In 2003, my partner and I arrived in the high, thin air of Mexico City at the start of a year long adventure. The culture shock was massive, a combination of altitude, the bustle of 10 million people, unfamiliar food, smells, faces and so much noise. The hostel overlooked the Zocalo, with its Spanish colonial buildings sitting on top of …
In 2003, my partner and I arrived in the high, thin air of Mexico City at the start of a year long adventure. The culture shock was massive, a combination of altitude, the bustle of 10 million people, unfamiliar food, smells, faces and so much noise. The hostel overlooked the Zocalo, with its Spanish colonial buildings sitting on top of an aztec temple, the main square of the city. I felt homesick, shocked and disoriented and searched for the familiar. We travelled lightly and the hostel had a shelf full of books left by travellers coming and going from all parts of Central America. I found a battered copy of McCarthy’s Bar by Pete McCarthy, a story of his travels around Southern Ireland. I took it with me when we hopped on the bus south to the Mayan riviera and read it cover to cover on the 20 hour journey imagining the green fields of west cork as we drive along the parched Mexican highways scattered with cacti and dust. Arriving in Playa del Carmen in Yucatan with its turquoise sea and blazing white beaches and another hostel, I swapped my book for another battered novel and lay reading in a hammock. That carried me on to a jungle traveller village in Guatemala with an open air jungle canopy bathroom and howler monkeys in the trees as I sat reading on the loo. And so it went. I read, I passed my book on, I swapped and shared battered books with global travellers all the way through Belize, through LA and onward to Fiji, on campsites and hostels across New Zealand and Australia. The comfort blanket of novels and autobiographies and books I never dreamed I would read. Adventure, poetry, classics. Anything that was there- I was open to it all. I have never read so widely and prolifically even during my literature degree. I had no expectations, no requirements, I just read what was available and there for me. No judgement. My final swap was in a hotel on the Khao San Road in Bangkok after winding our way through south east Asia. I ended my journey and flight back to London with another story of travel, another story of wandering in Ireland. The books carried me, were my blanket, my thread, my familiar, my safety in a year of absolute freedom and uncertainty.
Helen, this was fascinating to me who has so rarely travelled. It gives me a whole new perspective on how it might be to go so far beyond my comfort zone, by using books as a blanket. But I love that even as they provided you with safety and continuity, the actual book in hand was always contingent upon whatever had been left behind by a previous traveller.
It's also simply a gorgeous piece of writing. Have you considered sending it to an online travel magazine or approaching a newspaper travel section with a pitch on this?
In the meantime, here is a link to it in the story archive (happy to add you last name if you confirm here via reply)
Thanks so much Tanya. This is such a lovely safe space to try out a bit of writing after many years and I am really enjoying it (and the anonymity at the moment but that might change as I feel more confident!) - the themes and the surprising things that come to me under those themes has been really exciting! Look forward to more and thanks for creating and curating it xx
Oh my - good point about anonymity! I was feeling a little too bold earlier to be using my full name... I may rethink that as my writing becomes more personal.
Ah! I'd just tweeted asking for Twitter magic to find a replacment - but I've deleted instantly as the link has your name in it!
Do you want me to remove your last name from the story archive listing for it?
I quite understand the need to get used to having your words on the web - several contributors don't give last names (yet/ever) for that reason: it's enough for them to get used to seeing their words presented in a public place at a little distance from them. They often - as you did - see their words in new ways too once they're published. This is true of all writers - however hard I proof read, I only ever see some errors the minute it goes to my editor!
I can't undertake to make lots of editorial changes for style post submission because of the volume of pieces I edit and publish: I can only make change if a big misspelling or formatting problem is spotted...
But I can change your name straight away. On this platform it doesn't get indexed on search engines, and most subscribers don't read all the subcomments on threads...
Oh no, that's absolutely fine! I think I want to do it this way. I just hadn't really considered it. I have now, and please do send that tweet out onto the world. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time. Thank you!
Loved this, felt taken along to places I've never been, always admire people with your sense of adventure, so touched by all of the book sharing, a link around the world.
Your piece is so rich and evocative. It's reminded me of the years i travelled myself and picked up a book - that story unfolding as your own travel story unfolds, running alongside one another. A double story so rich, like a bit of life twice lived, really loved reading this x
Thanks Louise! It’s funny as I think the tradition of passing on books as we did as travellers isn’t so common anymore as everyone travels with kindles- seems a shame really!
