Traveller’s Mind
Random street art we found exploring
When I was travelling as a young man, I remember a seasoned ex-pat urging me to embrace “Traveller’s Mind.” From what I recall, there were three parts
1) Delight in details
2) Be spontaneous
3) Remember the obstacle is the path.
When we landed in Porto, sleep-deprived and delirious, a delightful young man named Ricardo was waiting to grab us. After only a few airports, my 50lbs of “just the essentials” already felt like waaay to much. Our apartment wouldn’t be ready until the afternoon, but Ricardo agreed to hold our bags for us while we explored.
At this point, the kids (and we) have been awake since 8:30am the previous day, we’re all zombie-like, hungry, and in need of coffee. The last time I spent much time traveling, we would have been consulting guidebooks or wandering around in hope. This go around, I pulled up “breakfast” on my phone and it directed us up and down multiple hills, through a couple of alleys, and directly to a delightful cafe from the 1920s, where we got a table in an interior courtyard.
It turns out the cafe was on a walking street with a delightful mix of buildings from the 18th century, the 1920s, the 1970s (those were less delightful), and the 1990s. We managed a combo of coffee, omelets, pastries, and juice that gave us all a second wind. We decided to head in the direction of the river and the historic district.
We stumbled upon churches, past a beautiful theater, and through narrow alleys with people hanging their laundry out the window, in which we delighted.
A few days before, Theresa’s dad Bill had pulled his back out playing golf, but he was a trooper as we walked up and down hills and stairs. At one point, we found ourselves in a cathedral with walls and walls of the amazing blue tile for which this part of Portugal is justly famous. I found myself using the beautiful carvings as intended, to explain biblical stories to my barely familiar children.
There were some delightful spontaneous moments of street musicians, detours to see beautiful buildings, and surprising vistas.
Screenless, our children filled dull minutes with sibling torture, pigeon chasing, and talking to us.
A little more googling taught us how to get bus passes and a route to our apartment, where Ricardo awaited with our bags. We collapsed.
Post-nap, one delegation decided to read and blog, while the rest of us set out for a grocery store and pharmacy. Bill had left his diabetes test strips in Connecticut, but pleading with a few sympathetic pharmacists got us a new machine and two-month supply.
A few blocks later, a grocery store saw Ava squeezing fresh orange juice into a bottle, us with some cuts of beef, and even a box of Special K (kids’ favorite), though it was the “wrong” kind and there were no goldfish to be had. The obstacle is the path.
A group effort in a small kitchen, some stumbling with unfamiliar European keys, and a few flights of stairs later led us to a rooftop dinner, a beautiful sunset, and a lot of gratitude.
A decade of planning later, and we’re doing it!!!
