Retrospective on April 3, 2020. One of those wonderful runs, meeting numerous deer and few men. Both species have been shy when confronted with my camera.
Travelhector
Hector ist der Größte! und andere Reisen…
-
Retrosprective on April 2, 2020. Finding structures, connecting with others, yet all seen from a distance.
This, of course, goes to Andy -
Time is blurry these days. Which day is today? Why should I get up? A very personal answer has been my sunrise project from 1st – 30th of April. Developed without purpose, a pure reaction on the emptiness that unfolded around us.
Besides that, the daily house concerts by Igor Levit help to smooth the rough phases we go through. Consequently, I dedicate the retrospective of my 30-in-30 sunups to this wonderful pianist, to the uncounted notes he plays, the sonic waves that touch the untouched, the emotion that lies within music. Thank you so much for it!
April 1st, 2020, 6.45 a.m. Focused on a Symbol of Peace and Upcoming Light -
Let’s talk about the Universe. I have known it ever since for its worshipping character and the fulfilment of wishes, ranging from parking spots to physics. And I know that I should be careful with what I am wishing, I am no idiot. Still, it does not explain the current development:
- Travel, any long-prepared or spontaneous travel? Cancelled.
- Job, career, earning money? Cancelled.
- Nature, mountains, hiking? Cancelled. Forbidden, even.
- Sports, at least independent home sports such as running or yoga? Disabled, thanks to some injury that keeps my shoulder anything but relaxed.
So here I am, raising my fist towards outer space, swearing and threatening “Hey there, come out and face me! If you don’t stop throwing obstacles at me, I will… [?¿!…?] – well, I will…”
Whatever.
The last project still standing has been the 30-sunrises-in-30-days. Here come the sunups of the 4rth Corona decade, April 20 – April 30. I wonder what will motivate me out of bed from May on…
April 20 
April 21 = Corona Jogging #17 
April 22 
April 23 = Corona Jogging #18 
April 24 
April 25 = Corona Jogging #19 
April 26 
April 27 = cloudy, no jogging :-( 
April 28 = The Yearning, Visualized 
April 29 
April 30 = Home, Sweet Home I have learnt a lot about cloud volumes, timing and how to focus on structures. Especially without a tripod at hand, aiming to over-compensate any blurry aspect by gorgeous perspectives or interesting settings.
Bonus Track: Take me to the Moon (part 3). Which Moon?? These days, anything can be artificial…
-
Sometimes, it is beyond words. I get used to ignore the itching lack of possibilities, try not to think of all the things that are missing. Worries about our society’s ethics decrease to a low hum of concern, and any thought of travel destination becomes neglected.
Meanwhile, other action steps in: I purge the mess of undone vacations, clean up my balconies and the entire apartment and do not stop when it comes to the circle of friends. These days, I do not bear distant consternation – shouldn’t friendship come with understanding and comfort? Still, the support among most of my friends and my surrounding is overwhelmingly positive.
Aiming to stabilize positive radiation, here comes the third decade of corona crisis times, sorted by its daily sunrise. It tells me that the 5:00 am alarm clock is worth something.
April 10 
April 11 = Corona Jogging #12 
April 12 
April 13 = Corona Jogging #13 
April 14 
April 15 = Corona Jogging #14 
April 16 
April 17 = Corona Jogging #15 
April 18 
April 19 = Corona Jogging #16 In case you do not want to wait another 10 days for uprising pics, feel free to check out “reisebritta” on instagram.
Bonus Track: Take me to the Moon (part 2):
-
It is not the isolation. I can be on my own for weeks and be totally fine with it. It is the stay-at-home-thing. The longer I am tied to my flat, the more my brain cells run in circles. Like a dog hunting its tail. During travelling, during hiking, whenever I am in motion towards something, my mind comes to a rest and the manner of thinking changes. I let loose, ignore single thoughts, let enfold pictures, scenarios, situations, entire worlds in my head. Calm down, mentally.
Given the Bavarian “Ausgangsbeschränkung”, a word far too typical and showing a threatening kind of beauty in restriction, I look for exits. How to exit depression? Leave the walls around, find motivation and sense. Leave behind the bureaucracy of unemployment forms, tax calculations and how-to-survive-business.
