What time is it?

Its been 10 years since my last journey, when a friend and I traveled from Helsinki to Indonesia by land before flying on to Australia and driving a van from Brisbane to Perth. Leaving the UK this time like the time before, my phone was stored safely in my bedside drawer until my return, escaping to a far away land for me means, no phones. The only catch was that it had been my only way of telling the correct time, other than watching the sun. Even that would take time to master in a foreign land, especially having no way to check if I was correct in the first place.

I'm constantly asked how I know when to get up in the morning?

My answer is always, morning time, not having a job to go to or having a scheduled to keep, means anytime I feel like it is the right time, but usually if I see it's light outside.

Bus rides also take on a whole new meaning when you haven't got a watch to time a 4 hour bus ride journey, you just have to wait until the conductor says this is your stop, and your ass hurts so much you actually want to disembark, I have become better in tuned to how the pain feels to distance traveled.

I'm also asked how I make early buses or trains?

Early trains are easy to catch, as most guest houses and hotels always open around 6am and are more than happy to bang on your door if asked the night before.



Time is relative to how you need it when traveling, lunch time is when your stomach rumbles or you see something you like and dinner time is after the sun goes down.  

Lately I have found out that the bread man has 2 runs once at about 8:30 and the next at 4pm in the afternoon, he drives around playing a distinctive whistling tune (that I find myself unconsciously repeating, but this also warns me of the time.

Slowly, the longer I am here, I am building my own mental clock, as humans we are creatures of habit, the early morning prays from a nearby mosque, the neighbors dog barking at the same person on his way to work, the bread van, the sunrise, the heat of the sun, the early risers and the late risers having breakfast, 8am shops open, 8pm shops close, it's amazing how if you notice these little movements of the humans going about their daily scheduled you don't need a watch, try it and see if you can pick up things throughout your day, you probably even doing unconsciously.