Traveling as the world burns

It’s been hot in France. I’m sure you’ve heard. We’re currently in northern Spain, in Asturias, a cool and damp region in general. In the summer, it’s glorious. This summer is no exception.

We fled the summer heat of the south of France as we usually do, but heat isn’t the worst of it this year. It’s drought. We’re keeping an eye on the horrific fires in Spain and France. None of the fires are nearby, but our hearts are going out to everyone; human, animal, and vegetal, who are being affected, displaced, destroyed. 2026 has been a highly unusual year, likely the first of a new long series of highly unusual years. We’ll call them unusual until we forget that you could once count on a more or less predictable climate.

We had dear friends from our old hometown visiting in June. When we were planning their 3 week trip I said, hmmm, end of June we should go north. Montpellier will be getting hot then. Go figure, our destinations of Bordeaux and Brittany saw extreme heat, extremely rare for those regions. (What’s beyond extreme ? We need new adjectives for this brave new world.) We hit 116 f (46c) before cooler heads (and other extenuating circumstances) prevailed and we fled back south to a much cooler Montpellier. When Brittany is both hotter than Montpellier and hotter than Mecca, you know something is seriously dysregulated.

I’ve long been a doomer, I think it’s the only sane response to our polycrisis. But I’m not stockpiling gold and guns, I’m stockpiling places and memories. Go and live while the going is good. It’s why we said and continue to say now. Now is the time to do what you need/want to do. Tread lightly, stay hopeful, but don’t stay home.

We’ve got a new experiment in the works. Hell, everything we do is an experiment ! Or is it a game ? Games need goals, rules, and a bit of friction. Getting straight to the goal isn’t the point, how you get there is.

Travel is like game playing. You set goals (destinations), rules and parameters (budget, what and who you’re taking along for the ride, how you’ll get there). Points for beauty, novelty, awe, surprise, connection. Obstacles are part of play. Everything going off without a hitch does not an adventure make !

So here we go, somewhere else! The game rules this time: 2 backpacks (covering all seasons, that’s already a yikes!), public transportation only, unless we have to cross big water (which I don’t anticipate, but you never know), no final date or destination. We’ll start in October. We’ll call it the Gotta Go game. Like with the climate, all bets are off.

Cheers,

Maer

Lest I have bummed you out too much, let me leave you with this :

Ursula Le Guin « The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next ».

And therein lies hope for the future.