It's Important

November 13, 2014Leave a comment

2014-11-12 10.38.19

Remembrance Day is one of my favourite British traditions. My first year here, I went to the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, and the experience is still one of my most cherished memories in London. I can still feel the cool mist on my face, the silence of Westminster Square and the goosebumps I got from the chime of Big Ben like it was yesterday. I love when poppies start blooming across lapels every autumn because it reminds me of that moment and of what it meant to me.

I never thought much about Veteran’s Day in the States, and I certainly never took time to observe it on purpose (a fact that is particularly shaming as my brother is a veteran). It is a day that is normally reserved for military bases and cemeteries, where they stop for a moment of silence and a round of Taps, far away from the public eye. There’s something different about it in the UK though: everyone participates. Continue reading →

It’s Important

November 13, 2014Leave a comment

2014-11-12 10.38.19

First Impressions

October 27, 2014January 19, 20162 Comments

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nb:I am using the WordPress app to write this which is awful. Apologies to those who were sent a very rough draft. It should be updated now but please forgive the weird formatting going on.

Today is day 4 in Muscat and I am really enjoying it so far. Granted, I have been very spoiled by Chris’ friends who have brought us to all the most beautiful spots. We’ve used their membership for private pools and beaches, we’ve chartered a catamaran and snorkelled at a nature reserve and we’ve had drinks at one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. My life here is proving really difficult so far.

For example, I’m writing this at a Starbucks overlooking the sea. Let me show you the scene:

It’s not the most stunning photo, but you can get the gist of how hard I have had it.

Tonight – late late tonight, so late it is technically tomorrow by some accounts – we are driving out to watch sea turtles lay eggs on the beach by moonlight. Ok, as the moon is tiny right now we might have to actually bring torches, but moonlight sounds much more romantic.

The remainder of this week will be filled with visits to the mountains, a fort or two, perhaps a dip in a wadi (natural swimming pools) and a halloween event for the kiddies at the fanciest hotels in Muscat. See what I mean? It is hard not to fall in love with it a tiny bit.

My impressions thus far about Muscat (I can’t really generalise to Oman as a whole because I have only been in this small part) are:

Continue reading →

Can't Wait!

October 15, 20142 Comments

Map by Clare Nicholas

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A week from tomorrow, I will be flying to Muscat (my home in just a few weeks) for the first time. I have no idea what to expect, and I kind of like it that way. I have read loads, studied maps and made a Pinterest board of places I want to go. I have asked Chris endless questions about what he liked about it before, what he didn’t, what he’s looking forward to, what he’s not, what places I will like…and all of his answers stir up a ridiculous amount of excitement within me. But I won’t really know what it will be like, what it will feel like to me, until I land there and start exploring it for myself.

I’ve done this before, this moving across the world thing. I suspect it might be part of my fundamental me-ness because I can’t imagine doing things any other way. I really love having a whole new life every few years. It’s hard in many ways, but that plunge into the icy water of a fresh new place is an unbeatable feeling. Every part of you is so alive. Your skin tingles with the rush of it all as you experience everything simultaneously: the sights, the sounds, the people, the smells, the rhythm of life that’s so different from where you’ve been.

There’s no better way to remind yourself that things are not the same everywhere than to move somewhere new. Travelling there is one thing, it gives you a glimpse, but living in a place, having time to explore all of it, seeing it change with the seasons, finding your local haunts, your corner shop, your café, your path for morning walks, that is where it is at for me. I love that stuff.

The moment before I step on the plane in January, with me and my life on board, I know I will be a crazy ball of emotion. It is always a mix of every feeling possible when you drop everything and start something totally fresh. But the trip next week is all about adventure, free from the jangly nerves that will come with the real deal. I still have a foot in both camps at the moment, a life in Muscat that’s starting to take root and grow while the one here in London drops its leaves and gets ready for winter.

I’m really looking forward to getting my feet on the ground there, breathing in the sea air, smelling the frankincense, eating the dates, driving along what looks like an incredibly beautiful coast and diving into a fresh new world. I can’t wait!

Postcard of the Week

Today’s postcard couldn’t match my sentiments any more perfectly. The person receiving this will know why I chose the card for her (maybe even a couple of reasons). The metaphor of the dandelion seems apt and beautiful to me, and the way the stem lined up with the border is great too (I didn’t notice until after I took the shot!). I love it when things work out so perfectly. It makes me goose-bumpily happy.

