I Sat On A Rock

I sat on some rocks. But I would say they were a little bit above average rocks, and few of them somewhat high above the ground. Some would say that these rocks are so incredibly awesome that they should be on postcards, and some people actually DO put photos of these rocks on post cards.

I guess that now you have actually spent the time to read this far into my silly little blog post, maybe I should tell you about my experience sitting (and sometimes standing) on said rocks. My personal favourite rock that I sat on was named Preikestoln after a viking ship that had lead many successfully attacks on other viking villages. A truly devastating ship in its time. Just kidding, it actually has a boring translation which is literally means pulpit rock because it sticks out of the cliff like a pulpit in a church. Not many people hike all the way up to this rock,  just enough that even in the off season you will never be the only one on the rock, and in the summer it is so crowded that people will even line up for a turn standing on the rock.

As I said before, it is my was my favourite rock, mainly because how unlike any other rock in the world, the surface is almost completely square and flat. The views from the rock were also incredible, you could see for miles down the fjord. It even overlooked some incredible mountain farms. Though I can’t say the hike getting to Preikestoln was anything spectacular, It was actually quite a dull hike. The trail was super trashed even though it was rebuilt by Nepalese Sherpas in 2014 and you would see people’s garbage lying around every now and then. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible, lots of the parts of the trail were kind of fun, there were some boardwalks over large marshes and massive bedrock flats near the top. Over all there hiking part could have been better but the actual rock that you get to sit on is truly incredible.

Let Go of Perfect

So now that we are at it again - traveling the world and taking in whatever each day provides, there is finally some time to reflect. It seems strange in a way to talk about reflecting as we are only a month  into our travels so far, but there is a lot that we learned on our last great adventure five years ago that fortunately we don't have to relearn.

Probably the most important lesson is to let go of perfect. Of course, there is a lot of perfect - the perfect sunset, meal, or rich interaction with someone from the other side of the world ... But these moments can't be forced and trying to do so usually results in disappointment, sometimes because we all have different ideas of what perfect is, but usually because the perfect in traveling comes from the unknown and the unexpected. So the best approach to achieve perfect is to not pursue it - just let the magic happen... whenever, whatever and wherever, or perhaps even not at all. We learned that lesson early in our last RTW trip and it served us well then and it continues to serve us well now. Taking away the pursuit of perfection removes the blinders and, surprisingly, allows us to achieve it.

Now there may exist in a guidebook somewhere that 'to achieve perfection in Sweden one must picnic along some out of the way nature reserve and then wander off to meet some relaxing milk cows off in the pasture. Have one member of your group volunteer to say hello and when said cows do not respond, be sure to honour them with a flowing arm dance'. It might say that, but it's doubtful, largely because I doubt anyone else would define the perfect moment in this way (though we all thought it was pretty funny) and the cows had a memorable day (for at least a minute). But you can't manufacture moments like this - how do you teach the cows to stay put? - cows milk production might drop, farmers would get pissed and the odd tourist would likely take it too far and start twerking all across the Swedish countryside. So the guidebooks and travel writers stick to the predicable - "eat here, drive there, lie in hammock, drink this, take pictures at sunset/rise here..." and flocks of tourists and travelers will try to recreate those perfect moments, and most will believe they will have done so (and that's ok too) But for us, we'll rely on good old spontaneity, adventure and letting the perfect moments just happen ... or not.

 - Bernie