Weathering the stormy weather
Challenge accepted!
First of all, welcome to all my new subscribers, it feels kind of strange to have doubled the number just in the past three weeks when I’ve been writing on and off here for almost 18 months! I’m no expert or published author (besides some scientific journal papers from a life lived long ago). I’m just a solo lady who loves to travel, write and read. Welcome to my journey. I hope you enjoy my writing.
Many of my travel stories and holidays revolve around sunny weather, tropical islands and northern hemisphere summer getaways to escape the dreary winter weather experienced at the bottom of Australia during our winter months or off-season. I’m not adverse to the cold wet weather, well not as much as I was in my younger years, and while the winter climate in my home town is starting to grow on me, when I plan a tropical getaway I expect Mother Nature to comply rather than throw her stormy weather quite literally in my face. However, she doesn’t always give in to my demands.
While some people thrive on chasing storms, I would rather not be in the middle of a storm while on a tropical holiday. But as it turns out you can’t control nature and I have weathered the stormy weather on more than one occasion. My first memorable experience of stormy holiday weather was as a young child spending a couple of weeks in Fiji as a family holiday. The second week was non-stop torrential rain caused by a tropical low which eventually became tropical cyclone Oscar a week or two after we left the islands. The storm did not stop us kids from having fun, we still went swimming in the resort pool, we still had frog races with the hotel staff (we found it much easier to find and catch the frogs during the storm) and we still went sightseeing, in particular reef-walking. Funnily enough I went back to Fiji last year and experienced one day of extreme torrential rain. I drank a few cocktails that day sitting just out of the rain, noticing that other guests stayed in their rooms until the rain cleared. I did get to know the staff quite well that day and that worked in my favour for the remainder of my time there.
As an adult, I’ve been lucky enough to never have been caught in such extreme weather or a major natural disaster to warrant my evacuation or to have seen devastating destruction and loss of life. For that I am extremely grateful. In 2013 I flew into the Cook Islands on the back of an unnamed cyclone and most buildings were still boarded up for my first few days on Rarotonga. While it wasn’t exactly stormy weather, the boarding up of many places meant I explored on foot for the first few days and found a few places open for business where I could eat, drink and talk with both locals and expats about the culture and the best things to see and do around the island. It also gave me time to plan and book those sightseeing tours online. I also read a lot!
Bad weather lets you see things or speak to people you might not have done so if the weather was good. For instance, you might spend a bit of time at your hotel bar (or some other local bar nearby) whiling away the time and meeting other travellers with whom you can share knowledge of the surrounding sights and attractions. Or if you’re adventurous you can still go out on those tours and not actually care what the weather is doing one way or the other. Like my Safari Raro Tour in the Cook Islands or Old Quarter tour in Phuket, it rained non-stop!
Swimming in the rooftop pool of my hotel in Da Nang, Vietnam during a rainstorm was amazingly calm and serene. It was also still 40 degrees Celsius so it was much better than staying inside a stuffy hotel room. While in Langkawi Island when bad weather hit at the start of my trip I got my nails done, had a massage and then sat in The Cliff Restaurant & Bar watching the storm roll over Pantai Cenang while sipping on Langkawi (Long) Island iced teas and snacking from the bar menu. I hate to let a good storm keep me from seeing the sights or checking out a local restaurant/bar. It was also less busy than on a normal day so I was waited on quite eagerly by the staff.
Getting off the bus early one morning in Palenque, Mexico the rain was more than just torrential. I waited in the bus station for about an hour hoping it would ease off a bit before walking to my hostel. I should have just braved the downpour from the beginning, because it didn’t ease at all. I eventually threw on a flimsy poncho and ran most of the way. It wasn’t that far, maybe 10 minutes, dropped my gear and immediately went back out to find a good, hot coffee and a bite to eat. I spent the next three hours in a nearby café drinking coffee, watching Mexican music videos and not understanding a word anyone said. With only three days in Palenque before boarding another bus to Oaxaca I spent that down time planning my sightseeing activities to the Mayan ruins and the waterfalls. I probably should have spent it learning more of the language.
If sitting at a bar or café is not your thing, you can always find a museum, art gallery or shopping centre to poke around in while waiting it out. For me, I’ve also spent the time in movie theatres watching a flick or two, taken an indoor cooking class, wandered through libraries (because that’s the nerd in me) and the odd church or mosque. Spa treatments or massages are another item on the top of my rainy day list. There’s literally nothing you can’t do, even if it is staying in and watching a movie or reading a book. But I like to get out and about and observe the people and places around me.
You can choose to let the storm affect your mood and therefore your holiday experience, or you can ride with the punches and learn to love the experience, stormy or not. Not to mention that during or after a storm you can be blessed with the sight of a beautiful rainbow, amazing smells and scenery.
What I’m reading: Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta. Technically listening to it on Audible but extremely fascinating nonetheless. Indigenous knowledge and way of thinking is astounding.
What I’m watching: Ghosts on Netflix. Easy watching and a bit of fun.
