Most folk have a lottery fantasy or two. I have mine. If I should suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, find myself with a fortune sitting in my bank account, I would travel. Permanently. Forever, if the fortune allows. Just me, from place to place. Taking up residence in each new location for a month or three. What about Mrs P, you might wonder. This is just a fantasy. Allow me to indulge my solitary, anti-social streak, por favor.
I can travel light. A single 20kg suitcase would be enough. I’m unlikely to go anywhere terribly cold, so warm weather packing will suffice. A couple of iPads, a Roku TV stick and a Canon G5X compact camera. I’d stay in AirBnbs. I’ve been using AirBnb quite a lot the last couple of years. And if you want to spend quite a lot of time somewhere, then having a small apartment works well.
First stop? I’ve just been to Athens in Greece. Just for a few days. Would I like to spend weeks or months there? Athens was an interesting place. From an architectural and maintenance point of view, I think much of the city can be best described as a bit of a dump. Concrete and glass combine with graffiti and grime to offer the tourist a slightly gritty and unkempt experience. Yet there’s a vibe in Athens that keeps you entertained. It has character. It reminded me, a bit, of sarf London in the 80s.
The food in Athens is good. We ate well every day, without breaking the bank. I wouldn’t put Greece on quite the same culinary pedestal as Turkey or Spain. But we never went either hungry or unsatisfied. The ancient sites are fascinating, although they sometimes feel a bit lost. A bit broken. A bit unkempt. Like the rest of the city. I left my visit to the Acropolis with the opinion that the site must be reunited with the Elgin Marbles. But, controversially, I wondered where they would find room for the Parthenon in the British Museum?
Athens is a perfectly good starting point for a Greek island hopping holiday. We took a ferry to Aegina, one of the nearest islands. Pleasant, and an easy to do day trip. But I can’t help but feel that one of the islands would be an even better starting point. Leave Athens out of it altogether. You might feel by now that you know the answer to my original question. No, I wouldn’t particularly like to spend weeks or months here. Sorry Athens. Five nights was enough.
What about Sicily then? Would I like to spend a month or three on Italy’s large, Mediterranean island? I’ll cut straight to the answer. Yes, oh yes, oh yes. I’m writing this from my seat on a flight home from Taormina, where we have just spent a few nights, having flown here from Athens. What a glorious place Sicily is in general and Taormina in particular.
The food was glorious, if expensive. The streets were clean. The architecture solid, but worn. Worn in that delightful ‘shabby chic’ manner. The weather was perfect. The water clear and blue. The sing-song conversations of the Italians rang in our ears. You can almost feel the passion and joy of the locals. We found it! We found La Dolce Vita. It’s true. It exists. Why did I wait so long to visit Italy?
Mrs P and I will return to Sicily, sooner rather than later. We’ve only just scratched the surface. We have so much more to do. Syracuse. Palermo. Etna. Taormina again. And more. I’d love to go back for a month or three. Sadly, our lives remain restricted by employment and limited funds. Our visits will be measured by nights. Maybe, just maybe, a week. Unless that sudden, unexpected lottery win comes in. It will be unexpected if for no other reason than I don’t buy lottery tickets. Perhaps I should.
I once met a chap who was living my fantasy. Sort of. We stayed at the same guesthouse in the hills overlooking Kandy in Sri Lanka. He was a biggish chap. Well fed, shall we say. Scruffy, Affable, as most Americans are. Seemed reasonably smart. Also very stoned on the bag of weed he was working his way through. He’d been travelling for ten years without going home. He’d not won the lottery. His parents had died, far too young. He rented out their (presumably sizeable) house and travelled on the income it generated.
That is one way to live the travellers dream. But I think I prefer my lottery based funding to orphanhood. Mrs P Senior would agree, I’m sure.
The Mexile 
I’ve done the two- three month rental a few times, using the rental as a base, a place to rest up, keep a few things that are too big for a bus. I try to get a place with a strong box or safe. We lived away for about ten winters before our responsibilities caught up with us. Our house was paid for, we owned our cars-as far as outlay, it was cheaper than staying home in Ohio because we had a cheaper economy to live in down Latin America way.
If I came into a fortune, I’d buy a sailboat with all the modern equipment, something one person could sail by them self. Something a little over 30 foot with a 20 hp pusher for making water and power when off the dock. A couple electric bikes for short excursions. And an open line of credit with a car rental firm for getting out into the backcountry. In truth, it could be now but I have said responsibilities, I’ll have to be happy here on the hill. And I am.
LikeLike
I’m not sure I’m a sailboat type person. But I have always rather fancied live on a narrowboat, navigating Britain’s canal network. I
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have dreamt of the “what the if’s” as well. I would probably pay off my sister in-laws mortgages and give a sizeable chunk to our sons to own if they wish to buy rather than rent. Vancouver is one of the most expensive places on the planet to live in yet own.
Yes we would travel, there are places I would like to go revisit again and places we haven’t seen, I’d love to go down the Adriatic coast from Ravenna or San Marino and I’d like to visit my cousin in Lagos. My dentist is fond of travelling but his wife is not, so she stays home and paints while he goes off and stays in monasteries and rented convents in Europe. He wanders about on walking tours on his own as he did when he was at university.
Of course I don’t need to win the lotto to do either of those trips but it would take the sting out of it. I would prefer to rent a motorcycle and travel around Europe and plonk my weary head down whenever or wherever rather than stick to an itinerary. My wife on the other hand would prefer the train as a swift way of travel and I do see some merit in that, she is the planner of our travels although I get to suggest where we might wander.
So much to see and now with a recession in the headlights rearing it’s ugly head it’s not the right time to put those fantasies into the pot. We can but dream
I don’t buy lotto tickets either but my wife does.. she says she’ll share but who knows?
LikeLike
I could easily be persuaded to ride Route 66, or what passes for it these days, on a Harley. And catch the California Zephyr back again.
Oh but for a life where my limitation are only my imagination and lifespan…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well my next hurdle is sort of unique for me and that is to lose weight. I have always been underweight, I could eat like a horse and never put on an ounce but I had a very physical job for many years and ate accordingly. Now that muscle has taken on a mind of it’s own and converted to dare I say it a spare tire. So I will be going on a Dirty lazy Diet come January. Hopefully once winter departs we will be off on a road trip down to Southern California and beyond or not. One of the many things I miss about Europe is the proximity to the continent. Those flights of fantasy are but a few hours out of your day if you travel light unlike here where every journey starts with a two hour ferry trip although there is hope on the horizon and she is waving to me…
LikeLike