How can it be that I’ve been London for a week but still haven’t seen Anything?

Depending on how you interpret the question the answer could be – because London is HUGE, you can’t see anything in a week, which is kind of true, but in my case the answer is completely different.
I really haven’t seen anything.
At least apart from some parts of the Natural History Museum and the immediate environment of my accomodations.

So… why?

On one hand – overwhelm. I’ve been on the road for almost 3 months now (whaaat? Yeah.. I don’t believe it either) and as you can imagine it is a lot to process, even though it’s slow travel, I take my time, I don’t rush to see everything, do everyting, but still… it is just a lot.
I popped home for a week when it was the convenient next step in terms of reorganising myself and in terms of travel route as well, so that gave me a very brief breathing moment, but it was merely a jumping board… so as it was expected – travelling is tiring.

But more importantly it is because sightseeing is absolutely not in focus.

I’m very certain, that once I get home I will repeatedly take part in conversations when people will sit in front of me with their eyes wide open, telling me that I’m a bloody idiot if I’ve spent x days or weeks in Bologna/ Portugal / Zagreb / London etc and I haven’t seen a list of things mentioned by them. In part, they will be right. I sure am an idiot, but that’s fine. 😉

So how does this makes sense to me?

When I’ve set off on this trip I had a very vague idea about what this is going to be – reading all the articles about how you should have a goal in mind when you plan a long-term trip to make it doable and having many friends and family members asking what my aim is, I felt anxious about the fact that I didn’t really have a plan or set goal. I knew that one of the most important things for me was to meet people. I wanted to deepen relationships with friends I’ve gotten to know, become friend with online acquaintances by actually sitting down over a cup of coffee, meeting new intersting people from various fields, working on things with them, getting to know fellow artist in all kinds of different environments.
Getting connected to a web of great people. Real connections.

This part was fairly easy  – I told my friends that I want to meet them, I shouted out on social media, that I’m travelling in Europe and if they want to catch up, let’s talk about it, plus the way I find accomodation (friends, Couchsurfing and workaway) pretty much takes care of the “meeting random folks’ as well.
On top of that, most often when I walk around anywhere, I go without headphones, I have a smiling eyes, I look at people and I very frequently spin a flower stick to entertain myself further. I must seem like a fairly approachable person, cause no matter if I walk around or  sit down on the ground to take my time with drawing something, people often come up to me to have a brief chat. It’s amazing. I love it.

Attending two big events (the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and the Independent Festival of Creative Communication) also helped a great deal with this issue – I met a lot of people from the art realm. A LOT of people – particularly amazing ones. But oh man, afterwards I felt like a hundred trucks drove over me. I consider myself a fairly social person, but this was welcome to Social Exhaustion zone. 😀

Anyway, back to my original point… so apart from meeting people I was not really sure what other goal do I have.
Am I off to “see the worl” as in sightseeing? Well.. up to a level, but not really.
Am I away to make money? No.
Am I looking for a job or carreer opportunities abroad? Not in particular, though if something comes my way, I’m open to it.
Then what the hell? Well … don’t know.
Let’s see what will happen!

There was a friend who really applaused my travel plans and introduced me to a quote: “The one who dies with the most anecdotes, wins.”  That sounds awesome! Okay, let’s do that! Gathering memories. The best anectodes usually come from very challenging situations. So while I’m definitely not seeking out opportunities to do something ridiculously stupd just for the sake of story, but when something comes up, after the obvious – is it dangerous? is it stupid? do I like the idea? etc. round I very often measure it on that scale. It might be a strech from my comfort zone, but however it turns out – it can go in the anecdote folder, it would be an Experience.

And where that leads me is that basically I’m in it for learning at the moment.

I’m learning about my own limits (e.g. how much social interactions can I handle?) my preferences (I’d rather sit here and draw for another hour than move on and see the x other things), about social interactions, I learn about ways people work at certain organisations, learn about different ways people put their lives together to be happy/successful and many random bits.

So right now, in London, I am offered something that I craved in the week before I came here – having an “art retreat” basically.
I’m staying with a family where my task is to design and paint a mural for them. I live in the extra room they have and sometimes they share their meal with me as well.
The place is calm and nice, they are kind people, they have a lovely garden, I got a whole room for myself and I’m given a creative challenge. It is perfect.

To take it even higher, my host is a coach which is a something I recently became very interested in.
So instead of running around in London, seeing all the places and going to all the events, I find myself building a daily routine of reading a book on coaching, working on a mural design (while listening to another book about talent being a myth), catching up with people online and strenghtening friendships there, enjoying the lovely weather (yup, I’m in England and not a drop of rain fell since I’m here), cooking, scribbling, making notes and getting my head straight. It is absolutely amazing. could spend weeks like this.

I realised that I need quiet time, and I am given the chance so I take it.
I realised that coaching is something that interests me – and I landed at someone’s place, who is a coach. I’ll take that too!
He gave me a book to begin with, I’m going to read through it while I’m here, and bug him with questions if I have any, and then ask for another book and tips… 🙂

So now the plan is that when I move on to the next location, the next crazy time or island of calmness I will make the most out of That specific experience, whatever that time, place and people have to offer.
I’m not a tourist wanting to go through the sights, I’m not an adventurer, trying to get myself into all the crazy situations or seek out challenges everywhere, but I am on a journey and that feels pretty amazing.

Thank you all who contribute to this!