Beauty is in the Detail

One of the best things about this trip is that there is a nice balance between routine and spontaneity. I love routine and with a trip like this there’s lots of routines to get your teeth stuck into. Living in such a small space means you have to be organised and you naturally fall into a pattern of chores that need doing. From opening the curtains each morning to setting up the tea making paraphernalia. From checking the drawers are locked to closing the sun roof cover. From locking the car each night to lying in bed watching something on the computer.

But unlike being at home and going to work where, no doubt, everyone has their own set of routines and chores: we are constantly on the move. So each day is different. Each day we have different vistas and different experiences. And it is here where the beauty of travelling lies. Each day is filled with hundreds of small un-noteworthy details that don’t amount to much. But combined, these small strokes build up to create one large painting. And it’s in these small details, that happen in the gaps between each routine, where the real beauty lies.

Saturday 26th November 2016 – in the countryside north of Kutasai, Georgia.

• Awoke to find crystals of frost blanketing the grass
• Made hot steaming cups of Earl Grey tea
• Watched the sun peak over the hillside
• Three pigs pottered over – snouts feverishly sniffing the ground
• A rather handsome dog came over to say hello and we fed him pizza flavoured Tuc biscuits (after he turned his nose up at a rice cracker and we were too stingy to give him our chorizo)
• An old banger of a Lada drove up the very steep stony path carved into the hill
• A hunched ancient lady, dressed head to toe in black, waved as she slowly passed us with her grandchildren
• Scoffed a can of hot baked beans straight out of the pan
• Drove through countless enchanting hamlets
• Gazed at persimmons fruits hung out to dry on large verandas
• Drove across the most unbelievably scary suspension bridge
• Made coffee and tea in a beautiful valley
• Chatted to a handsome man who was walking back to his home
• Waved at some men cutting logs
• Went on a two hour hike to a suspended walkway built over a deep canon
• Slurped boiling hot noodles in a car park surrounded by taxi drivers touting for business
• A dog, with short deformed front legs, gazed hungrily while we gobbled down said noodles
• Just as the sun set we found a camping spot on a grassy verge sandwiched between some fields and a railway line
• Drank beer and red wine while sat in the front of the car listening to GZA and Mogwai
• Scoffed down delicious hunks of Georgian smoked cheese, Stilton, crackers and chorizo
• Watched the first episode of Ripper Street lying together in the back of the car
• Fell into a dreamy cheese-fuelled sleep