So, you want to have 14 weeks away from the daily grind – and the close proximity to technology that is so normal now. Eric and I both spend all day tied to a computer – and then in the evenings and weekends we seem to gravitate to the computer again – either to work, socially network ( 😛 ) or play a game (I admit it!!).

We feel the ‘urge to purge’ our need to be close to technology – yet we also want to stay in close touch with family and friends, because these days travel doesn’t mean you’re out of touch like in the olden days!

Eric has some programming he wants to work on, I have my blog and surfing the net for information about sights, eateries, flights etc is invaluable. Skype and emails to keep up with the kids – how could we live without them?

We’ll bring Eric’s mobile and will probably bring a lightweight laptop – and because if we are in computer down time (not out and about) and one of us is on the laptop, then the other will probably want to be on the iPad. Because if one of us is engaged with the technology, then what is the other one doing? I’d say reading a book? But Eric says, yeah that might work for you, but what would I be doing? If we are both either on the laptop or iPad, then we will still be talking to each other, comparing things, showing each other things – if one is on the computer and the other reading – then we might be in our own worlds.

We feel that we are going to spend so much time out and about sightseeing and engaging with people, cooking classes, language classes (maybe) eating out and seeing live music, walking and exploring that the time spent with the technology will be severely curtailed, compared to our normal life.

It seems amazing to me that we can’t imagine (really) not having a computer close by or ready access to the net. Even as we yearn to do things differently and experience life closer to natural – we can’t let go!

When I was a small child I SAW a real live dragon and for a very long time that was my earliest memory.

That memory was as real as the sky and trees around me. We were on a bridge, driving over a creek and I looked down and saw him – and he saw me. It was amazing and magical – and fantasy? – who knows!

That sense of magic and innocence is quickly lost as we move out of childhood – well before we become even young adults.
Life becomes hard work – for some more than others. Some of us find it hard to connect to the joy and magic in life – even before we reach adulthood.

I’ve always been a girl to embrace fantasy – it is my great escape from life. An avid fiction reader and movie buff – what better way to retreat from the world and live and breathe adventure through other people’s stories and escapades.

As a woman turning 50 this year, with children from 18 to 29 who are beginning to move on with their own lives and not depending so much on their parents – this upcoming travel could be a way to connect with that lost sense of wonder in the world.

You can’t get back the innocence – but I can nurture that inner child, connect in new ways with my beautiful husband and consider what more I would like to do with my life.

Hopefully, I’ll reconnect with my own creativity – something missing for a long time in my life, lose some shyness and engage more with people – shouldn’t be hard to do when living in a country where I don’t speak the language!

I’ll really have to make some effort to get to know people in their comfort zone – not in mine.