The journey of a thousand miles begins with trying to close your suitcase!….. Livonne

This time next week I will be up, up and away on the trip that has been on my bucket list since I took my first foray into the world of art. My very first overseas trip happened just after I had started to learn photography at the ripe old age of 51 and the second a few months afterwards. I always knew I wanted to do an artist in residency overseas and that dream has finally come to fruition. It’s taken a lot of hard work and manifesting but here it is and I am so not ready, yet I am packing my suitcase. You see, last year, I was offered a residency in either France or Ireland. I chose France because it was likely to challenge me a bit more.

Ireland feels like home and I would have absolutely adored it but France isn’t quite as easy and I wanted to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, I adore France but it is harder in so many ways. Firstly, I don’t speak the language though I can apologise for not speaking it and I can say good morning and good evening. I can even say shut your mouth, shut the door, shut the window AND I know a couple of swear words, all thanks to two years of high school French lessons. But they are hardly overly useful when it comes to navigating my way over there. There are of course, other differences between our countries. We drive on the other side of the road here in Australia and our train lines and destinations are written in English (there’s that language barrier again.. I wish I’d studied harder). So yes, travelling in France is a bit more of a challenge.. but challenge accepted.

As soon as I got the email offering me the residency, I went into overdrive and started to raise money for it. The residency is subsidised but not fully funded, so I did some fundraisers and applied for scholarships. I was lucky enough to be awarded the Link Wentworth Lifelong Learning Scholarship and with so much help and generosity of people in my fundraising efforts, the dream became a reality. I’m still doing it on the smell of an oily rag and am exhausted before I get there, but I’m doing it. I, yes me, am spending a few weeks in a Chateau in France. Oooo La La! The wonderful part is an old friend was able to book in too, so we will be traveling together, sharing the experience.

We are gone for 5 weeks all up, and will be seeing some of England, Scotland and Ireland first. I will even get to meet one of my grandmothers great nieces while I am there which I’m incredibly excited about. I wanted to get to a few other places, but time constraints and travel costs were prohibitive. But after the UK/Ireland leg, thanks to Atelier Artist in Residence, we are off to Chateau de Cerisay where we will meet other artists from around the world, immersed in our art with a magnificent fairy tale chateau as our backdrop. When we finish at the residency, we will spend a few days in Paris and finish our adventure at EuroDisney on what should have been my angel daughter’s 40th birthday.

As regular readers will know, I lost my beautiful daughter Aimee almost 30 years ago when she was just 10 years old. This year on May 1st, she should have been 40. I have had 30 years of not being able to celebrate those special days with her. She always wanted to go to Disneyland and in fact wanted to work as an animator for the Disney Corporation. Those dreams never eventuated for her with her life being sadly and tragically cut short but I always said I would get there for her one day. Now, I’m not going to lie here, Disneyland has always been my dream too, but for me it is Anaheim, not any of the others Disney Parks. I wanted to walk the streets Walt walked all those years ago when he dreamed a magical place into a reality. But, the residence fell at just the right time of year and by spending a few days extra, I can spend her 40th birthday on the Teacups (her ride of choice) at EuroDisney which she would have loved.

So this trip will bring so many emotions to the table; joy, excitement, inspiration, fear, worry, sadness, wistfulness, nostalgia and so many more, but I hope that joy is the predominant one. One of my sons is going through a particularly hard time at the moment. My two sons are my rocks, my great loves and my world, so being a world away from them is always particularly challenging for me, but this time will be even harder. Thank god for today’s technology where we can easily and cheaply talk across countries. Thankfully, my sons are strong, resilient human beings who make me proud on a daily basis, so I know all will be well.

I will of course, write a daily blog of my time there. When I went to Europe last time, it was such a whirlwind experience on a tour that by night, I just collapsed into bed and never wrote my blog. I regret it completely. I would never do a bus tour again. Too busy for this old girl.. I’m built for comfort not speed.. In saying that, I met some of the most amazing people on the trip, so I definitely don’t regret the trip itself.. just the fact that I was too tired to document it.

So, after getting back from my son’s place late last night, I will spend today packing my suitcase. That is never easy. The worst part of course is internal travel as you have luggage and the internal flights think you shouldn’t have. Anyway, we will make it all work and will pack some amazing memories in our cases for the way home.. Thankfully, they don’t take up any room or luggage capacity. And they last for life.

Happy packing…. Livvy xxx