Tag Archives: fatigue

Stress-Free Recovery Time in Sydney

Just a quick check-in today. We arrived in Sydney yesterday after a flight from Vancouver to Auckland, a short layover in New Zealand, and then on to Sydney. And joy of joys, ALL of the luggage arrived!

My body might be here, but my brain and consciousness are not fully believing it quite yet. I think they’re still hanging out in the ether somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Long haul flights are simply a dreadful way to travel once you are older than 20 or 30-something!

We’re staying with friends out at the beach and beginning to do online searches for the essentials beginning with a vehicle.

I’ll try to be back relatively soon with new posts — but no promises.

Time for another nap for this jet-lagged little body!

Perhaps France For Now?

There are days when we can barely believe that it has been 14 months since we left Australia to live and work in Europe on our ‘Grand Adventure’ that was meant to last for a mere 6 months. As I edit photos for my various stock agencies, it is a bit startling to comprehend that some of the images from England, Scotland, and the Netherlands are either a full year old or very nearly there.

Living out of a set of suitcases and snap-lid containers, packing and unpacking every few weeks — well, let’s just be truthful and say that it is getting more than a little tiresome on occasion. For several months now we have been acknowledging a growing sense of travel fatigue. And it never fails that when you need one particular item of clothing, it’s always right at the bottom (or even worse, in the middle!) of those two practically-body-bag sized suitcases that came with us from Oz.

We carry rather a lot of technical gear too — computers and multiple cameras, lenses, 3 back-up drives, a printer, and more — much more. So all of that needs to go into separate bags that go in and out of the van every time we arrive and depart. And did I mention the basic household items and cooking supplies?

Each time we leave, it takes us several hours on the day prior to departure to get organised and go through the checklist as we repack. Then on the day of departure it takes approximately 2 hours for the darling Mark to repack the van so that it all fits into the back like puzzle pieces. Guess what? We are both tired for an overlapping day each and every time we change locations!

Checklist and paperwork for getting a Carte du Sejour -- a French residency card

We just need to stop for awhile — and we are completely uncertain if this is the final stopping place (country-wise), but FOR NOW we’ve decided to give France a try. The photo above is my checklist from the Prefecture in St. Lo and my paperwork. I am getting my residency card for France — the Carte du Sejour. Mark doesn’t require any of this since he’s already an EU citizen by holding a British passport.

The plan (which, to be truthful, is always in flow!) is to wait here in Normandy for a few more weeks until the laminated card comes back from the government offices in St. Lo. When we went into the offices yesterday to inquire about the time, they told us that it would take at least another 15 days and I have to come pick it up in person since they won’t send it in the post. Today Mark is in Coutances getting his Auto-Entrepreneur paperwork done so he can work as a freelance artisan here in France.

Once we have all of the paperwork in hand, we’ll go down to the south of France for a much shorter time than originally planned, and then go on to Italy for awhile. And after that? It’s likely to be either a trip to the USA to visit family or, if our schedules don’t line up, looking for an apartment to rent here in France for at least 6 months and finding some renovating or building work for Mark. I really need to get stuck into the editing work for several uninterrupted months since there is that big a backlog!

The idea of completely unpacking and seeing ALL of our clothing for the first time in 6 months is rather thrilling, too!

Writing and editing in my pajamas

Now, while the house is quiet and Mark is out, I’m going see just how much I can get accomplished in the next few hours. Feet up, MacBook on my lap, good internet connection — life is good. But it will be even better once the key that opens the front door goes into our OWN little home — no matter how long we live there!

UPDATE

Oh my — not going quite a smoothly as expected. Mark has to show the registration office here in France some paperwork indicating that he had a business in Australia and that he was in business for himself for over 3 years. Well we certainly do have all of that paperwork, but it’s in a box in storage in Australia! Who in the world would think to travel overseas with your former business paperwork with you?

I’ll keep you posted as I try to determine how to get the Australian government paperwork that we need. Sheesh! Another time-wasting challenge that I really don’t need! There goes my productive work day. (sigh!)

New Year in Amsterdam Sounds Like A Battlefield

The flight was long, the seats were cramped, our bodies were aching. But we arrived in Amsterdam at 6 AM on New Year’s Eve, made our way to the apartment we had rented, and crashed into deep sleep.

A mere few days before we left Sydney, one of my Twitter friends, Krista Bjorn – @ramblingtart, had warned me that Amsterdam was going to be quite loud at New Year’s Eve. But I didn’t fully comprehend just how loud!

Somehow I slept through the folks that jumped the gun in the afternoon and Mark assured me that it sounded like cannon-fire all over our neighbourhood from noon onward. Over 20 hours of flying will do that to you — just knock you flat. My consciousness should probably still be somewhere over China or Russia today and working its way slowly west to Amsterdam.

We traded places and Mark fell asleep at 8 PM while I sat here with the computer and held my breath as the streets outside sounded like we were living in the middle of a battlefield. It was quite unnerving! He got up at midnight when the sound level, believe it or not, escalated. Putting our heavy winter coats on, we walked outside and a few metres away to the end of our block, stood there a bit awestruck, and watched explosion after explosion going off above the canal right in front of us. The sheer amount of fireworks is like nothing we have ever seen and the stunning aspect for us was that these were all privately purchased ones. Fireworks are sold quite openly and it’s almost as if there is a street by street competition to see who can make the most noise and light up the sky most brightly. Eerie!!!

The following morning, we emerged from the apartment to see the streets and pavements layered with discarded wrappings and tubes of fireworks. They were so thick on some streets that you shuffled through them, the sound against your shoes like the sound of fallen leaves in the autumn. The bricks of the pavement were stained in some places with the orange and red colours of the dry residue.

Fireworks wrappers after New Year's Eve in Amsterdam

Sporadic explosions continued well into the cold but sunny daylight hours of New Year’s Day as people walked around in a low-key manner, picking their way carefully through the discarded champagne, wine, and beer bottles. There was no sensation of hurry or rushing in the air.

With a mere 6 hours of sleep apiece, we decided to go out for several hours. Our faces are looking a bit battered and exhausted, but we have begun our explorations of this truly beautiful city. Come back soon for more adventures in Amsterdam!

Mark checking map in Amsterdam

Deborah taking photos alongside Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey

Tag Archives: fatigue

Stress-Free Recovery Time in Sydney

Perhaps France For Now?

New Year in Amsterdam Sounds Like A Battlefield