I couldn’t sleep most of the night – it was either way too warm up in my alcove, or, if I turned on the air-con, too noisy, and too cold.

I fell asleep around 5.30 to the sound of the birds.

So I slept long, had a slow start, and then looked for a laundromat… but could not find one, and with Shabbat coming up, time ran out.

My friend Davidi offered to wash it at his place, so I spent the afternoon there, doing a few emails and stuff. Then on to the beach for a sunset read.

Now, I’m in one of the few places that are open despite Shabbat, and I’ll have a little drink later with my friend Ron.

Totally uneventful day, but it’s good to have those.

As I lay on the beach with the wind and the sand and the sea and the setting sun, I could reflect a bit upon the last months. When I meet new friends, and I recite the cities I’ve been to so far, and the places I intend to go, it sets in what a crazy, crazy thing I am doing here.

Usually I tend to forget it, mostly thinking only about the city I am in and maybe about the next stop, but rarely about the whole chain.

The places, events, people I have met and will meet, the concerts, restaurants, museums, galleries, the beaches, mountains, rivers, bridges, hikes, the rental cars, trains, airports, ferries, busses, metro cards, taxis, the bars, restaurants, parks, clubs, discos, gyms, pools, phone chips, dinners, drinks, shows, books, shops…

It gets a bit too much then, and I have to banish the whole thing to the back of my mind. I think I can only deal with it incrementally, step by step.

I guess when I am done and back home, I’ll look back and shake my head what I did.

Friends ask me how I feel, what has changed, how the trip has changed me… but there is no way to answer that (yet), I guess it’ll become clearer when I am back and the dust has settled.

Quiet days like this one give me a bit of breathing space to sort my thoughts.

What I do realize by now is that I am more relaxed, less stressed of course, but in a sense of welcoming whatever comes my way. If things go ‘wrong’ or not as planned, they are just as well, I’ll adapt. I don’t want to fuss about it, not let it ruin my day. No expectations.

At the same time, and I think this goes hand in hand, I have less patience for things or people who drag me down, suck my energy, load me with expectations or things I ‘should’ do, or just keep nagging about some perceived negative aspect of life.

I want to cut the cord, throw it over board, move on, let go.

I wonder what I am dreaming. I normally never ever remember a dream. Maybe a faint image in the morning but that is gone fast. Recently though I feel like I start to remember more and more details of things, places, people and conversations. I guess I’m processing.

Enough said, I need to get some bookings done to close a few gaps in my itinerary, and to take a few decisions on the return date.