Travel Hag and the Grey Nomad

Several times, when I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I knowingly parachuted myself into environments where I was isolated for months, at least culturally and linguistically. My only understandable companions were Penguin paperbacks, and the only thing I ever missed was a bar of good chocolate.

Moscow at my Godson's baptism at the Nigerian Embassy

Living in France A wonderful country

Tummeli and me

On board ship to England.

Thank God for daughters.

Summertime

Hair colour gone wrong in Australia

72 years old

visiting someone in Finland

have no idea who's child this is, living in France when this photo was taken

On board a frighter going to England

Monestery ruins in Scotland

Cornwell England

Simo Pauli and me in Australia going sailing

Pauli and me in Australia

Travel Hag

A Travel Hag is a wise woman with goddess attributes who travels to find meaning and joy.

Travel for the mind and spirit.

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." -- Lewis Carroll

Not all who wander are lost' J.R.R.Tolkien

Arrived by ship Europa to Stockholm with Heidi June 1 2001. What a "rush".

SILLY SIGNS AS WE DRIVE ABOUT THE WORLD

ARSE on a house

POTATIS SLUT on a barn

BAD CAMPING KIOSK on a shack

PERFORM BOARDING PASS on a ship ticket

I'm 73. I've backpacked and traveled through 108 countries since I was 17.  Screwed countless men. Had a great life. Here is what I told my kids after looking back on it all: Have adventures. Don't do tourism. Eat what the locals eat, stay in local hotels - better yet, live with the people. See the world. When you get to be my age, you will either have lived one year 73 times or lived 73 years. The jobs you had, the men you screwed, the countless useless days will disappear and you are left with the adventures. I watched the old world disappear and get replaced with McDonald's and Starbucks. I consider myself very lucky to have seen it before everywhere was a cheap clone of the U.S. But, there are still adventures to be found. At the end, a pile of money can't replace the wasted time of sitting around doing a crap job, no matter how much you earn. Get out. Look at the sky, not on the ground. Have adventures.

Pauli

Hobo's Walkabout

I look out my door and see the bridge over the molt, the cold snow smothering the ground around it, the water frozen underneath, I have handrails to help me cross so I don't slip and fall, my car only 50 meters away, not ridden for some weeks, covered in snow, but a large broom will sweep off the top and a horse hair brush it's sides.

The engine can be made warm from the house, it is plugged in from the house and a flicker of the wrist and my finger will push the on button.

I need only a small bag to travel, as there are items I need for hygiene if I am to travel alone. There is no reason I can't leave, I have a great safe car, money to tide me over, I'm not afraid of anything, I love being alone, but something,some unknown force is keeping me from putting my foot over the threshold. It's not that I can't leave the house and handle daily matters, or trips to the big city 50 kilometers away, it is something deeper. In a way I know what it is, it's called d.i.s.h and it is causing me some unknown horrors of pain. It also is getting to the point where I am so stiff that I can't dress myself and have to have my husband put my socks and undies on me, and if I want to wear proper winter boots he has to tie the shoestrings. So the truth is out, I am a failing, falling apart woman. They couldn't and can't break my mind, but my body is just a machine with rust in it's joints.

I wonder if I should chance it and go, I know I have the love and support from my husband, if I call he will come. It's wonderful to have such love and to know I am loved.

RED BARONESS

As the Norwegian American Line's Sagafjord, the ship was originally designed for trans-Atlantic service during the summer months from New York to Scandinavia. The remaining months of the year it cruised out of New York. In January of each year she would sail from New York on a world cruise.


Considered by many as far more stylish than the QE2, it is easy to see why when looking at her public rooms.


Sagafjord (1965)

24,002 grt; length 620ft; 462 passengers



Specifically for cruising out of New York but also to be at home on the North Atlantic, Sagafjord was designed by NAL's own marine architects but was built in France. She was to be the new flagship.



An official postcard view of Sagafjord as she originally looked

For the Atlantic, she carried only 70 passengers in "First Class" and 719 in "Tourist" but most of the time, when cruising she accommodated just 460 in her luxurious interior. With comforts including stabilisers and air-conditioning, she was the best in Scandanavian design; she was also the first designed with a bow-thruster, to aid her manoeverability in port.


The departure of the legendary "Caronia" in 1967 left Sagafjord the top cruise-ship in the World.


She was joined in 1973 by Vistafjord (see also the Vistafjord Gallery and between them, these two "Cruise-Liners" established an enviable reputation for luxury and service, offering single-sitting dining for all passengers in their vast restaurants.




An official postcard view of Sagafjord as she originally looked For the Atlantic, she carried only 70 passengers in "First Class" and 719 in "Tourist" but most of the time, when cruising she accommodated just 460 in her luxurious interior. With comforts including stabilisers and air-conditioning, she was the best in Scandanavian design; she was also the first designed with a bow-thruster, to aid her manoeverability in port.