Road Trip: Struggles and Successes

Although I have titled the post Struggles and Successes I want to start with 5 of my favourite things from the road trip. Diving straight back into my every day life after coming home means that sometimes it feels as if I didn't really go away. For this reason it was really nice to go through the photos I took while I was away this afternoon. I borrowed my Dad's laptop to connect my camera and saved a few to include today.

Dartmoor National Park

My Favourite Things

1. Wide, open spaces and a sense of space and freedom
2. My horse ride on Dartmoor
3. Bizzare Bath
4. The coastal path walk from Lands End to Sennen Cove
5. An evening relaxing in the Thermae Bath Spa
6. The Lost Gardens
7. Cute local art galleries
8. Eating a proper Cornish Pasty and cream teas
9. Walking along Newquay beach with my toes in the sea
10. Overcoming challenges

Usually if a challenge arises my first action is to quite possibly panic, closely followed by a phone call to my Dad. On the third day of the trip I had a difficult time locating my B&B in Dartmoor, when I finally arrived, following directions from a pub around the corner, and checked in I decided to head back to the pub to relax with a nice cold drink and catch the remainder of the sun. Soon after sitting down at one of the tables outside a huge gust of wind blew over my large glass of Coke and cracked the corner of my phone screen. I was not best pleased and went inside to ask for another one, choosing to remain seated inside this time. I then went to use my mobile to realise that the screen wouldn't work. I can't do anything on my phone if the screen doesn't work. I tried to keep calm and take the battery out and re-start it but nothing improved. Then I really started to panic, to a point where I nearly cried, I certainly felt like crying being away from home alone and having lost my way to contact my family and friends and to navigate. In a sense I had lost my safety net. This time I couldn't call my Dad to fix it, I had to do it myself. Luckily, I had taken my laptop and the B&B I was staying at had free wifi so I was able to contact people through that as well as Google the nearest EE store to by any type of phone as long as I could call my parents. It may sound silly that that was such a challenging time for me but I have become very reliant on my mobile and all the things it can do now, perhaps more than I realised and I'm sure I am not alone.

There were times when I felt vulnerable being alone, luckily this was not often. The one thing that made me feel particularly vulnerable was removing my glasses and not being able to see clearly. This is why I chose not to try kayaking or surfing. I feel more comfortable doing new things, in new places without my glasses with friends. I ended up keeping my glasses on when I went to the spa in Bath. Although I felt a little self conscious about it, I felt better than not wearing them. Also, in the rooftop outdoor pool other people were wearing glasses and sunglasses. I thought, why visit the spa with lovely views and not really be able to see them! Gazing out over the city and the rolling hills was a great way to end my trip.

Bath

Roman Baths

SS Great Britain, Bristol

Lands End

Lands End

St Michael's Mount

Falmouth

Bournemouth