Scenes on Sunday ~ Anywhere But Here
travelling far turns you into a storyteller
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
in a December’s winter I would rather be almost anywhere but here.
Monochrome Monday
a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Scenes on Sunday ~ Travel
travel broadens the mind
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7 @talk talk.ne
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Scenes on Sunday ~ Cool Cars
a car isn’t a cool classic just because it’s old
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but some cars are always cool
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
a connection to place,
to the land and the sky,
any long road trip is very special
Relationships, Travel, and Self-Development
self-affinity, self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-development
Life is better for me today, and looking back I can see why things didn’t always happen the way I hoped and expected them to go. Partly it was because my expectations were unrealistic and depended upon others acting the way I would wish them to, (and that almost never works out). Partly it was because I suffered from a lot of negative character traits such as judgementalism, jealousy, and impatience.
By accepting what were my downfalls in the past I can work on developing better ways of living, and also deciding consciously what I don’t want to be, what I don’t want to do, and where I don’t want to go, (in a literal and figurative sense). This is the right time for me to push on through with no regrets and no hesitation. This is the time for me to re-evaluate some of my life path choices so I can drop everything unsatisfying and toxic, and instead concentrate on that which adds to my success and happiness. People, places and things that have just ever taken from me, giving little in return, no longer have a place in my life.
I am very aware of what I don’t want in my life, but I think I need something like a bucket list, or a vision board, or maybe a mind map to help me to decide what I do want in my life.
There’s a list of places I want to visit in the next year or so; starting with California, and maybe Arizona in the USA. In England I would like to see Stonehenge again and some of the other weird places such as Lindisfarne. I have no desire to spend much time in London, but seeing Amsterdam, Paris, Rome again might be cool ~ after I’ve been back to Florence, Sienna, Pisa, and San Gimignano. I do so love Tuscany.
The Mediterranean might well be the most favoured region on the planet; the Greek Islands are fabulous, as are Crete, Cyprus, and Malta ~ maybe I’ll take a cruise. And of course it’s been a long time since I’ve been to the West Indies ~ and the islands are a great winter destination. Never, ever go to the Caribbean during June, July, August, or September ~ unless you really like hurricanes.
I have no issues with finances nor responsibilities back here in the garret, (apart from Marmaduke), but what hold me back a little is the ultimate joylessness of travelling alone. Maybe the first thing I need on life is a new friend and travelling companion, or to change my relationship with an old friend for the better.
Some say that no matter where you go you always take yourself with you. And that freedom is not just a long holiday. All I know is that the world is my lobster.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Marmaduke likes travelling with me
Leaving On a Bus
I don’t know when I’ll be back to Turkey again
Today is the last day of my vacation in Oludeniz, Turkey ~ which as it goes is a very nice place, thoroughly to be recommended to the more relaxed traveller.
Those of us from the more civilised parts of Europe and North America, (Turkey isn’t in Europe), may occasionally become frustrated / annoyed by the casual attitude of the Turks, and the macho misogynistic ways of Turkish men ~ but it’s not all so very different to the Hispanics I’ve come accross in California. So, the plumbing is dodgy, the traffic is manic, and wi-fi here only works when it feels like it….. But, so what.
The weather in the later part of the summer is gorgeous, the genuinely Turkish food is marvellous, and the Mediterranean is a deep calm, shimmering turquoise. What I will remember most of course are the smells; woodsmoke, cooking, coffee, the sea, Turkish cigarettes, drains, and often very stinky Turks.
Ah, c’est la vie.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
there’s still a lot of parasailing here
I still haven’t done it
Vacation Sunset
red sky at night, sailors’ delight
The sky over this part of Turkey is pretty hazy, which means that sunset is pretty.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
sunset in Arizona is pretty too
Boat Trip
I don’t need therapy, I just need a boat trip
On a vacation in Turkey, on the Turquoise Coast, it’s de rigueur to take a boat trip, perhaps out to some of the island’s that carelessly rise from the pretty blue-green waters. As it goes, today I am enjoying my second little-ship cruise around the tranquil Mediterranean.
This bit of coastline is sometimes called the Turkish Riviera, which is a misnomer, because it’s rugged, pretty, and charming in exactly the same way the French Riviera isn’t
Unless you are both antisocial and a very poor sailor these shortish boat trips are to be recommended as an interestingly different way to spend a day relaxing in the Mediterranean sunshine. And getting around by boat is far, far more uplifting than visiting exactly the same places on a charabanc trip.
On top of which eating, drinking, dancing, and sunbathing are all actively encouraged on these excursion boats.
There was a little bit of a lop on the peaceful sea today, which made for an interesting ride and some white spray coming up at the bows of our boat.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Sun, sea, but no sex please,
I’m an English Gentleman
Vacation Hotels
he’s climbing a stairway to heaven
In my time travelling the world on business I stayed in some great hotels, (like The Plaza in Manhattan), some so so hotels, (like The Krazna Polski in Amsterdam), and some truly terrible hotels. And yet, the hotels and motels I’ve stayed at on vacation come into an entirely surreal category all of their own.
I stayed in a castle in Tuscany one time, in the highest room, in the tallest tower, and that meant carrying my luggage up more than 100 steps to what was, admittedly a very nice suite with a spectacular view. The porter was at least as old as the castle, there was no way he would make it up that winding staircase carrying my then memsahib’s suitcase.
The Golden Life Heights hotel in Oludeniz, Turkey, has more stairs than that. From the lowest part of the garden, where my room is, up to reception there are exactly 144 steps / stairs. Climbing that 8 or 10 times a day gets to be a drag. As it goes, the room I’m in now is my 2nd here ~ the bathroom in the first offering was flooded, about a half-inch deep over the entire bathroom floor.
Despite my complaints I endured that flooded bathroom for 3 days until an e-mail to the tour company back in the UK got me a better room, with it’s own sun deck and a dry bathroom floor.
If you ever need to complain, don’t bother talking to the monkey, instead find the head organ-grinder.
When is comes to a surrealisticly terrible hotel, this one is in a class all of it’s own.
Although the pools are fabulous.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the pools are the best things about this hotel.
Cooling Off
It’s very nice to go travelling, preferably to somewhere the plumbing didn’t leak.
The hotel I’m staying at in Turkey has a couple of really cool pools
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Plus a pool that’s not so cool. My bathroom floor is still flooded. Jeez, that’s Johnny Foreigner for you. I could get hot under the collar about that.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
90+ degrees and sunny
