Rolling Stone

By which I mean the lyrics of the Bob Dylan number – or living the life of a nomad – rather than Mick Jagger & pals.

Himself is a minimalist by nature – camera equipment aside – and regularly expresses a hankering to live in a van (something I may have mentioned to one or two or you 😉 ). To be fair to him, he knows me well enough to understand that means one which has been properly converted to include a proper bed, toilet & shower, kitchenette and the like. Although I did get somewhat worried when his eyes lit up at the sight of an old Soviet army radio truck in the process of being converted.

Every now and again, he shows me the video blog of someone who’s converted a truck of some sort, then taken to travelling to exotic and far away lands. There’s no arguing with the fact that, as a photographer, the opportunities would be amazing … but living in that small a space, so far away from civilisation and the people I love – I’m just not sure how I’d cope.

But, I have given it some serious thought, and came to the conclusion that if I was to agree,  it would probably need to be one of those huge American style RVs. I’d struggle to drive anything that large, but Himself would have no problems, being an experienced driver of heavy vehicles in a past life.

Where would we choose to go? In all honesty, the photography bucket list could probably run to multiple pages between us, and would include much of the remaining stunning geography to be found in the World. Mongolia looks staggeringly beautiful despite its bleakness, New Zealand has lush greenery combined with wonderful geology, while the USA has such a huge variety of geography, as well as stunning old towns still looking like they did in the fifties, and that’s before we get to mastering the challenges of architectural photography in the modern high rise cities of glass and steel. I’d love to travel the length and breadth of India, see St Petersburg and Moscow, maybe even Chernobyl … There’s also Scotland, much of Wales and Ireland, and the coast of North East England still to see, plus Scandinavia, Iceland, and large chunks of Europe – particularly Eastern Europe. And that’s before you consider the continents of South America and Africa.

If I was fit and healthy, I would seriously consider going on a trip or two. I could put my “stuff” into storage and go, travelling with camera equipment, laptop and phone. But I fear being separated from my chiropractor, as they’ve kept me upright for so long. Indeed, the worst day of this Covid-19 lock-down was when they shut their doors for the duration. Depending how well I survive without their care during this stay-at-home period, a case could be made. That said, there’s no doubting I would miss my daughter and my granddaughter to stay away for long …

But it’s an interesting idea to consider during these days of lock-down, when roaming the world might appear more attractive than it usually does.

If you were living a nomadic life, where would you be tempted to go? 

© Debra Carey, 2020