Letters from Charlotte

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Children love nothing more than to listen to the enchanting stories of their parents mysterious lives before becoming fulltime guardians. I was no different. I especially enjoyed hearing about my mother and father's move from France to rural Scotland in the late 70s. Their words revelead an unfamiliar land to the one I had come to call home but to my parents, the wild northeast was another planet. I'd spend hours gazing at the few grainy photographs we had, trying desperately to piece together who these strangers were. What must it have been like for them? What aspects of Scotland's culture, food or people struck them as odd, and which parts enchanted them enough to warrant remaining there the rest of their lives? I wanted nothing more than to jump inside their heads and feel it all for myself.

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Inspired by them, I have decided to keep an account of my own global meanderings. Things I see, how I feel and any life lessons I gain along the way. I hope that in doing so, not only can my loved ones tag along with me, but perhaps (one day) my own children will be able to read about their mother's nomadic lifestyle. Most importantly, I want to keep this record for myself. I am sure that 40 years from now I will be very grateful to hear my own young voice recounting these exotic memories.

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Whilst having spent the last decade moving location year after year, these letters will concentrate on my most recent adventures: Southeast Asia. From January 2016 I will slowly make my way through Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia bringing me back to Europe in spring 2017.

 

I love to be actively discovering and learning new things. For this reason I have decided that the best way for me to 'do' Southeast Asia is by volunteering through the website workaway.  For each country I visit, I will do at least one placement as a volunteer in order to help people, share my skills, learn new ones, interact with local people and of course keep my spending to a minimum.