Long-lasting trips, unexpected gems, and the flu
The Stubborn Travel quarterly round up
Good morning, Medium! I write to you giddy, with a coffee next to me, the first one in a week. I’m giddy because I’m starting to recover from a bad flu and it’s the first day I don’t feel like a fever-ridden zombie.
I don’t know about you, but I get so excited when I start feeling better after a sick stint. The world is full of possibilities! Look at all these things I can do without a fever and a dizzying headache! How glorious is this unrestricted airflow through my nostrils? Maybe it’s good to be ill once in a while, if only to remember what an incredible gift good health is.
I’ve spent the past week in bed. With my body achy and my eyes tired, I’ve found myself drawn to audiobooks. My Flu Week listen was Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind, based on the troubled life of mathematician and widely regarded genius, John Nash. At 30+ hours, it’s long, and Nash’s resilient pursuit of higher learning made me feel pretty lazy as I lay in bed listening, but I really recommend it. It’s an enlightening albeit quite sad read, with a look into the manifestations of schizophrenia.
I haven’t seen the film, but I hear it’s good. I plan watch it soon, if only to point out every detail the movie got wrong to my poor partner, who sighs with the patience of a saint.
Sometimes this insufferable habit does yield interesting observations though. Such was the case with the 1945 movie adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (formerly Ten Little Indians and before that, something I won’t write), where the movie completely changed the ending, an interesting indication of the times.
But I digress! What about you? What are you reading at the moment? Are you enjoying it?
And on to travel. Since the last newsletter in July, I’ve been to Portugal and Italy. The former, on a yoga retreat followed by a few solo days in a surfing town called Peniche (which I loved), and the latter in September, when I accompanied my retired parents on their annual trip to the south of Italy. We go just before or as beaches are starting to close, gambling with the weather but guaranteeing fewer crowds. This time we went to Taranto, which I discovered is where the tarantula gets its name (not to worry, it’s not because they swarm the area).
Around the world in a few stories
When it comes to pub news, as usual Stubborn Travel writers continue to share and delight. A BIG thank you! I’m always grateful to the writers, but particularly in the past few months, when changes at Medium have made things very unpredictable. I can only guess what the future holds, but as for the present, I’ve really loved the following stories. If you do too, please let the writers know with claps or comments — they deserve them!
🇫🇷 Paris is Just Outside Your Door, by Aaron Charles
I loved Aaron’s evocative trip to France, which shows us how a trip can keep giving far after it’s finished. It’s also a wise and thoughtful reminder that not everyone travels in the same way. Read it here.
🇳🇱 When Economical Travel Results in a Hidden Gem, by Stephanie Wilsey
Faced with high hotel prices when visiting Amsterdam, Stephanie chose to stay in the more economic Haarlem. Price aside, she was delighted with the decision. Read why here — I bet it’ll leave you itching to visit.
🇵🇹 Living the Rural Life in Portugal, by Lisa Tisdale
Travel consultant Lisa is on a year-long journey throughout Portugal. Join her for a stay in a farmhouse in Paços da Serra, where she humorously considers: how rural is too rural for a city girl? Read here.
🇮🇩 Paradise Lost: Revisiting Bali Twelve Years On, by Sarah Martin
Got Ubud, Bali on your bucket list? Sarah regretfully encourages you to think again in this tale of Bali through the years. Read about Sarah’s trip and thoughts on over-tourism here.
🌎 Five Keys to Conquering a Gap Year, by Will Butler
Last but not least, if you’re uh-ming and ah-ing around taking a gap year, recent gap year alumn Will Butler’s advice is to just go for it. Read why and his five top tips here.
Got a story that you think would suit the pub? Read the submission guidelines and send a draft here.
Want to be featured on the website?
Stubborn Travel is a Medium publication, but it’s also a website.
As you hopefully know from the publication, I use the word ‘stubborn’ with a lot of love. To me, someone stubborn is someone passionate, who yearns to do something even when it’s not easy or the odds are against them. Something like travel, hence the name of the pub and the website.
In the next few months, I’ll be launching a section on the website called Stubborn People. And I’m looking for people to feature! Existing writers for Stubborn Travel would be a perfect fit, but so would anyone who has a story that meets the Stubborn Travel guidelines.
What does a feature entail?
A feature is a page dedicated to you, so you can include whatever you’re comfortable with. I would imagine:
- The name you’d like on the feature (it can be your first name, full name, initials… whatever you’d like)
- A few lines about you
- Where you consider home
- A place you love and why
- Your favourite ways to travel
- A few photos of a trip (with or without you), with descriptions of what they are
- Backlinks to anything you’d like — your website, LinkedIn, social channels, Medium profile and/or Medium stories
If you’re up for this, let me know. Stubborn Travel writers can email me stating interest, and I’ll reply with a list of questions. You can choose which ones to answer, or go off piste and tell your story in a way that feels right to you. Non Stubborn Travel writers, please let me know interest in the comments — if your profile looks like a match, I’ll get in touch.
What I hope to capture with this section is some of the different ways that people travel. I hope to feature a real range, which together show that being stubborn about travel doesn’t mean you’re always away. Being a stubborn traveler can mean taking a long drive to search for stars, going for a night at the opera, learning a difficult language, revisiting a special place. Going somewhere completely new. Traveling through books and time. It can even mean saying no to a trip to ponder why we travel.
To me, it means feeding the hunger to stay curious.
I’d love to know: what does being a stubborn traveler mean to you?
Tips and tricks
Last but not least, here are some things I’ve found useful lately:
- Thinking: want to start journalling but don’t know how? Prompt Monster generates questions to get you started. If you’re looking for a place for your thoughts, I adore my new A Beautiful Story journal.
- Moving: Lisa Hood offers nourishing yin and yang yoga sessions, online, on demand and in person (the latter in Sitges, Spain). Her yin classes in particular really help me keep my stress demons at bay.
- Saving: Mastercard Priceless has discounts and experiences for Mastercard holders around the world. This month, I used one of four complimentary Fast Track passes at Gatwick Airport and was through in a jiffy. They also have really good free discounts for cinemas through the Cinema Society (UK).
- Unusual: did you know walking escape rooms are a thing? I tried Hidden City’s Spectre puzzle in London a few weeks ago and it was a blast. You have to love walking, though — in the end, I covered more than 10km to complete the challenge. I’ll be looking for them in my travels, it was a fun way to explore a city.
Have I rambled again? Hopefully not, but you never know what happens when the flu brain meets caffeine. If you have any thoughts, questions or feedback, please drop me a line in the comments.
Happy travels,
Jules x
PS. This is my first newsletter using Medium’s newsletter feature. Was it what you expected? If there’s anything else you’d welcome, let me know — my ears are always open! Or, if you’ve stumbled across this and want to get future newsletters — sign up here.
