Monthly Archives:

October 2018

Europe food travel vanlife

Italian inspired comfort food

October 29, 2018

  Today I’m in a bit of a daze. It’s rained for two days solid here in Italy and I’m packing for the long journey from Milan to Kolkata (via Heathrow and Doha) that begins in a few hours (or earlier today if you count the drive up to the airport). I’ve been immersed in this period of creative development for nearly a year, so now this very final stage is here I’m both ridiculously excited and terrified. Decided I…

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Europe feature travel water

The Crown Jewels of water fountains

October 27, 2018

  At this public water fountain in Guastalla, Italy, there are three taps: water, cold water and fizzy water. I kid you not. The locals stop here with crates of 2ltr bottles each and fill them. Italy has been the biggest surprise for me when it comes to simple generosity towards everyone. If you believe the U.K. press then it’s a country filled with rubbish and corruption. Maybe it is, but I haven’t seen any of that. All I’ve experienced…

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Europe feature field recordings travel water

The sounds of Venice

October 18, 2018

  Love this photo from our recent walk around Venice. Thanks @andyrgarside ❤️ (I don’t usually like pics of myself) also love this handmade dress I got for £13 in Oxfam Liverpool ✊ #loveeurope #vanlife #traveller #fieldrecordings #sound #water #waterpoet #poetlife #exploretocreate #liveauthentic #nomad #digitalnomad #creativelife #creativelifehappylife #buylesslivemore #venice #citywalk #slowlife #slowliving #cleancity #inspiringplaces #recycle…

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Europe travel water

slow city

October 16, 2018

  Ah Venice! What a city. Spent an entire day walking around collecting sounds and photographs. We decided that what makes this possible (without losing your mind in the busyness) is that there’s no cars or even pushbikes in the city, at all. This means that there is only one pace: walking. It’s Slow Life in real life. (Also – this is about Italy as a whole not so much Venice – we could learn a LOT from them about…

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dailyconnectionwithnature Europe nature

Olive tree country!

October 11, 2018

  We’re now in olive tree country! So many around here. This is what the olive trees spoke to me of today: I love olives and eat so many of them, but I’ll let you into a secret: I used to hate them. Honestly, I thought they tasted horrible, but I really wanted to like them because they’re in so many Mediterranean dishes I like. So I ate them anyway – all the time. I would order olives with everything;…

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Europe food travel

Dining alfresco

October 10, 2018

  Dining alfresco ?. Love being able to make a picnic to sit by the lake while working. This is a really yummy Italian flavoured rice and spinach warm salad. It’s just loads of chopped spinach in a pan with a big handful of chopped sun dried tomatoes, peppers, garlic, oregano, dried chilli, olive oil. Cook rice separately. When both are cooked fold together with loads of black pepper, juice of a 1/2 lemon (add more if you like) and…

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dailyconnectionwithnature Europe feature vanlife

Keep your eyes on the goal

October 9, 2018

  When we first sold everything to move into a van almost a year ago, we dreamed of working in, and exploring Europe. It was an exhilarating and terrifying decision because (unless you’re rich, which we’re not) there’s never an easy way to do it. You have to just go for it – death or glory style ?. And I think this lack of safety net is what stops a lot of working people from trying to live their dreams…

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books vanlife

A writer’s life

October 6, 2018

  A day of writing. Set myself the deadline of finishing the first draft of this novel by the end of the year. And I realise there’s no short cuts or quick fixes – it’s just time served behind the keyboard pouring mind, heart & soul onto white pages, trying not to sabotage or second guess anything, but to write from a place of inspiration and truth. Love writing in the van. Always a new outlook from here – coffee…

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dailyconnectionwithnature Europe feature nature

Mountain showers

October 5, 2018

  Hiked 9k and 1200m up a mountain today. It was amazing – paragliders falling from the sky like confetti. Took 3hrs. We had to get the cable car down because there was nothing left in the tank. I’m not as fit as I thought I was. Feel totally knackered and amazing. We’d usually wash in a river or the nearby stream but they are glacial here and too cold so before heading out I filled our eco-shower with glacial…

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