Testing out the whole digital nomad possibilities again

aka Carpe Diem

I am writing this on the 8pm (OK, it’s 20.01, but you don’t need that level of accuracy, really) Eurostar to Paris. Where I should have been at this time on Saturday night is standing with my youngest daughter, listening to Olivia Rodrigo. But apparently that was not meant to be (if you’re in the UK you probably know all about the Co-op Live fiasco).

And I had an interrail pass sitting waiting to be used and realised if I went this weekend and came back next weekend I could avoid the train strikes. So I checked if there were any passholder tickets left at such short notice. And, boom, here I am on my way to Paris, where I will lay my head down in an Ibis and grab a fast train down to the south of France in the morning. (And, yes, I did look up sleepers, but it leaves before this one gets there. And there were only couchettes and seats left and I’d actually like to get some sleep. One day, I will try one, though.)

This is not a week off work. I can’t wangle that right now due to timing of projects. But it should be a fairly normal working week, not a crazy busy one (oh, whoops, really hope that wasn’t tempting fate). Which means, aside from some regular meetings I have to dial into, I should be able to squeeze the work into chunks of time and go wandering and exploring in between.

Apart from a night in Paris at either end, I am staying the whole week in Antibes. I did consider heading to the west coast instead, but I looked up the weather and I’ve been wanting to visit Antibes for a while, so it won.

I’m not planning anything big. Just my usual wandering round little winding streets, eating baguettes and salty butter and taking strolls near the sea. I might check out museums or galleries, and maybe eat out once or twice.

But most importantly, having some time completely to myself, which I haven’t for a while, apart from that little day trip to London. I don’t know exactly why I need this. It’s definitely not that I can’t stand my family – I love them a lot and love spending time with them. I also love going for walks in the nearby countryside, sitting reading and sipping tea (or sometimes Prosecco) on the bench in the garden, reading Substack posts on the sofa in the morning with a cat curled on my lap and pottering in the kitchen, among many other things.

But I also need space to think, to process, to breathe, to be inspired, to... to just be. And, while some people get that in the middle of the countryside on top of a hill, and others get that in their own garden (or studio – I am semi convinced that I would need this a lot less if I had my very own studio, but that’s not about to happen any time soon), I can wind down and get back my sense of me in a busy seaside town, and ideally, though not exclusively (I am very fond of St Ives, for example) one where I am surrounded by the lyrical flow of romance languages.

This recharges me. This fills my soul. This replenishes my metaphorical inkwell.

Actually, travelling and holidaying with family can do a lot, or probably all of those things, too. But solo travel seems to give a massive uplift. Maybe it’s coming close to switching off parent mode and the emotional and organisational load that brings (even within an equal marriage with kids who are pretty awesome and trouble free).

There has also been something that has been filling my head a lot of the time recently, and for which I was probably carrying the bulk of the load, most.y through choice, but the wrong kind of choice.* It feels like I have had a stress headache for the last month or so. And it’s gone. Because I have passed that load over, for a week. And when I get back, I’ll be far more able carry it, or share it.

* Apologies for being cryptic. Need to share the feelings and their effect on me, but can’t share the details, as they’re not mine to share publicly.

What about you?

Do you need alone time? Do you like solo travel? Do you or would you consider digital nomading? And what are the places (or people or activities) that replenish your inkwell?

Also, apologies for those still waiting for Adobe Fresco posts. I have one almost finished and noted for a bunch more, but my impetuous jumping on a Eurostar pipped