How to turn your plate into a travel portal
This past Monday was apparently ‘blue Monday’, officially deemed the most miserable day of the year.
I’m not entirely sure who officially deemed it so but it makes sense. Two weeks into January can be a bleak time indeed. The only remnants of Christmas are the odd stray pine needles from the tree lurking in the carpet waiting to stab your bare feet, chances are you’ve already failed at your new year’s resolutions so your self-worth has taken a dent, the weather is lousy and, to add insult to injury, there’s still months of winter left.
Well, I’m happy to report that I didn’t feel at all blue this past Monday because I discovered a magic portal in my UK seaside town that transported me straight to Paris, Vietnam and Australia. (Please note: contrary to appearances no psychedelics were consumed prior to the writing of this letter).
The location of this portal was actually a new restaurant in town called, aptly, Journeys.
My friend Caz had invited me to dinner there, promising me a treat, and she wasn’t kidding.
The first thing I saw upon entering Journeys was a sign of for a ‘wine library’ – I mean, has there ever been a more magical pairing of words?? I was instantly sold.
Then I saw the menu and I was even more smitten. A cornucopia of cheeses from cheese boards to camembert baked with honey and rosemary, platters of veggies, pickles and meats, juicy fat Sicilian olives, and freshly baked foccachia all instantly vied for my attention.
We were greeted warmly by one of the restaurant owners, Marina, who it turned out is from France.
‘This feels just like being in Paris,’ I said to Caz as soon as we’d ordered our feast. The icy sea breeze whipping through town had caused the windows to steam up, making it all the easier to imagine the winding cobbled streets of Montmartre outside instead.
Soon our conversation turned to travel and Caz regaled me with tales of her years spent working, and narrowly avoiding a mangled death by motorcycle, in Vietnam. A bit later when Marina arrived at our table with more food she joined the conversation, sharing some tales of her travels in Australia.
‘Australia really changed me as a person,’ she said, which instantly caught my interest.
‘How do you mean?’ I asked.
She explained how before she’d travelled there she’d been pretty headstrong and hadn’t been happy if things didn’t go her way – a pretty common trait I’d say.
‘Australia made me chill out and more laidback as a person,’ she confided, before describing a hair-raising travel tale of her own, involving a scary host she met via the Couch Surfing app, and his even scarier revealing underpants, which was all he was wearing when they met.
Listening to Marina and Caz made me think that perhaps the greatest gift of going travelling aren’t the Instagrammable moments of perfection when you’re sipping from a coconut on a tropical beach but the times when things take an unexpected turn and make you feel slightly on edge, or even downright scared.
Back in 2016 I was invited to Sharjah to give some talks as part of their literary festival. It was my first time in an Arabic country and as soon as I touched down in Dubai and breathed in the desert heat I knew that I most definitely wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
I’d been told by the organisers of the festival that the driver sent to meet me would take me straight to my hotel but about twenty minutes into the journey he told me that he couldn’t find it.
‘I go see my brother in his barbers shop,’ he informed me, meeting my gaze in the rear view mirror. ‘He knows where everything is.’
Shouldn’t you as a driver know where everything is, I couldn’t help privately wondering. And as we started venturing off the glitzy streets with their gleaming shopping malls into a far grittier downtown area I thought to myself, this will be the part of the true crime podcast where the narrator’s voice takes on a distinctly grave tone…
‘And her body was found, weeks later in a dumpster outside the barber’s shop…’
But actually, that slightly nerve-wracking diversion to downtown Sharjah remains one of my most vivid memories of the entire trip. I got to see a whole other side of the UAE that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and it turned out that the driver’s brother did indeed know where everything was, or he knew where my hotel was at least, and about half an hour later I was safely deposited there.
Travel can feel like bit of a furnace at times but all of its unexpected twists and turns forge you into a new person and make you feel fully alive.
But what if you don’t have the budget or ability to go abroad right now? I know that as self-employed mum for many years I certainly didn’t.
On Monday night I was reminded of the transformative power of conversation and food. As I listened to the others’ travel tales and dipped my warm bread into delicious rosemary-infused camembert, baked by Marina’s wife and uber talented chef, Amy, I was transported to Paris, Vietnam and Australia. And when it finally came time to leave, I felt full up on food, good company and adventure.
Our senses are hugely evocative so if you’ve been feeling wanderlust but aren’t able to venture abroad in the near future, I suggest you find a restaurant that can take you on a journey via their food instead. Somewhere authentic and original that isn’t part of a chain.
Once you’re there order something you’ve never had before and tell whoever you’re dining with that the menu for conversation that night is strictly travel and adventure tales. Try and engage the owner in conversation too and learn more about their story. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Until next week, here’s to living the adventure, however we can!
Siobhan
(Find out more about Journeys, the magical restaurant I ate at, here)