Hiking, Slow travel, Travel Diary, United States, Walking Holidays

Weekend Walk along Tammany Trace

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Tammany Trace Abita Springs

Earlier this year, I went on a weekend walk along the Tammany Trace, which is a “rails to trails” path on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain (just north of New Orleans). I went with my sister, husband & the couple who introduced us to walking holidays. Our initial thought was to do this as a true inn-to-inn walking trip, but lack of transportation was an issue — we couldn’t find anyone willing to shuttle us from starting point to end. Plus, dinner options are limited along the trail if you don’t have a car with you that first night. So, we adapted & used 2 vehicles. The distance between parking lots was only about 7.5 miles each time we had to move cars.

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Reflections & Humor, Slow travel, Travel Diary, Walking Holidays

Spontaneity

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Something you must know about my husband and I:  he is an engineer and I’m a librarian.  We are planners and organizers at our very core.  Our coffee cup handles line up perfectly in the cabinet and our spice rack is a thing of beauty to behold.  Our trip itineraries and notes are detailed enough to be travel guides.  Needless to say, when we plan for a trip we probably OVER plan.  This has never been a problem for us, since we both love to research and find that research in itself is a way of travelling.

I never realized, however, how much our detailed planning sometimes hindered us from being spontaneous.

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Europe, Hiking, Reflections & Humor, Slow travel, Travel Diary, Walking Holidays

Dingle Walk, Final Reflections

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Dingle Way, Dingle Peninsula Ireland
Reflections

We were only on the Dingle Peninsula for 8 days, but when we took the bus back to Shannon Airport it felt like we were leaving roots behind.  At the Boston Airport, we were immediately barraged by news coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign (and all the drama that entailed).  Eric and I’s instincts were screaming at us to “go back!”  Now typically, by the time our vacations are over we’re ready to be home.  But this trip was different and there were several reasons why.  For one, it was the longest vacation we had ever taken and it was in a place far removed from our home and workplace.  We had very little exposure to the outside world (no TV, little internet) and the bulk of our trip was spent outdoors in remote locations.  The people of Dingle ran the gamut of jolly, content, and cantankerous — but they all seemed to have a peace about them…a sense that they were happy with their place in life.

Transitioning from this to our busy, grasping American life was like stepping out of a paradise directly into a war zone.  I was shell-shocked.

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