Finally, after two abortive attempts, next month we are definitely heading for Denmark and Sweden, a Google map has been annotated, outward ferries booked; whatever the weather forecast, northwards we go. Last Spring we cancelled the Nordic trip at the last minute after suffering a freezing cold April at home and headed towards Corsica instead. It was an ill-fated decision. In late May, as Sweden sweltered in record Mediterranean temperatures the Med suffered an inexplicable 'Nordic interlude'. It's a vain hope that the same thing might happen again this year, but surely it can't rain for sixty days can it?
So, why does this involve heading somewhat tautologically towards the unfamiliar unknown? Because the other day we decided our travels so far by motorhome have been something of an oxymoron - sojourns through the familiar unknown. How can that be? Well, as you may recall, what we set out to do five years ago was to explore places in Europe that we had not visited before. If you look at our summary map it lists a little under 350 stopping places, mainly one-off visits, though we have allowed ourselves a few 're-visits' either to explore favourite places in greater depth or simply because they are a convenient stop-off as we cross France on the way to somewhere else. By this measure we should be congratulating ourselves on 'mission accomplished'.
However, if you consider our travels in terms of countries visited quite a different picture emerges. We have trundled around 40,000 miles through S. Europe over the past five years. How many new countries do you think we have visited? Just one! - Luxembourg. Everywhere else - ten others - are all countries we had visited previously, either on road trips camping with the kids or in recent decades on short breaks using budget air travel. Over the years we have inadvertently absorbed the various country's idiosyncrasies - that hypermarkets are generally closed in France on Sundays, Germany has not gone 'cashless' like other places, in Greece drivers pull across onto the hard shoulder to enable cars behind to overtake, even in winter in northern Spain the siesta prevail. Knowing such little details does make life easier so when you visit a new town or city because the practicalities of life are not entirely foreign, it is a 'familiar unknown'.
All this being said, we have not been entirely unadventurous since we retired - we have embraced the 'unfamiliar unknown', but not by motorhome, only long-haul - visiting Singapore, New Zealand and Shanghai last year. However, neither Singapore nor New Zealand felt entirely foreign due to their colonial heritage and the fact that English was the main spoken language. Not so Shanghai, it was an utterly unfamiliar unknown - the written and spoken language entirely unintelligible, no cyberpals on hand to help - Google blocked, its maps and translate functions unavailable.
Outside the main tourist sites often we were the only westerners around - the only familiar things were the brands - Bvlgari, Gucchi, Hermes, Costa and KFC twinkling among a myriad of Mandarin neon like familiar constellations. We had tricky moments undoubtedly, but mostly it was exhilarating to be taken out of our comfort zone. We need to do more of this we agreed.
Of course Denmark and Sweden are not going to be as tricky as China; apart from anything else English is widely spoken in both, which is a relief as the handful of words we know in each language is derived entirely from our enthusiasm for Nordic Noir. Hopefully we will not encounter one of the many psykopater with a penchant for 'rituelle opskæring,' kidnapning' and 'afpresning' which appears to a common feature of Danish life according to 'The Killing.' Watching 'The Bridge' was more useful, we now know that in Sweden people pepper their conversations with 'tack!', thanking everyone for everything in much the same way British people say sorry all the time. It remains to be seen if Saga's habit of asking new acquaintances if they would like 'to have sex now' is a reflection of her 'condition' and not a typical example of the liberal nature of Scandinavian small talk. Whichever it is we won't forget to say 'tack'.
It's exciting to be heading somewhere wholly unfamiliar. Even a small amount of pre-planning helps to avoid unexpected difficulties. For example, LPG stations in Denmark seem few and far between - we have made a list!. Checking the same information for Sweden alerts you to the fact that petrol stations are often closed at weekends and in the evening. We know about the exorbitant price of alcohol in both countries, we are planning not to buy any. No, we have not decided to embrace the narrower aspects of the Scandinavian Lutheran tradition - we are planning a very big shop in Dunkirk Auchun.
However, if you consider our travels in terms of countries visited quite a different picture emerges. We have trundled around 40,000 miles through S. Europe over the past five years. How many new countries do you think we have visited? Just one! - Luxembourg. Everywhere else - ten others - are all countries we had visited previously, either on road trips camping with the kids or in recent decades on short breaks using budget air travel. Over the years we have inadvertently absorbed the various country's idiosyncrasies - that hypermarkets are generally closed in France on Sundays, Germany has not gone 'cashless' like other places, in Greece drivers pull across onto the hard shoulder to enable cars behind to overtake, even in winter in northern Spain the siesta prevail. Knowing such little details does make life easier so when you visit a new town or city because the practicalities of life are not entirely foreign, it is a 'familiar unknown'.
All this being said, we have not been entirely unadventurous since we retired - we have embraced the 'unfamiliar unknown', but not by motorhome, only long-haul - visiting Singapore, New Zealand and Shanghai last year. However, neither Singapore nor New Zealand felt entirely foreign due to their colonial heritage and the fact that English was the main spoken language. Not so Shanghai, it was an utterly unfamiliar unknown - the written and spoken language entirely unintelligible, no cyberpals on hand to help - Google blocked, its maps and translate functions unavailable.
Outside the main tourist sites often we were the only westerners around - the only familiar things were the brands - Bvlgari, Gucchi, Hermes, Costa and KFC twinkling among a myriad of Mandarin neon like familiar constellations. We had tricky moments undoubtedly, but mostly it was exhilarating to be taken out of our comfort zone. We need to do more of this we agreed.
It's exciting to be heading somewhere wholly unfamiliar. Even a small amount of pre-planning helps to avoid unexpected difficulties. For example, LPG stations in Denmark seem few and far between - we have made a list!. Checking the same information for Sweden alerts you to the fact that petrol stations are often closed at weekends and in the evening. We know about the exorbitant price of alcohol in both countries, we are planning not to buy any. No, we have not decided to embrace the narrower aspects of the Scandinavian Lutheran tradition - we are planning a very big shop in Dunkirk Auchun.