Sky Blue Vickie’s been on the road for six months. Has she been in control of her destiny along the way? Or has she just been sanitizing like a crazy woman and hoping for the best?
After going AWOL for six months, I’m back!
Like the majority of people across the globe, I’ve found myself at a little bit of a loss about quite what to do with myself over recent months.
So I took life’s lemons and made (gin) and lemonade! And I can tell you, making lemonade while you’re wearing a face mask and sanitized up to your armpits isn’t so bad after all.
I was all set to leave my home in Vancouver last July to spend some quality time with my mum in England and to do a little travelling for six months. To say the timing wasn’t perfect is something of an understatement, but decisions had been made about giving up my apartment – and life, as we all know, continues to march on relentless of global pandemics.
One (reassuringly hygienic) Air Canada flight later and I found myself in quarantine in the UK – a wonderful experience consisting of lazy afternoons in an English country garden, deliveries of some of the best fish and chips known to mankind and endless amounts of movie-watching.
My journey since then has taken me from quaint English fishing villages to sundrenched Greek islands, and from the ancient streets of Istanbul to the tranquility of a ‘ghost village’ in the Turkish mountains.
Was I in control of my destiny along the way? Was I planning itineraries with military precision? Or was I just sanitizing like a mad woman and winging it to the very best of my ability?
Without a doubt, I’ve been winging it every step of the way.
There has been an infuriating amount of red tape and endless amounts of temperature checks, cancelled flights and sanitizer gel. But there have also been Mykonos sunsets, cat-sitting adventures on Syros (I looked after 13 – yes 13 – cats!), the glorious sound of the call to prayer at Istanbul’s mighty Hagia Sofia and evenings sipping the local firewater as the sun sets over the bay in Fethiye.
And today, as I sit here on the balcony of a villa in the mountains of southern Turkey and look out at Mount Babadag, I’m so grateful to be healthy and happy and still throwing myself – heart and soul – into all the beauty and wonder that this word has to offer… against all the odds.
Travel during a pandemic can be lonely, for sure, but it can also be wonderful. And the good news is that I’m not the only one! I’ve met lovely face-masked Americans, Greeks, Australians, Kiwis, Turks, Argentinians, Brits and Canadians. Travellers are still out there, believe me.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be updating you on all of my adventures from the last six months in my newsletter, blog and social media. Together we’ll wonder the whimsical streets of England’s pretty little villages, we’ll witness earth-shaking thunderstorms on Naxos and we’ll take a dip in the transparent waters of the Turquoise Coast. We’ll deal with an unfathomable number of pussycats in Syros, watch herds of goats wander across the mountainsides of southern Turkey and we’ll visit the harem in Istanbul’s mesmerizing Topkapi Palace.
So stay tuned. It’s been one hell of a ride so far…
Sky Blue Vickie x
