Life is simple
A moment lived in Norway by Georgina Mckimm, a traveller from United Kingdom
On February 22nd 2016 I moved into my VW Caddy and have been living in it ever since. One Van and No Plan is literally what it says on the tin! I live in my van (Callie the Caddy) and just take each day as it comes. Check out what I have learnt and experience along the way!
Edition 7 – Lofoten, Norway – EAT – SLEEP – EXPLORE
As you drive into Lofoten you are instantly hit by the sheer beauty of the place, you are turning corners and you can’t help but drop your jaw. You come to the end of a tunnel and as you exit the word WOW, just falls out of your mouth. There was a moment where tears just rolled down my cheeks! Had the utter beauty of this place literally brought me to tears, or was it the fact that I was listening to Adele?
These roads just didn’t feel real, nature is just truly breathtaking. Something surely can’t be this beautiful? It just went on for miles and miles. Picking a spot to park became so challenging as there was just way too many choices. Being surrounded by this much pure beauty really puts life into perspective, it’s simple – EAT – SLEEP – EXPLORE!
And that’s exactly what happened:
Whether it was adventuring around beautiful fjords, climbing up cliff edges, rock hopping through forests, discovering mini beaches at the bottom of mountains or kayaking around the Arctic circle in a bikini, (yes the Arctic circle packs some heat!). All while casually being accompanied by the occasional lion mane jellyfish floating along side!
Being here was like being totally at one with nature, cooking on open fires, collecting wood, drinking water from the most beautiful waterfalls and showering out in the open with the most amazing views. I just had not idea life could be lived like this, so simple but yet so fulfilling. Really got into the ease of kayaking for leisure and food, making fires for heat and cooking. Everything I was doing had purpose and pleasure.
Being here really got me thinking, what do we actually need? When you take away all the comforts of life and you really pin it back to what you actually need to survive? The basics would be:
Food
Water
Shelter
A very wise and influential guy once told me, that if a cave man was to be dropped into today’s society he would die within 17 seconds! The noise, the amount of people, the buildings and the technology in our society would be too much for the caveman to take in. This really got me thinking, WOW he is right it would. If you sit in nature, in the middle of nowhere what are you surrounded by? The sounds of nature, the wind, water flowing down rivers, animals rustling in bushes and birds flying overhead, the only noise pollution is the magical sounds of nature. Now if you imagine going from that and only ever knowing that, then being dropped into the middle of London or New York, you can begin to understand how you would only survive for 17second. Your brain would not be able to take it all in.
On this trip, I have been privileged enough to discover some real hidden gems in the mountains, woods and along the coast. Where I’ve been able to sit, chill and listen to nothing but the sound of nature. It really makes you think, all the things society offers is there to help you create more time for yourself, but does it actually work or is it just a distraction of your time?
TV, games consoles, laptops, phones and Internet, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I could live without some theses things. But do they actual benefit us in anyway?
When you strip back to nature again, scrambling up waterfalls to take a bath, running around a forest collecting wood to build a fire, exploring the unwandered tracks of the mountains and forging for food. It made me think how lazy my life was before, turning on the heating, driving to a shop that is a 5 minutes walk away, sticking something in the oven.
I found this way of living far more fun and rewarding. Yes, it 100% took me longer to build a fire and cook on it, than sticking something in the oven. But when you free up your time you to experiment with these things, you being to see how simple life is. Learning how to build a fire by trial and error or actually communicating with the locals to find out what berries are okay to pick and eat rather than googling it just the natural way of learning. It’s more memorable, thus making us more likely to be able to retain the knowledge.
This trip has not only brought be back to nature but it has also taught me so much about myself. When you have just done a 12 miles hike, you are tired, want to sleep but you have to walk down to the waterfall to collect 10 litres of water and carry it back before it’s something I would have been like, na we can just get some at the next place. But the next place might not have water so you hike down to the waterfall to collect it as water is vital for survival.
I’m not saying I’m going to live this way for the rest of my life, but just having the chance to experience this I have learnt so much about what I actually need in my life, what I have wasted in the past and the way I will begin to look at things moving forward.
I would 100% recommend taking a few day or longer to get back to nature!
Do it and let us know how you find the experience.
This traveller has a blog : Wake up to the World
Amazing story !! Norway is definitely on my to do list :)