Confessions of a Junkie by Shrekie

(reposted from Shrekiestravels.blogspot.com)



Traveling is crack, and I am an addict.

Merriam-Webster provides one definition for addiction as “ A compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance…characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal.”

Addiction is progressive, meaning that one exhibits a higher tolerance as time passes, with intense cravings and needing one’s fix more and more frequently. There are withdrawal symptoms, and a period of detox. Typical symptoms include mood swings (when I’m planning travel), anxiety (when I can’t travel), and depression (when I’m done traveling).

Yep, I’m an addict, just ask my family and friends. As soon as I’ve had a fix I’m jonesing for the next one. My conversations are dominated by using-related topics, such as where I’m going next, the price of airfare, or which tea shop has the best cake, and I have a loss of control of use—I can’t say no to a trip. Even in the face of adverse consequences (empty bank account), there are cravings and compulsive trip-taking (I was able to fit in a last-minute one to Cherokee next week.) Repetitive speech patterns (such as use of the word “whilst” and asking for the loo), red eyes and excessive sniffing (from dry, stale airplane air), changes in eating habits (way too much cake than is good for one), disrupted sleep patterns (from early excursions or red-eye flights--hey, I just realized where that expression came from), financial problems (always needing travel money), and missing work (cause it interferes with my “cracking”) are just some of the signs of my addiction. Post-use depression (once I’m home) invariably sets in, as my friends will tell you, but I promise, this is an addiction for which I want no intervention!

I write this blog for several reasons, one of which, of course, is as an informal record of my quasi-adventurous travels. Not so much as a we-did-this,-then-this,-then-that sort of record, although there are many days that that is the sort of thing I resort to out of laziness or writer’s block, but as a record of my impressions of where I am, what I’m doing,and even what I’d like to do. Oftentimes this includes tattle-telling on whichever friend or family that happens to be traveling with me but other times…not. I can keep a secret although it’s way more fun to share with whomever is reading this.

Which leads to another primary reason for this blog’s being: to provide a sense of connection to those left behind. I try to entertain and inform and in return, love comments that my readers – all 7 of them– choose to leave. It helps to know there is someone reading this besides my sisters, whom most like feel a familial duty to do so. And, posting my adventures makes me feel a bit less lonely while I’m lost in a sea of strangers out in this great big world.

Not that I'm always lonely. I’ve made wonderful, life-long friends while traveling. Take my current traveling companion, for example.

Addicts have their enablers, and Donkey, AKA Cheryl, AKA co-author of The Adventures of Shrekie and Donkey, is my current travel/crack supplier. The fact that I'm writing anything at all after such a long hiatus shows that my crack supply is about to be replenished, and with one of my favorite fellow junkies. After such a wonderfully memorable trip to the English countryside of the Cotswolds last spring, we are off to the wilds of Devon, Dorset, and Cornwall on a hunt. Our prey? Big game, such as the Large and the Clunes, with a little less gamey Austen and Christie thrown in. This time we are in search of the Clunatic. Well, that’s not exactly right. Rather we are following in the footsteps of our fellow hunters, the Clunatics, stepping carefully so as not to startle the hunted.

Donkey is particularly enthusiastic about our upcoming big-game hunt since she recently found out, through DNA analysis, that she is of primarily British descent. She thinks this helps explain her relatively newfound obsession with all things British, but in particular British television and Acorn streaming video. Last year, we had a sort of Downton Abbey theme to our England trip, visiting various filming sights and even meeting a cast extra or two. This time we are stepping up the fan fixation with a two-week stay in Port Isaac where they should be filming the TV show, Doc Martin, whilst we are there. In fact, we have actually rented the cottage next door to the one that depicts the exterior of Doc's surgery ("English" for doctor's office) and overlooks the setting for Bert Large’s Restaurant. I can't wait for Doc (Martin Clunes) to tell us to "Go away."

The fun doesn't start with Doc, however, as our British storytelling also includes sites for Poldark, Jane Austen films, Broadchurch, and Agatha Christie's Poirot and Marple, not to mention the grand dame herself, Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie whose holiday home, Greenway, and also the filming location of at least one of her mysteries, I am particularly looking forward to visiting. But none of this voyeuristic excitement overshadows the real star, and prey, of our Clunatic Tour 2017—the gorgeous if often wild coast and interior of Devon and Cornwall.  Let the hunt begin!!

For more info on our game, visit PBS's Poldark and Doc Martin, a  real fan’s blog, Agatha's Greenway, and Acorn TV.