Part one- Birmingham to St Etienne

Summer 2020 has been a weird one for everyone with endless dream holidays, weddings, family gatherings and the like being cancelled- the atmosphere has heeded an indefinite and heavy pang of disappointment all round. As a true Sagittarian who has spent the last 15 years living and working abroad the travel restrictions placed across the world as nations tried to limit the spread of the virus came as a crushing blow. I personally struggled to navigate the loss of free travel, something I will never take for granted again, and as my hopes and dreams of summer trips to Africa, Sri Lanka and Indonesia got routinely blown away the 4 month period of leave I had from work slowly dwindled, along with my spirits. I was blessed to be locked down with 2 of my closest friends in our cosy villa in Dubai (where I now call home) from mid March, and the UAE managed the virus spread really well so after the initial 3 weeks of total lock down gradually positive news began to circulate as things started to open up again. During total lock down on the advice of a friend I took the opportunity to look inward rather than follow my well defined muscle memory of packing a bag and boarding a plane somewhere (anywhere) so I did a number of online courses to keep my mind stimulated, the most notable of these was my 50h Meditation teacher training which I did with the same school I completed my 200H YTT with the previous summer- Yoga Union Bali. This was a fabulous experience and I had 5 solid days of energy clearing, practicing being present and processing the complex emotions the craziness in the current global situation had generated. It really helped me organise the complex feelings of frustration and uncertainty that the global pandemic sparked in everyone. Despite having plenty of plates spinning to keep me busy at home I still eagerly checked the news daily to see where I could go and what hoops I would have to jump through to quench my thirst for adventure in the outside world! With the confidence in global travel completely dashed and processes and rules constantly changing, things weren’t looking good for me but finally when the temperature in the UAE oven got turned up another notch to between the late 40’s and 50 degrees I decided enough was enough and I simply couldn’t take it anymore so I booked a flight back to the UK to at least spend some quality time with my Mum in Brum if nothing else.

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A trip home seemed like the most sensible option and I knew gateways between European countries were at least starting to open up so there was a little sliver of light at the end of the tunnel and I was keen to be in the vicinity to indulge on the opportunity to go SOMEWHERE. Annoyingly the UK’s policy for everyone entering from a long list of countries was a 14 day quarantine period when they returned, and the UAE was no exception- despite having a negative covid test prior to boarding my flight. So I dutifully spent 2 weeks locked down in Mum prison in Birmingham on my return- which was actually surprisingly fabulous. It’s been ages since I had to chance to spend so much quality time with my Mum and step dad and having lost my Dad only 7 months previously i deeply value the opportunity to just ‘be’ with my family now, I learned the hard way that life is short and things can change in an instant and steal away the ones you love in the blink of an eye.

The 2 weeks of lockdown helped me get my plans in a row to get the summer adventure off the ground, and having only a few days earlier lost one of my best mountain pals Ali to cancer I felt a huge pull to go back to the alps where I spent 11 years working in the skis industry before moving to Dubai in 2018. I wanted to go to the various places where I’d lived and was still blessed to have great friends, so I knew I needed some wheels to get about and it seemed to make sense to rent a van which I could also sleep in. Most people in the alps live in small apartments and rarely have a spare room, having my own bed space was important so that I didn’t intrude on anyone for too long a period, but I knew I would have the chance to shower and do laundry at peoples houses a long the way. This blessing meant I didn’t need to completely kit out the van to be a fully functioning camper- a basic empty transit with a camp bed would cut the mustard. I checked out a few options and then purevan.com popped up and they were the obvious choice providing European cover, pick up and drop off service and unlimited mileage- plus Laura Tickle the sales agent was super helpful and sorted everything out for me for the bargain price of 1000GBP all in, I was stoked! Mum went about in Tesco and got me most of the bits I’d need like a camping chair, some cutlery that I WAS allowed to lose and 3 different varieties of alcoholic hand gel, and after that and about 100 quid spend on amazon on different lighting solutions and the donation of my friends Nicks Mexican blanket named Pablo I was pretty much set.

At the time of booking France wasn’t on the quarantine list for the UK and with many people looking to get outside of the British Isles the ferry and tunnel prices were astronomical- I paid 280GBP for a return on the tunnel in the end, which was still about 75 quid cheaper than the cheapest ferry option. Luckily the stars aligned and my 1st co driver Emily expressed an interest in hitching a ride down to St Etienne to visit our dear pal and fellow yogini Ornella, the 3 of us were all part of the same yoga teacher training in Bali last summer, we forged a firm friendship throughout that experience and were eager to reunite. So St Etienne became the natural 1st stop, and what a fabulous choice that was- after driving through the night we arrived around 11am to a family home brimming with Lebanese Syrian hospitality, such a warm welcome and seemingly endless supply of wine (though after a couple of days the wine cellar did need a restock). Little did we know that Ornella lived in a palatial villa with a pool, and far from roughing it in the back of the van myself and Emily each had our own room with en-suite bathrooms, so we kicked back sipping on bubbles enjoying the 30 degree heat from the cool comfort of the pool for the weekend. Loads of plans were made and dreams were shared in the light of the full moon, this is where the idea for Those Humble Warriors first hatched through our desire to collaborate and share our passion for yoga, travel and community on a wider plane- making the benefits of living a holistic yogic life more accessible and relevant to everyone, even if they think they aren’t flexible and can’t do mindfulness! We shared such a blissful weekend together reminiscing about the experience we shared in Bali and zooming in on our other yoga pals dotted around all over the world.

Being a vegan in France, especially when you’re on the road and can’t really cook for yourself, is not easy, I have to admit I stumbled at the 1st hurdle and then kinda gave up which I’m not proud of but a girl gotta eat and refusing cheese in France is just sacrilege. When we arrived at Ornella’s she asked ‘so how vegan are you going to be this weekend? Cause the hens have just laid fresh eggs, and Dad’s been to the market and bought you octopus and salmon because I told him you’re vegan and he figured sea food wasn’t meat’. The hardest part of being vegan is really the 'being awkward' bit, especially when people go to so much trouble to cater for you in their homes, so I committed to staying vegetarian for the trip and let go of any self judgement for indulging in the local fromage so I didn’t offend any hosts, or starve to death.