30 August 2021 - 11 mins read time

It has finally happened! After months of planning and seemingly never-ending admin (i.e. the untold pain of being an adult), I am in beautiful Edinburgh. Right now, I am actually cooped up inside a hotel room for the mandatory quarantine stint, but with the city in sight and my isolation period nearing its end, it truly feels like the adventure has begun.

Blog Motivations

Though starting a blog feels like a natural thing to do when embarking on such a journey, my desire to create this outlet has been brewing for quite some time. This is not because I feel my life is particularly interesting—on the contrary, my hesitation to write publicly thus far has stemmed from the feeling that it would be inconsequential, and therefore unnecessary. But I cannot shake the urge to share my thoughts, to air my ideas, to throw things against the wall and see what sticks. Again, not because these ideas are special, but because the process of sharing ideas is special. This one exercise has catalysed the entirety of human development. Therefore, I want to do it, and do it in a meaningful way.

Of course, doing so is daunting. It is saying: this is me, this is my life, these are my ideas. Yet, I am encouraged by the poet Savannah Brown’s words here, on the topic of sharing one’s creations, sharing one’s art:

“It’s scary to be known—to let things be seen. To say: this is as good as I can do, and I hope it finds you well. But the ability to create is an evolutionary birthright that is impossible not to be worthy of, and really short-sighted to waste. And when you consider that—what it actually means to be here at all and able to do anything—thoughts of, “oh, I’m worried it’s not good enough,” sort of dissipate.”

In some senses, I am overthinking this process of sharing updates from my life—after all, this is just a travel blog of sorts. I like the idea of documenting what I do and what I see, and that itself is a fairly straightforward and uncontroversial process. However, in time, as I gain confidence, I hope to surface the ideas that are ruminating deeper within me. I wish to share more honestly my perspectives of the world—especially as these perspectives are inevitably moulded and nurtured through my travels and adventures. Moreover, I hope to be challenged by those who are reading my words—I trust that the reward for my honesty will be genuine dialogue, which too will grow me as an individual.

The decision that remains, then, is which medium to use. Naturally, I am compelled to step onto the gigantic stages of social media, which offer both enormous audiences and the unparalleled convenience of reaching them. However, unfortunately, the cost of these upsides is arguably outweighed by that of their downsides. Fundamentally, I am opposed to most of these glorified advertising agencies on a macro level: their invasive methods to violate our privacy, their predatory business practices, their insatiable desire for our screen time. But my grievances extend to a personal level too: when I was using social media, it felt like my relationships were thriving due to the regular engagements that made my reptilian brain fizz; whereas they were, in fact, stagnating through passive interactions that required no real work. Social media can easily lack intentionality, and this leaves me wanting.

With this in mind, a blog and/or newsletter approach feels like a healthy middle-ground for me: it is a form of social media, in a sense, that leverages the power and reach of the internet, but is not incentivised by profit. This means, hopefully, if you are reading what I write, it is because you care, or you are interested, or you have something meaningful to contribute. Not because I was the highest bidder for your attention, nor because I used the right keywords for it to reach your homepage. Instead, I hope simply to share my adventure with the people who are invested in my life and intend to engage with the stories that unfold within it. This does not necessarily limit me to people who I know personally—else I could just start a private forum—for I believe sharing ideas openly allows them to flesh out and grow in a unique way. It allows me to receive feedback from a diverse audience, not simply an echo chamber.

And so, here it is: my blog! I cannot promise it will always be interesting, and as I travel deeper into the thicket of my master’s degree, I cannot promise it will always be up-to-date—for I anticipate a mad year ahead. Nonetheless, I hope it will allow me to double the joys and halve the sorrows, to experience collectively the new sights, sounds, and the lessons wrapped within them. I trust, too, that it will encourage me to slow down and appreciate moments as they occur. Life is fleeting and I don’t want to miss it.

Travel Update

With that preamble out of the way, I am excited to share updates from my journey thus far. This is my first trip out of South Africa, which makes it that much more thrilling. Clearly I decided to go with a double whammy of “first times”: moving out and going overseas. Two for the price of one!

I had an overnight flight from Cape Town to Amsterdam, and for my first international expedition, it was wonderful. Despite a fairly full plane, the two seats next to me were empty, which allowed me to lie down lengthways and enjoy a pretty solid sleep (assisted by some food and wine, of course). I had purposefully chosen the right-side window seat, since we were flying northwards, meaning I would see the sun rising through the aperture, over the East. I was eager for this to happen, and I was not disappointed: what followed was a truly mind-blowing sight. The glowing ball of fire shone a rich red as it rose over the vast horizon—frankly, I was giddy.

