In search of… something
In search of coffee and cake… and marmalade sandwiches! A personal exploration of what it is to be Human through the lens of travelling on a budget.
The short version... In Search of A Travel Blog is an alternative to reading the individual blog entries below but it doesn’t have as much detail.
The longer version of the Individual travel posts which include daily ‘budget costs’.
12 October 2023 – Nalagiri House (Ireland) to Bogotá (Colombia)
13 October 2023 – Bogotá (Colombia) to Lima (Peru)
15 October 2023 – Lima to Cuzco (Peru)
16 October 2023 – Cuzco (Peru)
17 October 2023 – Cuzco to Aguas Caliente (Machu Picchu) (Peru)
18 October 2023 – Machu Picchu (Peru)
19 October 2023 – Aguas Calientes to Cuzco (Peru)
20 October 2023 – Cuzco to Iquitos (Peru)
21 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 1 (Peru)
22 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 2 (Peru)
23 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 3 (Peru/Brazil)
24 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 4 (Brazil)
25 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 5 (Brazil)
26 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 6 (Brazil)
27 October 2023 – Amazon River Day 7 (Brazil)
28 October 2023 – Manaus (Brazil)
29 October 2023 – Manaus (Brazil)
30 October 2023 – Santa Marta (Colombia)
31 October 2023 – Santa Marta (Colombia)
01 November 2023 – Barranquilla (Colombia)
02 November 2023 – Barranquilla (Colombia)
03 November 2023 – Cartagena (Colombia)
04 November 2023 – Cartagena (Colombia)
05 November 2023 – Cartagena (Colombia)
06 November 2023 – Panama City (Panama)
07 November 2023 – Panama City (Panama)
08 November 2023 – Bocas del Toro (Panama)
09 November 2023 – Bocas del Toro (Panama)
10 November 2023 – Bocas del Toro (Panama)
11 November 2023 – Panama City (Panama)
12 November 2023 – La Fortuna (Costa Rica)
13 November 2023 – La Fortuna (Costa Rica)
14 November 2023 – La Fortuna (Costa Rica)
15 November 2023 – Santa Elena (Costa Rica)
16 November 2023 – Santa Elena (Costa Rica)
17 November 2023 – Santa Elena (Costa Rica)
18 November 2023 – Santa Elena (Costa Rica)
19 November 2023 – Puntarenas (Costa Rica)
20 November 2023 – Quepos (Costa Rica)
21 November 2023 – Quepos (Costa Rica)
22 November 2023 – Quepos (Costa Rica)
23 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
24 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
25 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
26 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
27 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
28 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
29 November 2023 – Uvita (Costa Rica)
30 November 2023 – Quepos again (Costa Rica)
01 December 2023 – Manuel Antonio (Costa Rica)
02 December 2023 – San José (Costa Rica)
03 December 2023 – San José (Costa Rica)
04 December 2023 – San José (Costa Rica)
Top Travel Tip: Be like Paddington Bear and travel with hand luggage only.
A brief explanation of why I am writing this travel journal.
But before I begin, I have to say that you are not expected to read beyond this point, and please feel free to un-follow the Instagram @kapikoy100 profile.
Earlier this year I travelled through 35 countries from Tralee in Ireland to Kapikoy in Turkey by train, bus and ferry. On my return to Ireland I experienced a very low mood that I think it would be fair to call ‘depression’.
I am now travelling again and I want to record my journey a little more deeply than before.
This written and photographic record is primarily intended for myself but I realise that some things I might write could be of interest to others in at least two different ways. Firstly as an honest and open record of my current journey psychologically. Secondary, as a guide to travelling creatively on a limited budget, in my case a small pension.
I enjoyed and was occasionally challenged by using Instagram to record recent travels. Instagram is a good format for such ‘blogs’ as I was limited to 10 photos and 2,200 characters per daily post. But because I now want to record my geographical, philosophical and psychological journey over the next 55 or so days I think that I will change formats.
I will again try to post each day on Instagram with 10 or fewer photos but with just a snippet of text. For each Instagram post there will be a corresponding webpage with more text.
I must stress again that this is a personal exploration with no audience in mind, so please feel free to un-follow the @kapikoy100 profile, I won’t be offended.
The style of writing will be, well, I don’t really know how to describe it… creatively haphazard… haphazardly creative… or maybe just haphazard.
The journal may not run in strict chronological sequence as there may be ‘flashbacks’ to put current experience into context. Also, it will be recorded by manual text entries and voice notes as each day unfolds. Some days will likely have more details than others. And, I don’t intend to worry too much about grammar or to spend time editing before publishing each entry.
Therefore, some writing will appear random, unrelated and incomplete, but hopefully challenging and possibly controversial particularly – but not limited to – from a Buddhist perspective.
There will be recurring themes, some universal like Death, some personal like Death. No one is expected to read beyond this point! No one is expected to read this – full stop.
Ideas to be explored through the lens of travel…
- Maya Angelou Quotes
- Antinatalism
- This Be The Verse
- Antifrustrationism
- YOLO
- Ethics of non-essential travel
- Travelling on a limited budget
- Creative itineraries
- Moment(s) of well-being
- The Buddha’s ‘Third Noble Truth’
- All experience is conditioned even Nibbana
- The Buddha was a human being not a Messiah (brilliant but faulty)
- Reaching the point of “I don’t care anymore +/-” or “I have had enough” or “I want this to end”
- Futurama Suicide Booths!
- Metta Sutta, living simply and unhurried (unbusy)
- Expectations (of self or others or by others)
- Planning, obsessive or otherwise, is part of ‘Protecting’ the ‘Self’ including constructing assumptions and predictions, which can be a positive or negative, pleasant or unpleasant experience.
- and on and on…
I live in rural Ireland and have used a quarter tank of gas since February this year.
When I returned to Ireland after four months of travel, I experienced what I thought was a low mood. After a while I had to acknowledge that the symptoms looked like depression. I hope to explore this in more detail later but for now I can say that I had a depressing return to a very uncomfortable living situation. I would not be honest if I said I didn’t have a preference for things to be different.
Mindfulness, for want of a better term, helps me not suffer for ‘my’ preferences or to get depressed about ‘my’ depression. Everything that I experience is the result of causes and conditions.