Want a postcard? Send me your details here and I will send you one too!

See you next time!

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Can’t Wait!

October 15, 2014January 19, 20162 Comments

Map by Clare Nicholas

Follow @3MilesAnHour

Postcard of the Week

Want a postcard? Send me your details here and I will send you one too!

See you next time!

Follow @3MilesAnHour
//

Henley-on-Thames

October 8, 2014January 19, 20162 Comments

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Last week was a little bit crazy. I was working for my third consecutive year at the Henley Literary Festival in the small town of Henley-on-Thames about an hour west of London. As always, the week absolutely flew by. I’ve learned that when time is measured in 20-45 minute increments, it is almost impossible to slow it down. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. I was monstrously productive in the 20 minutes of chaos we had between every event. But it took me half of the down time I did have to relax and enjoy a small break before I had to ramp up again for the next 20 minutes of madness.

I did manage to sneak in some moments of relaxation though: I wrote several overdue cards to friends, I journaled (a lot), I cuddled with the softest puppy I have ever met, I had a (somewhat) leisurely lunch with my favourite boy, I went for a morning stroll by the river and I sent a postcard to my new friend in Paris. Oh yeah, and I was interviewed by Robert Elms on BBC London. Continue reading →

An Autumn Walk

September 24, 2014January 19, 2016Leave a comment

On a road trip with my parents once, we stopped in Vegas for a rest. At one point, I turned to look at my dad and he was sniffing around like a hound on the hunt. When I asked what he was onto, he said, “Nothing. I’m just trying to use my sense of smell more.” I laughed at how ridiculous he looked, but I understood exactly what he meant: there’s so much going on in the world (particularly in a place like Vegas) that we tend to tune out more than we take in.

The world is probably too intense for us to be aware of everything around us at every minute, but it is nice to take a moment sometimes to purposefully experience one sensation and see just how much there is going on in that tiny world. I think of that chat with my dad frequently, and often when I am on a walk or just sitting back and watching things happen I’ll pick one sense and check out what it is experiencing at that moment. It’s a fun game to play with other people too. Chris and I have done it a couple of times when we’ve been at places we want to remember, and I can recall those scenes so well because we took some time to really experience the full picture.

This past Sunday we went for a nice walk through the countryside in Redbourn, and I played with this idea along the way. I paid attention to the sun warming my face and shoulders while autumn breezes chilled the parts of me in shadow. The soft clumps of freshly tilled earth rolling away underfoot as we cut through open fields. The sound of water slowly dripping from the edges of a mill-wheel. The smell of horses. The sound of their hooves padding down the grass. The scratchy, coarse hair I felt when I scratched one behind his ear, and the warm, soft skin of his snout when he pushed his mouth into my hand, hoping for food.

With autumn fully under way, the visual sensations alone would have been plenty to keep me occupied. I found myself zooming out to take in the whole scene (bright blue skies filled with perfectly fluffy clouds over dark brown fields dotted with the fresh growth of opportunistic grass) and zooming in to see the smallest details (bright green bugs being betrayed by their normally perfect camouflage as the leaves change colour beneath them).

It was a great day out that ended the way every countryside walk should: in a pub with a decadent roast, a fat pint of cider and a postcard to write. Continue reading →

The Postcard Post

August 30, 2014January 19, 20168 Comments

If I’m going to be talking about slowness on this site, I will have to start with one of my favourite slow things of all time: postcards.

I love postcards.

I love sending them. I love receiving them. I love that they take so long to get where they are going that you forget you sent them in the first place. I love that they were there with the writer, that they made a journey to get to the reader, and that they show signs of adventures they can never tell anyone about. I just love them.

I also love that everything about the postcard process is slow.

I deliberate endlessly over cards, making sure to get one that I think the person receiving it will appreciate. I take some time to think about that person, what they find interesting, what they enjoy doing, and of the stories or experiences from my trip that would appeal most to them. I write deliberately and use up every inch of the card (often forgetting room for stamps and addresses). And I always send a little wish when I drop it into the post box that it survives the journey (mostly intact) and gets there eventually, even though I know it can sometimes take months to arrive.

A Postcard a Day

When I was travelling in Southeast Asia a couple of years ago, I decided to take on a postcard project – one postcard a day, every day, for 30 days. Because I like the idea that the card was actually there with the person writing it (that it smells all the smells, sees all the sights and hears all the sounds around it while it is being written on), I thought of taking a photo of the card in the place I wrote it, so that, along with the card and my message, the recipient could get a little taste of the experience it went through as well.

