I often think that I should blog more though I’m not completely sure why.  I don’t think that people care that much if I blog or not but I have a desire to communicate and sometimes I do this through writing.  I have noticed that when I am travelling all the extra time I spend talking gives me very little time to write.  Those conversations I have with other people are more important than the one I have here.  In the past week I have had long conversations with strangers on planes.  I have been told tales of life in the Middle East, of life in Japan in the 90s, and of growing up in America during the Cold War.  Even though everyone I spoke to came from a different culture their stories were threaded with experiences of life and family that I could relate to.  Thanks to them my long journeys were not boring.

I will be travelling until the 9th December.  Today I am in the Netherlands.  So far it has been a perfectly peaceful morning.

I have been trying to get into a routine of exercising everyday.  I thought I would try to exercise for at least 30 minutes for 30 days and I have managed to do that.  I have been using a pedometer to monitor my walking and yesterday I broke my step record and walked for 46,012 steps (21.52 miles) taking my 7 day total to 152,522 steps.  I had wanted to walk further yesterday but my feet let me down.  Between blisters and having someone stand on one of my feet by accident it was not sensible to try to walk the 30 miles I had planned, but I’ll certainly try that walk again once the weather gets cooler and I have better clothes to wear.