NOTICE!!! Stream of consciousness!!! Going deep on this post! – Shawn

I saw an article yesterday that talked about “going back to somewhere you have never been”. It ended up being an article about traveling to find your ancestral homeland.

Before I even clicked on it I knew what they meant and what they would say. I did it myself and it’s how the feeling was. In my case, it was during our trip to Europe in February of 2020.

More specifically it was our time spent in Ireland. I had been in Dublin on our January/February 2018 adventure and it had a feeling of I was finally back home. We were only there for a day so there wasn’t time to explore but i could feel the connection.

When you do something like that it really does feel like a return home for the first time. For myself, like others of Irish descent, there is a castle where my family started. There are castles all over Ireland, and I guess in a way it makes us fortunate ones to have something other than some old, weathered gravestones with illegible inscriptions. If that much in many cases.

Going to the castle of my ancestors was indescribable. Not in an overwhelming way, but more of a “Wow…this is where I came from” kind of disbelief that I was standing on the very ground my relatives lived on in the 1500s. Even though it was closed for the season at the time (it’s an Irish Heritage site), we able to walk up to the door and touch the walls. We got to see the beautiful grounds along the stream outside the walls and the horses grazing behind the rock wall next door. It was a peaceful, serene setting that made me feel like I belonged.

I was home.

Since the castle was closed for another few weeks until after our trip was over it left me with a sense of unfinished business. I WILL go back (probably more than once) and I WILL spend hours or maybe a couple of days wandering around, looking and absorbing everything I can from the experience.

I don’t know…maybe it’s just a little more beautiful to me because it’s where it all began. Then again all I have seen of Ireland showed it really IS a beautiful country like in the pictures, with a wonderful, comforting feel and friendly people.

Perhaps some of you have had that same feeling come to you when you’ve been to your ancestral lands, or perhaps you have been somewhere that ISN’T tied to your history that (at least you know of) and had that deja vü. I have when visiting Little Big Horn, and it’s not in my past that I ever heard.

Getting back to the article, I thought the story about Mr. Meyrick in the article was pretty interesting. Even with his very limited eyesight he felt “connected” to the places he visited and it was his first trip there.

Think about that for a moment. That is really powerful stuff.

I wonder if it’s the same “pull” a salmon feels, compelling it to swim upstream to where it was born; it’s “home”. I’m fairly certain that they aren’t researching their genealogy so there must be “something” there…whatever that “something” may be.

—————

I’m over this weather BS. Sick of snow/freezing rain, but the eunuch-making weather can leave. When it’s really cold (or hot in summer), I leave the curtains shut to help insulate the windows. That means most of the last few weeks I have lived in a cave.

That first day opening the curtains was so awesome that I had a single tear roll down my cheek. One tear…one cheek. That was it. The day had decided to warm up a little but the sun came out for the first time in several days. I had to take advantage of it.

It was nice to get out of the house, too. That’s what the dog thought yesterday as well when I took him to town with me. It was cold but he needed to get out of the house. He was getting a bit of cabin fever.

We have some warmer weather coming but had some sleet overnight that will turn to rain and last a few days. Between the rain and warm weather that snow will be out of here quickly. Shouldn’t-a been here to begin with.

—————

Another article I saw today talked about having more fun in our lives. I try to have lots of fun in my life, be it a trip to Europe or a simple roadside attraction, and it makes for a much less stressful existence. It’s easy to do and doesn’t have to cost a lot of money – even an international trip can be done reasonably if you are willing to make it happen by using a few cutbacks to make it happen. From getting your face out of your devices (“our biggest problem as a society” he says in his blog on the internet…) to a walk in the forest – pretty much anything to help you relax – you can improve your quality of life and mental health with relatively little effort.

Sadly, people schedule everything – even fun or relaxing. I don’t live by an itinerary in my travels let alone my everyday life. I mentioned some years back in another post how I had an artist friend whose résumé said she worked as an artist and her full-time gig at TBS was what she did in her spare time.

It comes down to your priorities. Yeah, there are some set priorities in life depending on your chosen path, but it’s good to revisit those on occasion and maybe change a few things up in your life. Get out of your habits – it’s too easy to just fall into a routine and stay there, digging the rut even deeper.

__________

A few posts back I mentioned the potential for geopolitical issues affecting international travel. I have seen some of the rhetoric in parts of Europe is heating up a bit more lately. As I said before if you are going to book a ticket make sure it is refundable or you get good travel insurance. More importantly, I would be looking at a few different parts of the world if you want to go somewhere.

I have seen some decent fare sales but many places I feel are still a bit high. Some travel sites I check are thinking travel is already at pre-pandemic levels and are predicting a very crowded summer surpassing last year. Some areas had problems with malaria last summer.

These are just some of the things to consider if you are going on a big adventure. Not trying to be alarmist (or even political), but travellers need to be aware and prepared. It could take you to a new and more wonderful place instead of where you were wanting to go originally. And who doesn’t like a good adventure?

—————

That’s it for this edition. Toodles!

Shawn