Here’s what some of them looked like: Continue reading →

A Sense of Direction

August 27, 20142 Comments

In my last post (aka my first post), I said I didn’t know what I wanted to talk about on this blog.

That is total bollocks.

I totally know what I want to write about.

I got nervous that you as readers might not be into it, so I thought I had to change it up and to make it sound appealing somehow. Blogging lesson #1 learned: this is a place for me to talk about my passions with my voice. It might be scary to put myself out there and it might be appealing to try and emulate the voices of all the incredible bloggers who are writing already, but, terrifying as it is, this is the place where I get to share my words.

So here’s what I want to talk about:

– When I was walking around London for my most recent project, I saw a lot of parallels between the way I approached my walks and the way I *wish* I approached my life. I learned some great lessons from it that I am challenging myself to apply, and I thought perhaps those things might be helpful to share with other people. I can guarantee I will suck at accomplishing these things most of the time, but it’s all in the trying and laughing about it, right?

– I love to travel and I love to read travel blogs, but I think one essential aspect of travel gets overlooked a lot: walking. I love walking. It is the best way to get to know a place. It is the only way you can get into some areas (often the best places), and it is the best way to get a feel for the pace of wherever you are exploring. So I will definitely be talking about walking and sharing stories from the walks I go on.

– Slowness. It’s hugely important and yet it is insanely hard to find in our culture. I learned this many times over on my walks. Taking time to stop, to appreciate, to be aware, to just be, makes a remarkable difference to my outlook and resilience. Life is hard. Travel is hard. Being an expat is hard. But when I stop to look around and see that I am actually on an amazing adventure, it changes my perspective and highlights what really matters: enjoying it along the way.

And there you have it. That’s what this blog is all about for me.

Phew. That feels more like it!

This is My First Post

August 25, 20145 Comments

Hello, and welcome to this brand new blog!

I have had this thing in my head for a long time and have mentally composed (and actually drafted) so many posts it’s a little bit ridiculous. It’s time to get the ball rolling.

Part of my hesitation is that I am not entirely sure what I will write about. Like I said on the About page, that is kind of the point, but I do need a vague sense of direction to get started. In general, what I think might show up here is stuff about living abroad, moving from one country to another, travelling, walking and my thoughts and experiences in all of those areas.

I also have a strong desire to share with you some personal growth challenges I have been working through. I am not a preachy self-help person. I am not on top of my stuff enough to suggest I know what’s up. But I have talked with other people about some of my recent experiences, and it seems I am very much not alone. My selfish desire is that I will find other people out there who mess up the same ways I do, even though they are trying hard not to, and who are willing to admit they are only human. If I meet one or two of you along the way, I am good to go.

In that vein, I guess, it seems only fair to share a little bit about myself so we can get to know each other.

About Me

I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah.

No. I am not mormon.

I grew up with a family that loved travelling, hiking, camping, road trips and all the other great American West stuff.

I’ve travelled a lot of places (more than some, less than others), and I plan to do a lot more of it because I love it immensely. I love feeling a little lost and then finding my way. I love meeting strangers who help me out and remind me that people are pretty great. I don’t love everything about travel, I can’t imagine anyone who really does, but I can’t imagine a life without it.

In August of 2010, I moved to London. I have lived there for four years now with the exception of three months I spent travelling solo in Asia, where I met a pretty great guy.

That guy (we’ll call him Chris because it is generic enough you won’t be able to figure out who he is, and because it is also his name) just got offered a job in Oman and we’ll be moving there very soon. When I say he just got it, I mean he hasn’t signed the contract officially yet, so there’s still a chance it might not happen, but we’re pretty sure it will.

I will miss London a lot but I am ready to move on. In July of this year, I finished a project I had of walking ALL of the streets in the central area (the Congestion Zone for those who know London). Having finished that, I feel like I did what I needed to do and I am now ready for a big, new, exciting adventure.

Those walks also reminded me of the importance of slowness, of curiosity, of awareness and of throwing the plan out the window. I decided I would try to attempt to apply some of those ideas to my life and share them with you here.

So that’s me in a nutshell!

There’s a lot more to say on all of those things, but I suppose that is what the whole rest of this blog is for, yeah?

Let’s see where it takes us.