Lovely globe trotting ladies...Oh My!

Paris skyline at night

It's funny how people perceive and prioritize things when traveling. For some, a posh hotel with fancy fittings in the bathroom and a suited concierge is non-negotiable and for others a good meal in good company with a few cheap drinks is living it up. Personally, I had the best time in Paris because I got to spend two days with a lovely friend of mine. While we had a blast seeing some of the sites, I think we could have had just as much fun going to a yarn museum or walking around non-famous parts of the city. I'll have some reflections on Paris at a later time but that will take a bit of research to put everything I experienced in the wider context.

Warschauer strasse at night

So far Berlin has been great. I made friends with a super cool Estonian girl on my walking tour of street art. Despite some challenges in coordinating without a phone, we managed to meet back up and walk to this really nifty place full of bars, a skatepark and even a massive climbing gym. We had a few cheap beers and enjoyed the lovely swing music while discussing all manner of topics. Dare I say, I doubt it will be the last time we cross paths.

A lovely piece by Alice (2013?) 

From my perspective, it's all about who you meet and making connections with people. It seems to be, the more I travel, the more I find independent, adventurous inquisitive ladies that are wandering the world for enlightenment and excitement. Oddly enough, I hear the same story constantly from them. People are forever surprised to meet solo female travelers. Yes, it is the 21st century. Yes, all of these women I've met so far are from developed countries where women play basically equal roles in societies. And yes, these are almost all educated, motivated ladies doing their own thing back home...So why the surprise? How long is it going to take for global cultures to recognise the solo female traveler as a "normal" and important part of the travelers' community?

Eco is Where the Oculus Animae is.

Ecology: the branch of biology dealing with relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. 

Economy: the management of the resources of a community especially with regard to its productivity. 

How often have you pondered the fact that economy and ecology share a root term 'eco'? Eco or oeco has both Greek and Latin roots to mean the same thing: home or habitat. While it's overuse in the advertising world to illicit 'green' sensibilities is all to common, its place in the concept of economics is downplayed almost equally. Resources used to be considered assets of a community geographically and culturally speaking, and they still are, but boundaries have blurred and communities aren't what they used to be. Everything comes from somewhere and theoretically you're going to be a bit more personally invested in the gold in your backyard rather than on the other side of the world. This also doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Cultures these days have evolved a phenomenal ability to compartmentalize. Life, love, work, and family would appear to be mutually exclusive. People, families, and corporations all make short sighted, self-destructive choices in the name of frugality. When did this happen? And is it a good thing?

Strange thing this idea of eco, the homeplace, community. As a vagabond I never fully belong anywhere but at the same time I see each place to land through a kind of rosy filter of optimism. It's all too easy to take something that's always there for granted and let the negative come more to light than the rare beauty.

Last Friday night I was abruptly reminded of the absurdity of my vacant sense of place. "We are all citizens of planet earth" the gentleman pointed out. While this has always been the case for all creatures here, now more than ever, we humans need to remember this everyday. Not only are we never truly alone, all of our daily actions have far reaching effects both geographically and pervasively through time. Also in this train of thought the concept of possession could be replaced with stewardship. Everything and nothing is truly ours, yours, here. So the best we can do is work with what's in front of us and value it to the best of our ability.

So I will leave you with this: What did you truly value today?