However, as time progressed, something seemed strange. The scene looked peculiar, almost unreal. My travel fatigue wrote it off as some flying-at-35000ft-phenomenon-please-just-ignore-it-and-get-some-more-sleep kind of thing. It was only hours later, when I saw a glimpse into the next section of the fuselage—beautiful, well-lit, sun streaming through the windows—that I realised my mistake. My window, along with all of those surrounding me, were mostly opaque due to some fancy tinting technology.

The tinted window created some funky photo effects

Indeed, my amazing sunrise experience was built upon a lie. Nonetheless, it was certainly unforgettable and it made me chuckle. Once I had de-tinted my window (look at me, fancy pants), the sight was spectacular. I am unsure if the novelty of seeing clouds from an airplane wears off—I did seem to be the only person in the vicinity taking millions of photos out of the window—but I feel no shame, for it is honestly magical.

Views from the plane

Schiphol airport was refreshingly efficient, with clear signage and the like. Obviously the ongoing global pandemic made things somewhat more complicated, but it was all handled well.

The second flight was around an hour long, and my experience at the Scottish border was fortunately pleasant. Sadly one of my suitcase pockets had been ripped open at some point—the one in which I had put several razor blades. Strangely enough, though, everything was left in its place, including the blades, except my dental floss, which had seemingly been removed—is that normal???

Anyway, because South Africa is currently on the UK’s “red” travel list, all incoming persons must quarantine in a hotel for 11 days, for an eye-wateringly high price (£1750 when I booked, now sitting at £2285). After arriving, I was quickly escorted to said hotel, where I have been living for the past week.

Going into the hotel experience, I was admittedly nervous. I had heard horror stories, and I certainly remembered that first “hard” lockdown in SA. I am happy to report, however, that it has been fantastic. Of course, the circumstances are still frustrating on the whole, and it’s not necessarily the ideal way to spend 11 days. But, considering all that, it has been wonderful. As a quick disclaimer here: my sincere apologies in advance to anyone who has not had a positive experience—I know I am incredibly lucky.

My room is fairly spacious, and my view is fantastic:

Views from my window

I can also see some of the university buildings not far off in the distance, along with the famous Edinburgh Castle:

Edinburgh Castle in the distance

The weather has been surprisingly lovely, with a week of wonderful days. It is usually somewhat misty in the mornings, but that clears up as the day progresses. I feel that I am being sold a lie of what Edinburgh’s weather will be like—a lie which I will happily accept for as long as possible. After all, winter is coming.

As for the food, it has been decent. After a while, getting your food delivered in paper bags three times a day does lose its novelty, but most of the meals have been delicious. Frankly, the most challenging part of eating has been timing things correctly—the lunches are usually a little sparse, whereas the dinners are usually a little heavy; but the lack of a fridge and microwave means its mostly an eat-right-now kind of game. My solution was to buy snacks online from Tesco (look at me, fancy pants), and maintain a permanently snacked state—I’ll probably need to work that off later.

On days 2 and 8, one has to self-administer a COVID test, to double-check and then triple-check that one is not bringing in the dreaded virus. Fortunately, unlike the pre-travel test taken in SA, I was told that I was not required to touch my brain with the swab (good idea, it seems), and it was a mostly painless, albeit ticklish process. Folding the box in which the sample goes was certainly a highlight of the day.

Self-administered COVID testing kit

Every day, we are entitled to go outside for an exercise break, which has obviously helped. Though the car park is small, I have been able to get in several runs without feeling too ridiculous. Having said that, the GPS route does suggest mild insanity:

Going in circles???

On rest days, I have enjoyed just sitting outside too:

Outside with Coffee

On top of all these good fortunes, a true highlight of the stay here has been the other guests. Funnily enough, I have met more South Africans thus far in the UK, than people of any other nationality—including British! Each day our pack grows when a new guest arrives and says, “howzit guys?” Even my Tesco naartjies—uh, sorry, “mandarin oranges”—are from South Africa! Some of the guests are like me, starting studies here, while others are just passing through or returning home, but across the board, there has been a fantastic vibe. We have been sharing many chats and laughs outside. Bartering has even begun—I traded some filter coffee for some Ouma rusks (which I see as an absolute win).

On the whole, then, I am doing well—I am staying sane. Setting up this blog has occupied a lot of my time, and I certainly will not have that luxury when the semester begins. But the journey so far, albeit limited, has been great, and I hope to continue documenting it. I am feeling incredibly grateful and overwhelmingly blessed.

Staying Sane

Until next time, adios!