Simple familiar things

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It’s the simple familiar things that one sometimes misses; things you don’t think twice about but you expect to see, to have, to use more than twice a day. Things like a cup of coffee.

It’s easy for me; espresso is as near to an international world as possible, but for Linda things aren’t so clear-cut. She drinks – in Kiwi parlance – a long black. A single shot of coffee topped up with two thirds hot water. Try explaining that in a language of your choice. Grofl espresso doesn’t quite do it, neither does Americano in many places. In fact, it’s near impossible to find, especially given that the concept doesn’t exist in many coffee drinking countries.

I don’t really eat breakfast either, that cup of coffee keeps me going until midday at least, but on those days that the urge to eat strikes…let’s just say a South Pacific breakfast doesn’t include cuts of cold meat or dripping after the Austrian fashion. Or marble sponge cake as I was offered in Greece. Needless to say an English breakfast contains enough cholesterol to stop an elephant dead in it’s tracks and a hot curry doesn’t appeal at 7am.

Most of the time these things are novel, funny, part of the journey – a story to tell over dinner back home. But after you’ve been on the road for several months, tired and travel worn, they begin to add up. Looking after your enthusiasm is one of the keys of successful long-term travel; without enthusiasm things can become lifeless chores rather than adventures, so much dead weight rather than a joy.

Adequate sleep and rest is a necessity that is often hard to find on the road. Whatever you consider to be a healthy diet might not be too easy to locate either. That’s why it’s important to have a luxuries or two with you or a bit of “emergency” cash so you can splurge and recharge your batteries or just imagine that you’re home for a minute or an evening.

Our current guidebook, Lonely Planet’s Europe on a shoestring(aff. link) gives “splurge suggestions” for various cities…not that we’ve taken any in the last 14 months, but they’ve often sent us in the right direction. Most of their suggestions centre around a nice restaurant, bar or hotel. For me, the perfect splurge is the taste of home: Watties tomato sauce, minties, a glass of Marlborough Sauv Blanc or Roasted Addiqtion coffee. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing quite like a visit from old friends who simply want to sit and talk the night away.

Craig Martin is a regular contributor to the amateur traveler, podcasts at the indie travel podcast and blogs at our crazy travels. Unlike most Kiwis, he appears to be almost hopelessly sentimental at times.