Today marks the finish of 7 years of full time travel and house sitting.
Seven years! It was certainly never planned to last so long; in fact, it wasn’t planned at all!
Quite simply, I fell into it and it felt right so I kept on, each time learning to become more self reliant, flexible, minimalist and open to learning from life in all its forms
(S)he who would travel happily must travel light.” -Antoine de St. Exupery
Seven years has always been significant in my life, a time for a major review leading to a major change and so the cycle has again been fulfilled.
It’s too early to truly list all that I have learnt-i’ll need a period of reflection for that.
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” -Gustave Flaubert
I must say that now, as I sit in the lounge awaiting my flight to Sydney I feel a sense of relief that relative strangers won’t be waiting for me to look after their place and pets. The world and I have changed, I can no longer feel comfortable house sitting for a Trump supporter as I once found myself doing.
The evening the owners returned, grateful for my care of their blind cat, the husband triumphed in Trumps election at the ballot box. I made my position clear and he exploded, I looked at the wife who, like a good handmaid, lowered her eyes; no independent opinion there!
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comforts of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things. -air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky. -all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
Of course that was a more recent experience and an indication of the need for change.
But continuous house sitting gave me the confidence to travel solo for three weeks in China with little Mandarin, even the difficult experiences have distinct benefits.
So now, a day after arriving in my new community, I feel comfortable in exploring the area to find the right locale for me. . Theresa a lightness in my chest;I can just be me now
About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won’t like you at all.”
― Rita Mae Brown
lightravellerkate 
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