A short guide to getting lost
· 3 min read
The train was late, which turned out to be the best part of the day. Most of what I know about little islands came from getting it wrong first. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about night trains. The slow part is rarely the hard part; consistency is.
First steps
The ferry crossing took four hours and felt like ten minutes. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for mistakes. A paper map invites conversations that a phone never does. The shift showed up bit by bit, then all at once.
Somewhere between the night ferry and home, the thought finally made sense. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things quickly. Every summer I revisit the same questions about rainy cities.
The short version
Most problems with little islands turn out to be problems with time. The details matter less than the practice of paying attention. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out.
If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. This started as a quick note and bit by bit turned into something longer. You can get surprisingly far with a paper map and some a steady hand. I tested the unplanned version first. It did not last.
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about old maps.
Notes along the way
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about border towns. Every summer I revisit the same questions about border towns. I wrote most of this on a still Friday morning. Here is what shifted, and what stayed exactly the same.
Looking back, the overland approach was the right call. Every summer I revisit the same questions about guesthouses. I keep a short list of things to try next; getting lost is near the top. A friend once described night trains as still work, and the phrase stuck. I tested the slow version first. It did not last.
The best advice I got was just to slow down.
Looking ahead
Nobody spoke much English, and somehow that made it easier. In March the light changes, and so does the work. It is simple to overthink travelling by train. It is harder to just start. It took me nine attempts to see the pattern.
- Start with markets and nothing else
- Stop before you are tired
- Leave room for overland mistakes
- Revisit rainy cities after a week