Trip of a lifetime

Recently I made a journey. It wasn't a spiritual journey, nor a psychological feat of endurance, but an actual journey. Most people call them holidays.

A month or so ago a friend got in contact with me and asked me whether I wanted to join him on a trip to see the northern lights. It would be a two week trip, made entirely using railways and would see us traversing 5 countries to reach the arctic circle.

Looking out the train window on mid-norway

I tend not to do holidays, especially abroad, as I can't seem to justify the expense to myself. But this one intrigued me, and since this year is the best in the next decade for seeing the northern lights, and I haven't been abroad for almost ten years, I thought why not?

As the time to leave drew closer I realised that I wasn't prepared for the cold arctic weather and borrowed a coat, hat and gloves from various friends, and hoped that my old hiking boots and thin battered scarf would stay in enough pieces to keep me dry and warm. The beanie I borrowed didn't quite cover my whole head, so my ears tended to get chilly, so I gave in and bought a large wooly hat in Bodø, the northern-most point of our journey.

But that's jumping a few pages ahead and missing out a good three days of trains, hostels, passport check and the initial meeting of our third travelling companion.

Try, try again

I've got even worse at keeping this blog up to date, but I'm going to have another bash at this gig.

Plenty to mention and muse upon this past year, attending six weddings, turning a quarter century, changing jobs and house and most recently breaking my 9-year travel drought by exploring Scandanavia using just trains.

The biggest thing i suppose was changing job and moving back to the valleys.
Moving to London last year was a necessary move as I was only scraping by as a freelancer, but the new job felt increasingly more like a social life-sentence. Though it allowed me to save lots of money thanks to living at home, spending 4 hours commuting and working the evening shift and the odd weekend meant I didn't see friends for weeks on end, even when they lived just round the corner.
As well as this, my progression within the company seemed stifled as I was in a useful role for the company but I wanted something more interesting and challenging. I applied for a few internal roles, but lost out for whatever reasons. I could have played the long game and got there in 5 years, but I was impatient for something more challenging and instead accepted a job back in Wales, working for the dark side of the force; a sound company. The new job offered better money and prospects, and a return to independence. Things are looking up!