Home Is The Traveller

Victoria Square fountain, Adelaide

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

~ Requiem, Robert Louis Stevenson

I don’t know why this couplet from the poem, Requiem by the poet Robert Louis Stevenson came to mind today as I made the move into an older sisters vacant apartment, but it seemed somehow appropriate. After living out of a suitcase for nine months, this solo traveller is finally back in Adelaide again and looking forward to exploring my home town in greater depth. Needless to say, it is great to be able to hang my shirts up again, keep my jocks and socks out of sight in the bedroom, and nice to display my books for easy and convenient access.

Most importantly though, it will be lovely to start blogging again on a regular basis. I set myself several goals and objectives at the start of the year, with regard to my blogging and writing, and all of them have been on hold since mid-January when my Sony laptop stopped working.

In particular I want to forge links with other bloggers and travel sites, which includes inviting guest posts from writers I hold in high regard, and in return contributing to travel sites I also find useful and informative – and most of all, trustworthy. To that end I have already started contributing guest posts to the artist-at-large website, and I have also agreed to contribute to the CheapOair website.

I have recently created a Twitter profile for the Compleat Traveller, which I hope readers will join, and participate in. I’m still getting my head around Twitter, trying to work out how it can work for the Compleat Traveller, and more importantly, how my participation on this social networking site can work for you, my readers. Like the links I am building with other websites, my intention with my Twitter profile is to form networking links with high value travel related companies and independent travellers, who have something of real value to contribute to readers of this blog.

So there you have it folks. Three months into the new year, I am only now beginning to get back to work, but I hope to make up for lost time with the help of my new laptop, and a compulsive back up plan.

Back Online Again

Toshiba Satellite L650D laptop

Three weeks after returning from my extended travels, I am finally starting to connect to the online world again via my new Toshiba Satellite L650D (see image). As already reported (Hard Lessons on Hard Drives...) my trusty Sony Vaio gave up on me in Greece, six weeks before my return to Australia, and I have only now been able to replace it.

I am in the process of setting the system up, just the way I like it, which of course includes reinstalling software and configuring that, importing valuable documents and photographs from my backup drive, and getting back into the habit of blogging regularly. And by god, do I have a lot to write about!

So while you may be thinking that this blog was about to join the thousands of others that languish across the internet, be assured dear reader, that the brief, unwanted lull in my travel musings is about to end as I review my travel journal, sort through thousands of images, and begin writing again.

Post Travel Adjustments

There is always a period of adjustment when one returns from an extended vacation or long journey, and right now I am going through that adjustment as I settle into life back home in Adelaide.

I am delighted to be staying with my niece and her husband and their two children while I wait for more permanent accommodation to become available in a week or so. However, I am still without a functioning computer, which has restricted my ability to update my blog and website as much as I would like to do - hence the lack of trip reports and my usual observations - which I find quite frustrating.

I can’t even sort through the thousands of photographs on my backup drive or the 1500 or so images still on my camera’s SD card! Hopefully, that will change in the near future, but until then I (and you, dear reader) will just have to be patient.

Maybe it's a good thing that I am without permanent access to a computer. I am more engaged with my family, friends and associates for the time being, which can only be a good thing. If I was hooked up to the world wide web, I would be spending more time than I should isolated and cut off from the real world around me. As much as I like to write, reflect and update - after eight months of travel, I really do need to reconnect with those who are closest to me.

There will be time for blog posts and photo features in the weeks and months ahead, but for now, I am going to rest, relax and count my many blessings, as I wind down and rediscover my home town and the people who make is so special.