Whenever I travel I like to send myself little postcards. These tend to contain descriptions of what I'm doing at that moment, maybe what I'm looking forward to in the next few days of travel, or sometimes just a joke to myself. A lot of the time, they can help setup my expectations for the trip as well as manifest things I'd like to happen on my holiday. This trip, I wrote myself two postcards and I'll start with the first.
Amsterdam:
I started off with a hello to my sub-leaser as Cedric (my roommate) and I have an Australian sub-leaser staying a few days in our apartment. She's become a good friend. What followed was a description of the cafe I was sat in in Amsterdam and a description of my itinerary for the day:
Buy truffles.
Walk around.
Find Mia Lynch (an old friend).
I finished the letter with a note for myself, "by the time you read this, I hope to have made a few new friends." Reading that now makes me smile and reflect on the few great friends I reconnected with as well as met for the first time.
London (Devonshire Arms):
This one, I started at a wonderful pub in London where I sat for a pint & lunch but left with two new friends and a bit of a stumble. I started off with a hello to myself, as my subleaser had left by this time. Then, I followed with my itinerary for the day: dinner, drinks, meet some old friends, hopefully make my flight. I went into how I felt that day: "You're tired... transient is the word." Never feeling settled in one place... in reality though, you love it and as such you're mind wandered and the postcard continued.
Billie and Ryan (name's changed as I haven't asked if I could use their real ones) were the two friends I met.
Billie, was a new waiter at a Michelin starred restaurant studying his menu, and the other, Ryan, a writer and artist. You couldn't have found two more interesting people if you tried. And I, the odd ball of the group, a tech consultant. Not much to add to the convo except for my piqued curiosity. So as such, in Matt fashion I barraged them with questions over what was the rest of their day. My entire itinerary went out the window and I sat there for the rest of the day yapping about their lives.
Billie, (the waiter) walked us through his 12 course tasting menu in detail, full of sketches, ingredients, and absolute passion for his craft. As we sat through Guinness after Guinness my mouth watered as he described what could be no less than 4 different dishes with foie gras, yet also included a beautiful balance in every one of the dishes. I, as an amateur shit cook myself was fully enthralled and immediately motivated by the way he spoke of these dishes. Hopefully, I will be back soon to get a taste of these wonderful dishes.
The end.