This Easter holidays, I went from the Port of Genoa on an overnight ferry to Barcelona, Spain and then onwards to Tangier, Morocco.
The ferry parking lot contained one of the most eclectic sets of rigs you’ll see on European shores. It had everything from small Toyota 4 x 4s with roof top tents, to flatbed trucks with arctic truck campers on the back, to a kitted out early 2000 Land Rover Discovery whose owner proudly stood by it smoking a cigar, resting his foot on the shovel placed there for effect (and potential use), right behind a couple of trusty Defenders ready for Moroccan adventure. We were also joined by a group of bikers, some Hells Angels from Genoa & Slovenia along with some on some touring trail bikes.
There was palpable excitement in the air. Everyone preened over their new travel kit with coolers, extra chairs and yes, the roof top tents were the de rigueur of the holding bay. We all compared notes and patrolled the bay assessing what the rest of us were packing before we all set off for the wilds of southern Europe.
It’s this shared excitement for what's ahead that drives the energy in places like these. New friends met whilst bonding over shared travel plans is something to behold. Like an artist with a blank canvas or a writer about to start his latest work, it becomes a page on which you can imagine all the epic adventures to come. Maybe it's chasing waves, maybe it's finding mindfulness at that retreat you’ve dreamed of visiting or maybe it's just setting up that roof top tent, opening some recently secured bottles of rosé and raising a glass with our better halves about the choices we took to get us here.
I’m the guy with a snowboard on the roof on a scorching spring day, and memories of turns with friends, reveling in the beauty of the tidal art show and high fives to new people met along the way.
You know you have reached the end of your 21 hour ferry ride when you can hear the bike engines purring again and it’s not long before you watch the Defender crew jockeying for position - everyone keen to be off on their adventure & chasing their own dream. This is modern migration. There is no class, no rich, no poor. Yes, vehicles differ but the journey ahead remains and we all have to board the ship in accordance with the Italian guy shouting at us to load.
Wherever you’re headed this spring. Enjoy and embrace that time before departure, lift off or setting sail. We’re here for those moments.
- Jonathan
