How does routine work best whilst travelling abroad? Before leaving for our biggest adventure yet James and I discussed our worries and goals. Past experiences had proved difficult; we’d chosen to go away for half the time but with only ‘ONE’ aim, “To Escape”. Not this time folks, our gift to each other would be to really learn and grow. Establish routine, adapt and enjoy each other’s company. ‘Winging It’ is a fun concept in essence but we feel that things also become more stressful and hectic. Our challenge for however long we’re gone for is to manage our time and mold a positive experience, much like we would do in the UK but with the added challenges facing our relatively new nomadic lifestyles in which you have to accept the bad with the good; most importantly learn from both and do not under any circumstances dwell on any negatives…

Initial challenges for us:

• We will be moving around locations frequently, predominantly taking us out of our routine.
• We will want to live in the moment, which at times could involve sacrificing our routine or at least planning more to work around it.
• We may come across some places that aren’t equipped with the necessary things to facilitate our routine.

The above list is not exhaustive as I am sure we will learn more the longer we travel.

Next, our top priorities here and now;

• Firstly – For those back home who know us well our coffee routine is in high priority.
• Second – we love exercise, and not in a ‘pull your hair out, sweat all over the bloody carpet’ kind of way. We just love moving around, using our spines, stretching and strengthening. Very important probably even more so than our coffee routine maybe!!
• Thirdly – Along with exercise we need to fuel at an appropriate time and with appropriate plant based food.
• Fourth – this time around we have come to realise that a cheeky nap or simply just chilling out is important too.

How best to establish a routine? It’s not as the title of this blog suggests. Indeed dancing around like Ross and Monica from the hit Sitcom ‘Friends’ provides entertainment for anyone watching. This kind of behaviour will not help us establish a routine. But have you ever read “Miracle Morning”? By Hal Erod. Lots of people have… I haven’t!!! But I’ll pledge to wade my way through it for answers if you will? I can already feel the book in my hands, laying in a hammock, soaking up the warm, sunny air. As you can imagine getting a hard copy of the ‘Miracle Morning’ out in Thailand is slim to none and I don’t have a kindle so I shall have to wait for now. What I do know about Miracle Morning is that it has changed thousands of lives. Its simplicity invokes change in people who quite honestly believe that getting up at all is an infringement of their basic human rights, let alone battling the traffic to get to work. To be honest maybe that’s true but I know from experience that getting up early makes for a very productive day. As I always say you could always have a quick nap “A reward if you like” in the afternoon if you’re tired from being so energetic.  

Our routine is a little different as we are travelling so we don’t need to do everything by 8am necessarily (Miracle Morning teaches you to be your most productive self before 8am). Let me use some examples of what we’ve done so far.

‘A Morning In The Life Of Team “Speaches”. Just to diversify for a tiny second. Speaches has come from James’s Nickname ‘Sparky’ and my nickname ‘Peaches’.

So it begins,

6AM: The plinky plonky notes from the song Porcelain-by Moby sound in my ear just like every other morning for the last 8 months solid. The Beach is James’s all time favourite film and I have learnt to put up with his constant need to watch it while back home in the UK as he endlessly dreams of Thailand. I mean it’s a good film but there’s a time and a place… Maybe once a year like Christmas! I have to admit the beautiful sound waves entering my sleepy ears at 6am in the morning are not ones to be sniffed at and they’re a darn sight better than the perpetual digital sounds that escape my electronic devoce each morning. Most importantly, ‘DO NOT SNOOZE YOUR ALARM’, it’s a one-way ticket to a battle between your conscious mind and the part of your brain that longs for just an extra five minutes in bed. Like Obi-wan Kenobi and Darth Maul; where Obi-wan wants you to wake up and Darth Maul wants you to remain in a deep slumber and by all accounts keep you from starting your positive day.  

6.15AM: At this moment jumping out of bed to go for a run or a stretch, kick-starting your physical body even when it feels at its heaviest and your energy levels are low are an elating experience. My friend Jason Brooke always says,

“It doesn’t matter how far you run or how slow you feel, you’ve been for a run so cut yourself some slack. Any run is an achievement and when those great ones come along it feels even more special; and then all those cruddy ones seem so much more worth it”.

