For a while, I have suffered from insomnia. However, I have finally been managing to sleep 8 hours straight, but never on the proper slots. Somehow I have ruined my routine (well, quarantine has) and I can’t sleep at night, but only in the morning. So what am I doing during the whole night?
I am Chrisa, and my answer is simply: I dream with my eyes open.
I am making plans and goals for travelling, postgraduate studies abroad, future projects. It is torture if fantasy has no limits when all you want to do is just sleep. My disadvantage is that I daydream a lot. I have always been a person addicted to freedom and new beginnings, so this situation right now is a challenge for my spirit and my energy.
I can’t say that I am completely opposed to it. I believe that, just like our planet, I need a break too. So I am just taking this time to calm, sit down, think, and redefine who I am, where I want to go and what I want to do.
Nonetheless, when you scroll down the Instagram profile of Lexie Alford, World Guinness Record holder, for being the youngest person ever (21) to have visited all the countries on planet Earth, it’s not so easy to be calm!
So, I take a deep breath, I concentrate,and I plan. I check the prices of destination tickets for this summer. I know I will never be Lexie, but at least I can hope for smaller and cheaper expeditions. For this summer I plan to make the round of Spain, and also visit Portugal and Andorra. If my budget and the virus permit it, I might also do an expedition I’ve been dreaming of since last year. A summer tour in selected places in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Bjellorusia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Sarajevo, Croatia, Slovenia (and possibly San Marino, not sure yet).
It’s takes long enough to write all that -- imagine travelling it!
It wouldn’t be the first time though. I have managed to do smaller expeditions (always by bus) in Europe in the past:
April 2018: 8 days in the Netherlands, England, Germany, Belgium.
May 2018: 6 days in various cities in the South of France.
October-November 2018: 3 weeks in Italy, Chechia, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, France, and back to Italy. That was my biggest accomplishment!
I love travelling by bus and the reasons are multiple.
Planes are expensive and need a reservation in advance. They fly above the clouds, so I don’t see anything besides the infrastructure of the countries I am crossing. And trains in some Central European countries can be even more expensive than planes.
But buses hide a lot of opportunities if you know where to search. I know a famous bus company that spans a great number of European countries, that offer a voucher of 99 Euros for 5 direct trips within the network. And believe me, their network is huge! So practically it means: 5 countries for 99 Euros! Not bad at all! So yes, I don’t mind at all to lower my standards and sleep on a bus on the route for a night or more. I would be probably sleeping if I were on a bus tonight, much easier than in my tortured-by-insomnia bed.
In general, I can’t wait to be out there again. I need to, I have to, and I will be! Until then, I will keep myself, safe and my spirit positive and clear by having small expeditions until as far as to my living room.
See you all out there, sooner or later and never forget to dream and hope!