Big things often have small beginnings …

Oook Jenna, time to get started. You’ve had this account set up for some time now but you have no posts !

I’ve been traveling for just over 3 months now, with every intention of writing to my blog, so that at the very least it could act as some kind of diary, and a way of keeping those at home or abroad – my friends, family, and whoever else might be interested – up to date with the ‘Adventures of Jen’, but as per usual, life gets in the way !

I had promised myself at the start of this trip to be as present as I could be, really appreciate where I am and what I’m doing and who I’m with. BUT, I very quickly discovered this is much harder to do if you are living a double life in a virtual world of responding to emails all the time (Which, by the way, I love every single email I got – thank you for checking up on me !!). Yes, it crossed my mind that a ‘one size fits all’ email in the form of a blog that everyone could read to stay updated would solve this issue, so why not just get started ?? Well, I’m a procrastinator at the best of times. Combine this with a bit of uncertainty re blogging (and way more fun things to do!) and, well … I just had to find faster ways of keeping people up to date, that’s all. Snapchat and Instagram, as my friends will attest, are my go-to’s. Bit of a ‘band-aid solution’ though – in doing this I kept telling myself “I’ll write that blog later” … Thing is (suddenly, it feels) 3 months later, I still have no blog to speak of. So, perhaps now is the time to get this show on the road.

I am, as my friend Alicia calls it, a bloginner. The thought of writing to a blog all the time is fairly daunting to me – it takes a lot of time (especially if you’re a perfectionist like me!). Just sending emails, posting to Facebook / Instagram / Snapchat etc. can take up enough time as it is, let alone having to consider another platform ! Then there’s the predicament of how to start. Mostly I assume the people reading my blog are people who know me well enough already, but perhaps I should still write some kind of intro.. Set the scene ? Or do I just dive straight into it head first, and fingers crossed come out with a good post that makes some kind of sense (without too much rambling) ? Shall I write this like a diary, in some kind of chronological order? Or do I just write whatever the heck I want, when I want?  I’m not too sure how this whole thing works, but I think I’ll go with the latter; I mean, it IS my blog right? I was never much into writing at school (so bear with me!), though this was never intended to be some kind of literary masterpiece, simply the tales of my travels, so if you enjoy reading – bonus ! If not, well there’s always Netflix.

At the moment I am sitting in a cute cafe in Dortmund, Germany; lots of happy chatter surrounds me. I love it. I can’t understand anyone’s conversations but there’s something calming about that. The vibes here are good.

A lovely black lab by the name of Hailey waits patiently at a table near the counter for mum to finish her magazine and coffee. When I notice her she gets up and wags her tail at me. I love how there’s no cultural or communication barriers with dogs, no rules or etiquette. We say hello and I give her a bit of a pat and cuddle; this happy little puppy just made my day. The girl at the counter speaks to me cheerfully in German. I explain apologetically that I don’t speak German, but ask if she speaks any English. She responds sheepishly that yes, she can but only a bit. As I’ve come to find here, people often say they only speak a bit (perhaps nervous it’s not good enough?), but will actually speak it very well! I’m glad for her kindness in helping me decide what to order – I get a capuccino and a dark chocolate raspberry cake.  It seems I have everything I need to get started… let the blogging begin !