There is something about travelling…

There is something both terrifyingly alien, yet comfortingly familiar, about landing in a new country. I don’t know about you, but my senses work overtime to try and work out the new environment, and how I – as essentially a fly-by-nighter – coalesce with it.

Sometimes the landscape – both natural and built – echoes my own: trees, gardens, buildings, people just generally going about their business, living their lives. In Italy for, example, the many eucalypt trees – planted for mosquito, and ultimately malaria control – olive trees and vineyards almost mirror my beloved Adelaide and surrounds. The sense of connection via landscape almost made me love Italy more – if that’s possible – for making me feel so at home. It was similar when I landed in Greece. I felt like I belonged.

In Ljubljana, Slovenia, where I am now, the many pine trees that are a ubiquitous part of the landscape remind me of my home town of Mt Gambier. It’s essentially a rural landscape, with the city having sprung up around farms. I get a feeling of honesty, and relative simplicity, from walking around. I don’t feel like an alien here.

What I did find alien – but breathtaking and beautiful – was flying into Ljubljana via Munich over the Alps. I sat in my seat on the plane. And. Just. Said. Wow. We just don’t have anything like that in Australia. And I’m showing my ignorance here: I did not know they stretched that far. I would do The Alps an injustice by trying to describe them, and even though they are only iPhone photos taken from my plane, I think you can get an idea of the scale of these things.

So these are my first impressions of this gorgeous part of the world. I’m tired from my flight, will probably hit the wall by 7pm, but I’m glad to be here. And I’m glad that I’m not so exhausted that my ability to string a sentence together – and actually form impressions – has not been seriously harmed.