You can’t travel right now, but you can dream…

As many of you know, one of the things I am most passionate about, besides our parish community, is what some might call my ‘obsession’ with travel – and in particular, train travel. While current circumstances might have curtailed this a bit (though not that much – as you might have noticed!), and while there are far bigger problems in our world to worry about, when I get some time off, I usually like to turn to the ‘bible’ (pictured) and dream of faraway stations…

This lockdown period may not be a good time to plan, let alone book anything – but it is a time to dream and maybe consider possibilities. So over the next few weeks, as a break from parish stuff, I’ll try to share some destinations, resources, and travel tips. Maybe you’ll be inspired, maybe you’ll see that, once we can travel again, an adventure is possible for pretty much anyone, of any age, at most budgets! It even works with kids – and even with parents.

The Value of Planning

You might remember the old saying – ‘prior planning and preparation prevents pretty poor performance’. This doesn’t mean you need a rigid itinerary with pre-booked transport and accommodation – in fact too much planning can make for a very boring holiday, as all you end up doing is scrolling through an itinerary that isn’t half as much fun as you thought it would be.

The key is to get a balance. It’s useful to have a rough itinerary, an idea of how to get between locations, and some concept of what you might do in order to eat and sleep. However there needs to be room for flexibility. You might arrive somewhere and not like it very much, you might hear of somewhere else more interesting, or you might find that your one-night stopover in wherever is far better than you could have ever imagined.

The idea of planning is not to hardwire you and your companions into an inflexible programme, but to give you the ability to change plans at will, wisely yet imaginatively.

So my first posts will be about planning – as it sets you free to be spontaneous!