Les Aventures d'une Baroudeuse en carton // Tales of a Novice Adventurer.
The purpose here is to make travel books travel around the world. Each traveller (and even locals!) can write or draw its own unique story. We all have something to share while travelling, whether it’s a story, a picture, an address, a drawing, some dried flowers or business cards.
I lived in Taipei for a whole month, volunteering in a hostel, which allowed me to get free accommodation et enjoy my free afternoons discovering and taming this new country I chose to live for a whole year. It’s hard to talk about Taipei, to list everything there is to see or to experience because the city is so big that even a whole month wasn’t enough to do everything I planned to do. And as I also like to feel the vibe of a city, I also spent some afternoons hanging out in cafes and bookshops, or Geocaching around Shilin while feeding the mosquitoes with my French sweet blood.
Geocaching is like a huge treasure hunt, on an international scale. Yep, that’s right, you can actually find little treasures everywhere in the world. When I say treasures, I’m obviously not talking about tonnes of gold, opals, Aladdin’s lamp or I-Phone 6 –no, no, no. The Geocaching’s treasures are more or less like the little surprises you can find into Kinder Eggs or the things you were secretly keeping into your child’s treasure box, the one in which you used to put tonnes of stickers, boondoggles, or finger puppets.
The countdown has started. I have a little bit more of two weeks left here in New Zealand. This is the end of my last road trip, I’m leaving Flo for good this time.
We’re in Auckland. Auckland all over again. Auckland, my city of arrival. Auckland, the city of unforgettable encounters. Rainy Auckland, boring Auckland. You’ve seen nothing of New Zealand if you’re staying in Auckland, and yet, while travelling North Island, Auckland is where all the roads are leading to. I’m leaving Auckland with relief every time and yet I keep coming back there.
Except that Taranaki’s shitty weather seems to be around here too. First snows have fallen, and even if the hike is doable, the conditions look really bad. And the fog, the rain are ruining the views. Not to mention that… the Ruapehu volcano is slowly awakening!
Today is Wednesday and my heart is heavy while I’m leaving South Island for good. I land at Auckland airport like I did on my very first day in New Zealand, except that now Monster is lighter and that I know exactly where to go to catch a coach towards the city centre. It’s raining outside and the sky is grey. I only have one month left on North Island before leaving the country for good. Ouch. Same for Flo, aka Monsieur Wellington, who’s having only two weeks left here before flying to Hong Kong and then going back to France. That’s why we’re meeting up again, for our very last road trip in New Zealand.
Ex-libraire, boulimique d’images et de rêveries en papier. Reconvertie en agent de voyages adepte de nouveaux horizons. Reconvertie en apprentie baroudeuse. Baroudeuse en carton depuis 2015 en Nouvelle-Zélande, au Japon, à Bali, à Singapour, à Taïwan, à Hong-Kong, en Equateur et au Mexique. J’ai chopé la bougeotte et je compte bien ne pas m’arrêter là.
A former bookseller, who couldn’t get enough of pictures and paper dreams. Retrained as a Travel Agent, who couldn’t get enough of new travel inspirations. Retrained as a novice adventurer. Novice Adventurer since 2015 in New Zealand, Japan, Bali, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong-Kong, Ecuador and Mexico. I caught the travel bug and I won’t stop anytime soon.
Let’s take a walk with me!