's a humourously entertaining book that tickled our adventure bones. A mirror dinghy, if you didn't know, is tiny - it's only 3.3 metres long. We have one, in our driveway, and I refuse to go sailing in it. It hurts my back to sit in it, and it's a feat to not get knocked on the head by the boom when we go about. It's a one person boat, though it was touted as a family boat back in the day. It's called a mirror dinghy because The Daily Mirror sponsored the design. You could build it from a kit and throw it on top of your ordinary car and take the whole family sailing. A very, very poor man's yacht. The husband has very fond memories of a mirror dinghy in childhood, which is how we ended up with one.
The husband sailing the mirror dinghy, right
We've talked about driving the Defender from Vladivostock to London (the Afghanistan route is clearly out, and so is Burma) which we may still do (once simply puts the boat on a container and flys to meet it) should we be allowed to travel at all in the next few years. We also talked about buying a yacht and sailing round the world, but I don't think I have an ocean crossing in me.
But I do like the idea of sailing to the Black Sea from England in a small boat. It's entirely possible - some people even row it. We like the idea of a purposeful journey. Of lazy days on the river, of watching life on the riverbanks. Of mooring up and stopping to walk around in small European towns. The fact the Danube goes through Germany is appealing too - my grandmother was German. It seems to me quite a sustainable way to travel. Rivers to me are centuries old thoroughfares - they supply water, carry trade, support life. Humanity gathers on rivers. There is a real pull to a gypsy life on a river, to me.
Image Source
Whatever vehicle or vessel we decide upon, I'm certainly drawn to the more Eastern part of Europe, and into places like Russia and Albania. We also want to do something big, rather than laps around Australia, which has got very, very small for us. We'll be renting out the house undoubtedly. I suppose vaccine passports will be in order - gawd knows how this system will work, and what deals Australia will make with the EU to recognise our system over there. Sometimes it all seems completely unfeasible. But a girl's gotta dream, right?
Me, living on a dutch barge, England 2020
This post was written in response to the Silver Bloggers BOW question, which you can find here.
With Love,
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