Whatever the outcome of my run, I know James will be working hard to grind some fresh coffee with the hand held grinder my brother Tom recommended for us. It sure does takes an absolute age to grind, but it’s worth the elbow grease for two delicious brews.

7.15AM: By the time I get back and have a quick rinse; there’s coffee on the table located on our little balcony in Plern Plern Bed and Bike. James begins to tell me about all the wonderful stretches he’s been doing in the 20-30 minutes I’ve been gone. One can achieve a lot in this time, or so it seems. Whilst sipping the chocolaty fruity flavours of the Ethiopian coffee I hold in my hands, its doubtful I will be listening to anything but the joyous sounds of my taste buds.

8AM: We have several options; engaging our legs, pushing the pedals round and round on our free rental bikes once again, headed for the beautiful park ‘Nong Buak Hard’ Where I trace the sun salutation phrases from yoga classes; James hangs from the steel bars like a monkey using them to practice muscle ups, pull ups, dips and all manor of crazy movements. Alternatively our sights are set on climbing up a smallish mountain in an excitable quest to explore one of North Thailand’s most sacred temples. ‘Doi Suthep’ is 75 minutes of hardcore hill walking to the top with one quick break to look at the first beautiful temple masked by heavy jungle and mist. (I will go into Temple beauty in more detail at a later date).

10 or 11AM: Time for a delicious nutritious breakfast. Eating out in Thailand is so incredibly cheap. One of our favourite spots is Bodhi Tree, a little rough round the edges but completely chilled with cushions on the floor to sit on and low tables. It’s super friendly run by a French man and a Thai lady. We can’t help but have the bowl of porridge with coconut milk, bananas, dates, nuts and seeds. As a polar opposite in its appearance ‘Good Soul’ looks like an American Diner, a perfect mix of presentation, taste and professionalism. Our bowls of overnight oats remind us of South Coast Roast at home, becoming tastier with each bite, perfect fuel and no more expensive then Bodhi Tree. It feels as though we are spoilt for choice everywhere we look in Chiang Mai.

11.30AM: We sit and relax and plan the rest of our day; blogging, reading, writing. But whatever we do we’ve set ourselves up for the day of productivity or at least that’s the way the story goes!

As I said before, ‘Miracle Morning’ helps create a flow of activity before 8am.

But…

1) Every-one is different

2) We all take different ideas from each experience

3) We all learn differently

Our experience of routine so far whilst away (baring in mind we’ve only been away for a couple of weeks) has been somewhat topsy-turvy at times. As you can imagine not having a job is bloody fantastic but it also means we have no structure. Disruption is easily created, especially when booze is cheap and it’s so easy to meet people and get carried away in the moment.

I guess the best part of any meandering experience is when you realize, what works best for you. Cutting yourself some slack, so you’re not a slave to your own rules and coping with ‘Change’. Our comfort zones have been challenged many times already as we push boundaries and adapt to circumstances out of our control; jetlag, travelling from place to place, illness, staying up late drinking or involving ourselves in “Current Debates” of the world are just a couple of examples. 

For us currently we have decided that adaptability works for us. We need to be able to change our routine in every situation, especially when travelling over different time zones and sometimes moving around every couple of days. Our minimum aim, to have a workout and stretch each day, brewing some delicious coffee and filling ourselves with plant based fuel, preferably all in the morning. Anything else funnily enough feels so much easier if we have been productive in the morning.

“We’ll see how it goes as an ongoing feat”

I have learnt so far that it’s ok too have tasks each day that light you up. It’s important and it doesn’t have to be considered a habit. This can be achieved through being conscious and mindful of what you’re doing and most of all reflecting so you can adapt and evolve as time and circumstances change, like a chameleon changing its colour skin to blend in with it’s environment. Instead of our skin changing, it’s our ‘Mind Set’ and how we adapt to circumstances out of our control.

That’s it for now, thank you for reading. Peaches xx