DAY 14
Saturday MAY 14 2005
This morning I woke up a 4 am. What is with that? Anyway I went back to sleep. I sure was wishing that the hotel had internet services about that time. I hadn't slept very well anyway because I wasn't sure how tomorrow night would go and it was worrying me, eating at me.
Will I get to the campsite? Will they have an open spot? What if I get there late and the office is closed? What happens if I don't reach there at all? So on and so forth. I got little sleep that night.
I went down to breakfast at 9 am. Swiped a banana from the breakfast table and was checked out by 10am. I went to the post office to mail about 2 pounds of items back home. It cost me 50 Euros. 24 of it was for the box. TIP: provide your own box it will be a lot cheaper. This was more expensive than mailing my big huge suitcase. Fixed my break at a bike shop, ironically called, the Gazelle and came out right on the street I needed to exit the town by.
Whenever the traffic is to intense or I feel there is not enough room for me, I walk my bike. It is a margin of safety I like to keep in my favor. I heard about all these lovely bike trails and what have you in Holland and you know what, they aren't all they are cracked up to be. For instance, I leave town this morning and I have my own bike lane. Cool, except this is a one lane highway for cars going both directions. The other lane that would have been there, were it in America, they just split on both sides of the road and called it a bike trail. This means there will always be a car driving in the bike trail. Crazy. To my mind this is not safe for the cyclist.
I rode my bike fairly easily all the way to my campground for the night. The bike trail varies dramatically from one instance to the next, but here is a picture of how it was for most of the afternoon after leaving the city.
If you have biked Kincaid then you know what this is like.
The flower fields of Holland. My view on the way to my campsite.
Now I cut my day early, because I was afraid that I wouldn't have a place to sleep for the night. How do all you independent travelers put up with the constant anxiety of not knowing where you will sleep that night? Please, give me some tips here. I left Hillegom at 10:30 and got to my campsite early afternoon.
I had no problems setting up the tent at all. It was a no brainier. It was fairly windy so I staked down the tent really well and I am proud to say it held all night through many, many gusts of wind. The campsite cost 25 euros.
They camp differently in Europe. You don't hike the trials of a forest but walk the country back roads. There are no more wild places here.
I got this from another web site:
You'll probably fail to spot our nature reserves because we have nature organized. This is big business involving committees, planning, design and heavy earthmoving equipment. Certainly not something to be left to nature, which is why it looks different. The latest thing is that camping in our organized wilderness is now organized and regulated too!
Then what proceeded next was the most lonely isolated night of my life. Camping is not for me. No. I sat in my tent bored to tears. I hadn't had any human interaction at all that day, nor that night, nor the next morning.
My most worst personal torture is enforced inactivity. I can not rightfully convey to you how it grates on my nerves and drives me bitchy. I never thought there could be anything worse for me. Now I know there is. Total isolation. Sucks, you guys. I am coming to realize if I could have just 20 minutes of socialization over the breakfast table I will be set for the whole day. But this, this was more empty than a sterile hotel room in a nameless city on your birthday.
Camping has always been fun for me, but I have always gone with other people, never by myself. I spent six months just fantasying about how cool it was going to be on this trip to camp it and six months on just picking out just the very right tent, no matter what the price. And now I hate it. I will not camp again on this trip. I am posting my tent back as soon as may be. I have made a very expensive mistake.
This, of course, will affect my budget dramatically, but I don't care. This trip is about three things: to have fun, to loose weight, to travel and enjoy the richness of culture the world has to offer. Self torture is not listed, not in my charter folks.
I understand this limits my trip and it will be shorter than expected because my accommodation budget will double, at the very least. But I can't camp again. I can not endure the isolation that type of arrangement engenders. It really was quite horrible even if the sun was shinning and the birds were chirping. By the way, I took one look at the shower and skipped it. Believe me under those conditions I would rather be dirty.
They served such awful food in the "cafeteria" that it was the worst hamburger I have ever seen in my life. I refused to eat it but was to timid to ask for my money back. For dinner I had the banana I had swiped from the breakfast table this morning.
As far as the night goes, I froze my ass off. My lovely comfortable air mattress was not insulated at all. It conducted all the coldness right to me. This wouldn't have been so bad except for that fact that I have a two sided sleeping bag. One side has down in it and the other side is empty. Just a shell fabric pocket . It is meant for a thermarest to fit into the pocket. By 8 pm I could see my breath in the air and was very cold. By midnight the shivering started. There are some days when I just want to go home.
Least favorite moment of the Day: Total isolation, it takes on a whole new meaning when experienced.
Favorite Moment of the Day: It was a lovely bike ride and I had no problems with riding at all. Also, my sleeping bag fell off the back of my bike and I never noticed. A big thank you to the man who rode up beside me on his own bike carrying my sleeping bag! He showed it to me and I immediately stopped. He said "I think this is yours. You should take better care of it." I thanked him profusely and strapped it on in a different way. It was so funny to see a strange man ride up beside me and holding my sleeping bag at my eye level. When I looked over I was sure surprised!