Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kwothe in sondry londes;(Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Prologue 12-14, “Then folk do long to go on pilgrimage, and palmers to go seeking out strange strands, to distant shrines well known in distant lands.”)

I’ve just returned from a day out as a tourist and I’m quite exhausted. It brings to mind what I’ll be facing over the next few months — and the fact that there won’t always be a relaxing sofa and a nice cup of tea to return to at the end of a strenuous day.  This is going to be an experience like no other. Even though I try to prepare as much as possible for the future by reading other people’s blogs, travel journals and gapyear messageboards, there’s no way to predict what’s going to happen — and that’s part of what is so exciting and nerve-wracking about this whole thing!

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It’s been over 48 hours since I left home, but I haven’t updated this blog. And it’s been over 10 years since I’ve left England, but it still feels so much like home to me that I don’t feel I really need to. This blog is supposed to be about my travels – coming to England is the long-distance equivalent of driving back to Ottawa .

Except, of course, that it’s not. These past few days have been so full of fun and exciting travel experiences that not to write about them would be a travesty. The coming week is filled with plans too, to those places I never visited when I lived here. And in order to keep the habit of writing about my travels, there’s no better time to start than the present.

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