I choose colours and light and begin to run at sunrise. After a while, even the non-jogging-days are in scope for my personal sunup. Ever since, I set my alarm clock at 5:20 am, start with a coffee and jump off my couch as soon as the sky becomes splendid.
While the first 10 days of running against Corona are already posted, and realizing that days feel like ages this year, I call it a decade. Thanks to fantastic weather, here comes the 2nd decade of sunrise against virus: fighting the blues and flirting (sometimes) with the dissolving moon.
Enjoy! And remember to flatten the frustration curve.
April 01 = Corona Jogging #7 
April 02 
April 03 = Corona Jogging #8 
April 04 
April 05 = Corona Jogging #9 
April 06 
April 07 = Corona Jogging #10 
April 08 
April 09 = Corona Jogging #11 Bonus Track: Take me to the Moon (part 1):
-
I would rather run away from it all, but the conjunction of time and space works contrary to my plans. However, no shadow without light. I never had so much opportunity to run through the near fields and forests.
While my motivation is not back from its frustration-holidays, I try to ignore its absence and share the last ten days of jogging:
March 20 = Corona Jogging #1 
March 22 = Corona Jogging #2 
March 24 = Corona Jogging #3 
March 26 = Corona Jogging #4 
March 28 = Corona Jogging #5 
March 30 = Corona Jogging #6 -
Today, I should have landed on an island. These days, Sri Lanka remains lonely and unvisited, missing two of the world’s best travel buddies. No plane will touch down and spit out tired and excited travellers, no desoriented blonde will need to organize taxi or train or both. Without the effort of a 20 hours voyage, of a sleepless night in tiny seats, I will miss the relief of arrival and cannot welcome today’s sunset at a beautiful beach.Such a pity.
Update, later: Online yoga, around sunset. Not as splendid as it might be on a beach, but still…
-
One Week Ago: Ready to Go It is not only the cancellation of a trip I prepared throughout months. It is not the letting-go of an idea I aimed for since summer 2018. It is frustration, insecurity and disbelief.
The corona crisis throws me back 1 – 5 years, depending on its duration. If not questioning my entire business: Will I be able to continue my preferred work as a freelancer? Will I keep my apartment? Not to think of my (already far from being splendid) pension assurance… Hard to trust politicians way beyond science, copying more or less blindly the reactions of other countries and with no estimate of neither duration nor impact or recovering. Meaning the impacts on moral, society, culture and economics, left alone those on general health.
Yet, this is a travel blog, so what about the planned voyage? The 3-months-sabbatical, finally rewarding me for years of hard work and of several cancelled vacations? Well…
Roadmap, Culture, Literature, Camping, Timing – Prepared Options for some Destinations in Scope If and When and Where I will travel this year is not clear. Instead of carrying the prepared piles of luggage into Hector, I will store them properly in my wardrobe. The Sri Lanka trip (backpack holidays with surfing and three weeks of travelling all around the country) will be the easiest to re-activate one day. The France + England part is different: The idea was spending plenty of time, much more time than usually. Drive and park and stay and move on. See and taste, relax and be active. Who knows if I will get my chance for such a sabbatical at all… It depends upon the economic development of the next months.
-
Innerhalb von drei Tagen war die allgemeine Reisefreiheit Geschichte. Ich erschrecke darüber, wie es so schnell so kommen konnte. Was sonst würden wir noch alles stoisch hinnehmen, wenn es jemand als “beste Lösung” verkauft? Ich befürworte zügige Maßnahmen (warum ist kaum jemand auf Isolations-Ideen gekommen, bevor alle vom Faschingsurlaub zurück in Schule und Büros gingen?), aber die geschlossenen Grenzen, die Ausgangssperren in einigen Ländern, der Stillstand… lass jetzt bloß kein Feindbild dazu kommen.
Three days. That is all it took to turn our world from multi-culti-travellers into closed borders. The speed of development and some facets of it are frightening. I appreciate quick reaction to a severe crisis and would have appreciated it even more two weeks earlier, when hesitation paved the way of thousands of families back into schools and offices. Good friends and good spirit are on the positive side of our recent experience. Let’s focus on solutions and well-considered actions and hope that nobody will come up with a concept of an enemy.
