f4f3: (Looking forward)
f4f3 ([personal profile] f4f3) wrote2009-08-10 08:00 pm

With my napsack on my back...

About (counts...) 17 years ago I bought a rucksack, packed it, and went to the U.S. for four weeks.
I flew to San Francisco, hired a car, drove along the Pacific coast through places like Carmel and San Luis Obispo, cut inland at Santa Barbra for Las Vegas, caught the train from there to Chicago, and chilled for a while in Ann Arbor with people I'm still proud to call friends. In many ways that trip changed my life, and the rucksack ended up in the garage of the suburban semi-detatched I moved to when I got married. Eventually I threw out the rucksack.

Today I bought a new rucksack.

On Saturday, I'll catch a plane from Glasgow to Paris, and meet up with my son at the Gare Austerlitz on the left bank. We'll get on a train just before midnight, and wake up in the Basque country. We'll spend a day and a night there, then get some more trains to the Med via Madrid.

From there we'll sail through the pillars of Hercules, and arrive in Tangiers.

Then we have a week to join some dots, before spending four days in Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. We'd like to take the overnight train to Marrakech, drive through the Atlas mountains and flirt with the Sahara, maybe spend a day in Fes and Meknes. But maybe we'll find a place in Marrakech to explore the souks and the Place of the Dead instead.

The new rucksack is about the same size as the old.

I wonder if I can pack it as full?

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds...marvellous. *sigh*

By the bye: can you and yours rec me any good bike websites? I am pondering a birthday present for the significant birthday of a significant other, and I don't know where to start.

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Well I'd say start with Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative, who are in theory a very good thing, and give you lots of constructive buying advice, and then buy from Dales.

What sort of bike are you putting him on? I have trouble seeing beyond the Specialized range, esp. if you can pick up one of last year's models.

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
*handwaves*

A...bike. For commuting and quickfire touring. Unlikely to be used off-road. I was thinking of one of those hybrid thingies but the technology's moved on so much, I'm likely to embarrass myself. 'I'd like to buy a record player...'

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
What's yer budget then, young feller me lass?

[identity profile] parthenia14.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Erm, about the same as [livejournal.com profile] unblinkered paid for hers.

*looks around nervously*

I used to know all about bikes. *sigh*

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Righty ho. Plenty of scope for fun there...
Let me have a wee browse...

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Personally, I think this is CAF, if he isn't planning on going uphill...

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Tricross-Singlecross-2009-Road-Bike_22006.htm

[identity profile] amelia-eve.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
If you are like me, you can probably pack it just as full, but you won't be able to carry it as far.

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I hate to say it, but I don't have as far to go now. By 17 years...

[identity profile] nicnac.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Wonderful. I'm looking forward to vicariously travelling through you.

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-10 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee. Seems only fair for the pleasure your diving pics have given me.
ext_14590: (Sleepy)

[identity profile] meredyth-13.livejournal.com 2009-08-11 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
That sounds beautiful - a grand adventure, two boys and the world.

Have a wonderful time, dear. :)

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll give it the old college try :)

[identity profile] victoria7.livejournal.com 2009-08-11 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
This sounds wonderful. Have a super-great time!

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 07:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, if I do as well as Dina...

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll bring photographs to inspire more art!

[identity profile] deililly.livejournal.com 2009-08-11 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Just the names are making me think of old films and hats. Will there be hats?

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
There will almost certainly be hats. And robes. Slippers are not out of the question.
(deleted comment)

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
What do you think?

And lovely to have you back commenting.

I think the P name might still be free, you know...
(deleted comment)

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2009-08-13 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Well I'm lying on top of a pile of some things I might want to pack.

And nonsense. You can pee in the same river twice.