Chat Zone for The Big Big Trip Journal!

[HobbesOnTour]

@HobbesOnTour I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, I have started to whizz through the entire post, reading bits and looking at the photos.

So much has passed, I need to get a better grasp of the magnitude of your adventure.

Wish me luck!!

Whizz???
WHIZZ???
A euphemism for urination???
Or in the same vein as zip, fly and speed????


I'll not be wishing luck for such an approach

I'll admit to being a bit jealous, though

Enjoy!

And if you (or anyone else) wants to get a grasp of where the road will be taking me soon then dig out that copy of Don Quixote that is knocking around somewhere and have a read.

I just have to get out of Madrid ...... And frankly, that's going to be a tough thing to do! If ever a city was designed for my kind of flaneuring it's Madrid. And CDMX.

You'll have to excuse me - my calamari sandwich has just arrived. Oh to be back in a country where food is an expression of life and not just a means to live.

 

[IaninSheffield]

I know somewhere that @IaninSheffield is banging his head against a wall wailing "could he not do another 17km??

Nah. There's a standard cycle touring 17km, then there's the Hobbes figary to reach the same destination. You'd still be in Ecuador up some little farm track in the hills if you hadn't made that call.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

the Hobbes figary

You know me so well!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I'll keep notes and maybe write it up over the winter. Or maybe there's a book in it.

Ahem, I'm used to read your BBT journal while having my dinner, I'll just have to restart from the beginning
There certainly is a book in the BBT!

Anyone know any literary agents?

Nay, but surely we can find one.
I volunteer to be your proof reader/editor

The strange, the unusual, the foreign is to be celebrated, savoured and understood.

I bet you had a field when you first moved to the Netherlands

When I get around to doing TBBT Part Two I'll ask to reopen this thread (and cue the complaints about the long title!)

I've locked it, as you requested, but I also left it pinned, because it's one of the best travelogues CC has for now
Can't wait to read about your Spanish adventures.
Hola for now

 

[bruce1530]

@HobbesOnTour - a sincere thank you for writing this travelogue. It's been quite an adventure for you - and I like to think that we have shared a little of that with you. Your writing has been inspiring, and the photographs incredible.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who became more than a little concerned when we went a few days without a new post!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I'm used to read your BBT journal while having my dinner

Oh dear! Some posts were not "dinner suitable"

There certainly is a book in the BBT!

Nope! It's very kind of you to say no (and you're not the first) and it feels very good to read that but I wrote that out as it happened for better or worse. It's as accurate a reflection as I could relate. The idea of an editor butting in would squish my heart.

I volunteer to be your proof reader/editor

@cwaskas got in before you

I've had a specific idea for a book for a long time (bike touring based) but it will need quite a bit of research first.
I am half serious about a professional effort of recreating the hapless adventures of Don Quixote & Sancho Panza though. A long plane journey will do that. Who else is better suited for hapless adventures

I bet you had a field when you first moved to the Netherlands

Not quite getting that.
In fairness, I never really settled in NL. I was too resistant to the Dutch way of doing things. Looking back it took quite an amount of arrogance to hold the view that 17.5 million people were wrong .... And that I was right
When I changed work, took the foot off the accelerator I mellowed and started to change my perspective.

I also left it pinned,

Thank you.
My first reaction was to say not necessary but as I think about it a locked thread with no posts will sink to the bottom. So thank you for that!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thanks for the kind words

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who became more than a little concerned when we went a few days without a new post!

That's what Facebook was for! It's my "Let-People-Know-I'm-Not-Dead method of communication.

I was dependent on WiFi and it could take hours just to lay out and upload a post - even when it was all written out.

Since the forum software upgrade it has taken longer and been more difficult trying to format the layout and adding the photos.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

The strange, the unusual, the foreign is to be celebrated, savoured and understood

I bet you had a field when you first moved to the Netherlands

Not quite getting that.

Well, I meant the weed smoking and beer drinking ... and, of course, the coffee drinking
Did you not celebrate, savour, understand?

In fairness, I never really settled in NL. I was too resistant to the Dutch way of doing things.

That's why you did a Hobbes!
I did the same 35 years ago, but I took the train

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

Just spent the last 3 days reading your travelogue and I dont think words will do justice to how, amazing, inspiring, informative, resilient it and you are sir. To say I dont know you I felt fully immersed in your adventure and ranks as one of the most memorable things I have ever read.
I must also admit to a selfishness in the sadness felt now it has come to an end after only just coming across it and giving it the attention it deserved.
All the best for the future and will look forward to anything you post from your time in Spain!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Just spent the last 3 days reading your travelogue

Three days???? THREE DAYS????
Well, you're living up to your name!

felt fully immersed in your adventure and ranks as one of the most memorable things I have ever read.

Thank you! That's a real compliment! It's a difference I've noticed from my own reading of the difference of a "live" account and a later memory.
CrazyGuyOnABike will have more!

I must also admit to a selfishness in the sadness felt now it has come to an end

Well, after three days of reading I've little sympathy for you! In touring we have to pace ourselves!

All the best for the future and will look forward to anything you post from your time in Spain!

Many thanks!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I think I'm gonna start the BBT travelogue from the beginning again: me too I am guilty of speed reading!
I read books that I enjoyed twice at least, the second time they are even better

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Well, I meant the weed smoking and beer drinking ... and, of course, the coffee drinking
Did you not celebrate, savour, understand?

Weed? Not a bit of it.
I have no interest in that stuff or anything stronger. A certain amount of fear of it too.
It's a bit of a stereotype about the Dutch - weed, hookers and clogs.
Other than a bit of experimentation the vast majority have no interest in my experience. However, for some it's a part of everyday life.
As for the booze? I was working in a bar. And Dutch beer is pish. German & Belgian beers are where it's at

Coffee? Hmmmm. Dutch coffee is expensive and service is crap I used to drink my coffee at work from a (pint) Guinness mug

I did the same 35 years ago, but I took the train

Feck off with yourself then to a train spotter's forum!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I think I'm gonna start the BBT travelogue from the beginning again: me too I am guilty of speed reading!
I read books that I enjoyed twice at least, the second time they are even better

Thank you! 😊

My favourite books are like old friends. I've read some books so many times I can read them with my eyes closed.

I've learned to slow down and savour though. At home, reading aloud is a great pleasure

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Cryptic mode.....
Texas and Toledo. Anyone make out the connection?

 

[Alex321]

Well there is a place in Texas called Toledo Bend, but I doubt that is what you are talking about