obviously i have been out of town for the best part of this week, so for now, a break from all the travel stories...here are five things i have loved, hated, and missed while travelling this week:...
1. the weather: marrakech was a mixed bag of weather, we had some sun, we had some rain, and we had a lot of cold. hell, we even had a bit of ice! back in london; wet and raining, and the ever constant cold. well, wednesday morning i awoke to snow. not settled, but falling. soft at first, then as we watched on, harder and thicker. the ground was wet, so it didn't settle sadly, but it was definitely there. i stuck my hand out the window and touched it. man alive, i love me some snow! being from australia, i'd never seen snow until this february when we had that late winter. i arrived on boxing day of 2010, the year heathrow closed for a few days in late december, and danni minogue was worried she wouldn't get home for christmas. remember that? yeah, so does australia. i flew over with such anticipation of seeing some goddamn snow, just to find it all melted by the time i landed. furious. then, it didn't snow in london, until february 2012. i waited 14 months for my first glimpse of real snow. and, it was totally worth the wait. i love it!
2. beige food: you will hear a lot about this to come. i warn you now. moroccan food in my mind is fresh herbs and spices, nice cuts of meat, flavoured cous cous and beans, tasty, tasty dishes. in reality, it was... not anything like that. well, that's not fair. inside our hotel, it's like moroccan cooking was never invented. in the souks and in the villages, the food was wonderful. but, during my stay in marrakech, i developed a very strong dislike for beige food despite the dependence my body has developed to it since. rice, cous cous, quinoa, tuna, pasta, pastries, eggs, potatoes, chicken.. all plain, all boiled. gross. get out of my life.
3. my wardrobe. i have a lot of clothes, it's true. and i add to this collection on a weekly basis. and i'm not worried about that, because i work very hard for my money, save very hard, don't party very hard, and like to buy cheap clothes. this to me, is a fair compromise. sure, shopping is not very rock 'n' roll, but i fricking love doing it, and least i come away with something to show for it, unlike a hangover which no-one ever wants. so, when travelling light, with completely improper clothes, the one thing i missed the most, was my lovely wardrobe full of variety and warmth. and colour.
4. the internet: the lovely, sweet, free range free and unlimited internet access i so readily enjoy whilst in the comfort of my own country is highlighted somewhat when you travel somewhere so mental that you want to be able to update your facebook/twitter/instagram/linkedin profile/blog/etsy shop/ebay store/wiki page/myspace band page/email address book/etc and you. just. can't. it's possibly the hardest of the habits to break. (cos there aren't other habits that are addictive and hard to break that come to mind right now..) i'm so used to having my phone in hand, taking pics, replying to various social media platforms.. it just feels odd not being able to do so as often as normal. having to linger in the lounge was borrring and made us feel anti-social, despite our (very vigorous) various social media addictions.
5. reading: the best thing about holidays is the rest and relaxation that a break from the ordinary offers. i love to read anyway, but definitely don't read as much as i'd like. sometimes i go months without picking up a book, and then sometimes i'll finish a book in a day. it really just depends on my mood and it has to be the right book. well, while we were away, rebekah leant me 'the life of pi'. i had seen it advertised at the cinema, and she had already read it, and raved that it was a fantastic read. so, i started reading while we were on the plane, and had finished reading by the end of the 3rd day. it really was a great read; there were parts (as in any book) that drag on or were over descriptive, and i'll be honest and say i found myself skim reading over a few chapters near the starts, but, once the story was underway i was hooked. i would highly recommend the book before seeing the movie. that's usually my recomendation anyway - i just think that a lot of the time, novels aren't adapted well enough for the screen. parts of the trailer already are different to the book, so i am glad i have read it, and look forward to seeing it next date night.
what have you been loving or loathing this week?