In 2003, my partner and I arrived in the high, thin air of Mexico City at the start of a year long adventure. The culture shock was massive, a combination of altitude, the bustle of 10 million people, unfamiliar food, smells, faces and so much noise. The hostel overlooked the Zocalo, with its Spanish colonial buildings sitting on top of an aztec temple, the main square of the city. I felt homesick, shocked and disoriented and searched for the familiar. We travelled lightly and the hostel had a shelf full of books left by travellers coming and going from all parts of Central America. I found a battered copy of McCarthy’s Bar by Pete McCarthy, a story of his travels around Southern Ireland. I took it with me when we hopped on the bus south to the Mayan riviera and read it cover to cover on the 20 hour journey imagining the green fields of west cork as we drive along the parched Mexican highways scattered with cacti and dust. Arriving in Playa del Carmen in Yucatan with its turquoise sea and blazing white beaches and another hostel, I swapped my book for another battered novel and lay reading in a hammock. That carried me on to a jungle traveller village in Guatemala with an open air jungle canopy bathroom and howler monkeys in the trees as I sat reading on the loo. And so it went. I read, I passed my book on, I swapped and shared battered books with global travellers all the way through Belize, through LA and onward to Fiji, on campsites and hostels across New Zealand and Australia. The comfort blanket of novels and autobiographies and books I never dreamed I would read. Adventure, poetry, classics. Anything that was there- I was open to it all. I have never read so widely and prolifically even during my literature degree. I had no expectations, no requirements, I just read what was available and there for me. No judgement. My final swap was in a hotel on the Khao San Road in Bangkok after winding our way through south east Asia. I ended my journey and flight back to London with another story of travel, another story of wandering in Ireland. The books carried me, were my blanket, my thread, my familiar, my safety in a year of absolute freedom and uncertainty.
Helen, this was fascinating to me who has so rarely travelled. It gives me a whole new perspective on how it might be to go so far beyond my comfort zone, by using books as a blanket. But I love that even as they provided you with safety and continuity, the actual book in hand was always contingent upon whatever had been left behind by a previous traveller.
It's also simply a gorgeous piece of writing. Have you considered sending it to an online travel magazine or approaching a newspaper travel section with a pitch on this?
In the meantime, here is a link to it in the story archive (happy to add you last name if you confirm here via reply)
Tan x
https://thecureforsleep.com/november-issue-reading/#Helen
Thanks so much Tanya. This is such a lovely safe space to try out a bit of writing after many years and I am really enjoying it (and the anonymity at the moment but that might change as I feel more confident!) - the themes and the surprising things that come to me under those themes has been really exciting! Look forward to more and thanks for creating and curating it xx
Oh my - good point about anonymity! I was feeling a little too bold earlier to be using my full name... I may rethink that as my writing becomes more personal.
Ah! I'd just tweeted asking for Twitter magic to find a replacment - but I've deleted instantly as the link has your name in it!
Do you want me to remove your last name from the story archive listing for it?
I quite understand the need to get used to having your words on the web - several contributors don't give last names (yet/ever) for that reason: it's enough for them to get used to seeing their words presented in a public place at a little distance from them. They often - as you did - see their words in new ways too once they're published. This is true of all writers - however hard I proof read, I only ever see some errors the minute it goes to my editor!
I can't undertake to make lots of editorial changes for style post submission because of the volume of pieces I edit and publish: I can only make change if a big misspelling or formatting problem is spotted...
But I can change your name straight away. On this platform it doesn't get indexed on search engines, and most subscribers don't read all the subcomments on threads...
Oh no, that's absolutely fine! I think I want to do it this way. I just hadn't really considered it. I have now, and please do send that tweet out onto the world. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time. Thank you!
And that's such great insight, about proofreading and missing things. Thank you again.
Loved this, felt taken along to places I've never been, always admire people with your sense of adventure, so touched by all of the book sharing, a link around the world.
Your piece is so rich and evocative. It's reminded me of the years i travelled myself and picked up a book - that story unfolding as your own travel story unfolds, running alongside one another. A double story so rich, like a bit of life twice lived, really loved reading this x
Thanks Louise! It’s funny as I think the tradition of passing on books as we did as travellers isn’t so common anymore as everyone travels with kindles- seems a shame really!
I know! Your piece bought back lovely memories of books handed down and handed on, undertaking travels of their own!