I warned you this would happen. Linking up with Jessica for Photography Friday and Aimee for Find Beauty Friday — though this may be stretching the concept of the latter a bit too far. The thing is, in many ways I only just stumbled upon some of these, even though they were taken ages ago. It feels appropriate.
Today’s post has a soundtrack: I got So Long, Marianne (originally by Leonard Cohen, this cover by John Cale and Suzanne Vega) stuck in my head while I was picking out pics.
It also turned out I underestimated my habit of taking pictures out of windows, so there’s going to be a part 2 next week featuring shots taken from static windows. This post? Is all shots taken from planes and buses. There may also be a part 3 featuring shots taken from a bus from Oxford to London and back, too, because I didn’t touch that folder. You’re welcome.
Today’s Blogtember prompt asks: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?
The truth is, I don’t need three months off from my life. I’ve had several years off from it! I’m not tied up or weighed down by work, education, significant others, children or any sort of hometown love or pride. If I left, I’d miss my sister and my mom and my cat, but that’s about it. My problem is I can’t afford to fund most of what I’m going to do.
So here’s the question I’m going to answer: If money weren’t an issue, how would you change your life?
The answer is really easy: I would rent an apartment, jump on a plane, and move to the UK with my best friend.
A house in Oxford.
Green Park. Possibly my favorite shot from that trip.
Since I decided to participate in Travel Tuesday, I’ve come up with about a dozen ideas for posts I could make. I’ve only been outside my country twice, three weeks in September 2007 in London and three weeks in July 2008 in Oxford (with one-day stops in Brighton and London). I didn’t buy my DSLR until May 2008, so my first time in London isn’t as thoroughly (ridiculously) documented in pictures as my time in Oxford and it only makes up one of those ideas… but I’ve chosen it as the one to start with. My reasoning for it is pretty simple: it’s September, I love London, and the fact that these photos were taken with a cheap point-and-shoot and aren’t as numerous as the 14 GB (no kidding) of fantastic-quality photos I have from July 2008 made it much simpler and a better option for easing into Travel Tuesday.
So this is how I got started in traveling and travel photography: alone in London on a scholarship with a cheap point-and-shoot. I fell in love, and I’ve wanted to live in England ever since.