Category: Travels

Where and when I will be at any time, I just do not know, as due to no fault of my own, plans change. Three of my courses were canceled by the organisers in Istanbul, with little notice, leaving me with a travel plan of flights, paid for and confirmed, to be in a city and country with nothing to do, where no-body loves me, not earning money, instead costing me money.

Like a road, starting from a given place, we start a journey, planing to reach a destination.

In the UK, some major roads are given the prefix ‘A’, will start in London, developed centuries ago, probably by the Romans, ending in towns and cities which would have important communication and strategic importance. The ‘A1’ London to Edinborough, ‘A2’ London to Dover, ‘A3’ London to Portsmouth, ‘A4’ London to Bath, ‘A5’ London to Holyhead. They all have an end

As we plan our journey, we may look at a map, picking out the places we must pass, the towns, the junctions of other roads, which will tell us if we are on track, and how our journey is going. From this information, we will estimate how long the journey will take as a whole, and as we progress, we will be able to know if will make the timetable.

We may arrange to meet friends, colleagues, contacts on our journey, and give specific dates and times for these meetings, hoping that we are not delayed and that the others will turn-up. How frustrating it is to plan a journey only to find at the last minute that these people have canceled for a multitude of reasons, some genuine, some just an excuse.

As we progress the journey, we may find that there are road works, the road is being repaired or changed. These may slow down our journey, and often as we pass the road works, all we see are the barriers that have been put up, but no people working there.

Sometimes due to an accident, major road construction, we are diverted via another route. Sometimes these diversions are well sign posted, making our journey a little longer, but easy. Sometimes the diversions are not there, or have been removed, leaving us to find our own way, floundering, wondering around in a mist of confusion.

Often as we continue, forever aiming to get to our destination, we see and meet people who may be trying to get to the same place, or a place on or near the route we are taking. We may feel it is right to give these people a lift, help them on their journey, after all, it can be companionship, friendship, business. Often, these people take us off our route, take a diversion, from the journey we had planned to take. Perhaps they are wanting to go to the seaside for a holiday, to seek new business, a new life, to attend a meeting themselves.

Often have we given such a person a lift, we have been invited to become part of their dreams, to become part of their life, business, they tell us that they will keep in contact, telephone, communicate, yet like dreams they rarely come true, they are forgotten when they reach their destination, and we come back to our own journey, reality. Yet we had spent time and perhaps money in being with these people. It is good to know that we have helped others reach their goal.

No matter how much we plan, things can go wrong, we have breakdowns, and we may have to seek help, or repair the faults ourselves, either temporary or long lasting. There will always be a way to solve our problems. If we can solve the problem ourselves, we can often save a fortune, as people will often take advantage of our temporary breakdowns. But sometimes we are lucky to find a good person who for no gain to themselves, help us through the hours of need.

We are and should be continually adjusting our route on the journey, our timings, our plans, to be adjustable, but how many of us are just too busy to allocate time for these diversions, breakdowns?

How many of us allow time to notice the places of interest on our journey, let alone allow time to visit them?

There are so many places of interest on a journey, the majority not marked on the map we made our plan from (visit The Map is not the Territory). We need to keep our eyes open, to use ‘Phillip’s Sausage’, Win Wenger’s ‘Sidebands’, to notice the unusual, the things we are not usually aware of.

Perhaps visiting the places of interest will enrich our life and knowledge, even if the information has no relevance to our present journey, it may seal a previous outstanding issue, or prepare us for something in the future.

How many of us decide to take the easy route, keep to the ‘A’ roads, take no diversions?

How many of us expect others to drive us to our destination, letting them take the risks, frustrations, heartaches?

Sometimes we have to allow others to help us, like we would for them.

A journey can be so much more fun, exciting and enlightening if we take the ‘B’ roads sometimes, the minor roads, see and experience things from a different perspective.

No matter what happens, a journey will end. Some roads have a beginning and an end. Some roads short, just a street, some roads are long covering many miles or kilometers, towns, cities, countries, continents, allowing us experience and learn so much.

Some roads have no beginnings or endings, the ring roads, the major motorway around London for example, the M25, they are a continuous circle. If we stay on these roads we will see or learn nothing new. We must have a plan, know which exit to take, be willing to get off, and change our route.