Behind the Next Corner - Travel stories

Water, Water Everywhere

We’re standing ankle-deep in water. That wouldn’t be anything unusual on a beach vacation. The problem is that this is happening in our accommodation. More and more water is pouring out of the bathroom drain. A flood. We have a problem. We call the hostess, who calls the plumbers, who are supposed to come tonight. I go to lie down for a while before they arrive, and wake up in the morning. Apparently, I slept through the sound of the pipes being cleaned, which was about as loud as a jackhammer. Ben then tells me that he acted as a mediator between the hostess, who was having a shout-out-loud argument with the plumbers on the phone about the agreed-upon price. The people of Tenerife are very nice and friendly, but this is probably the other side of their open nature. Apparently, it can be quite like Italy here, too. We breathed a sigh of relief, but we weren’t out of the woods yet. The next day, the flood returned. We called the hostess, and the plumbers returned as well. I fled to Puerto, where a small restaurant district provided me with refuge. Ben sent me away, saying that it was […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Travel isn’t just for the “strong.” Learn 6 practical ways to travel with mental health challenges and reduce stress on the road.

Thoughts, Practical tips

Travel Isn’t Just for the “Strong”: 5+1 Practical Ways to Travel with Mental Health Challenges

I have always had mental health issues, but I have also always loved traveling. These two things often don’t go together at all. Traveling is a major source of stress and strain on the psyche. I often tell myself that, as an autistic person who struggles with changes of environment, I haven’t chosen the best hobby. But because I love traveling so much, I find ways to make it more manageable for myself. Here are my best 5+1 tips. I think you might find them useful, even if you don’t struggle with mental health on a daily basis. They make traveling much more enjoyable and manageable.

by Helena Dvořáková

Czech Republic

Behind the next corner is Beroun, the tiniest adventure

I haven’t traveled in recent years. My mental health has collapsed into a black hole, from which I am slowly climbing back toward the light and something that at least somewhat resembles normal functioning. Again and again, I practice seemingly simple things, such as riding the tram, being in a crowded shopping center, or sitting in a busy café. And now I’ve decided that it’s time to try traveling again. Very carefully. I decided to try going somewhere for one night, somewhere I could quickly escape from if necessary. I chose Beroun, which is half an hour away by train. I arranged with a friend to come with me. We chose a date when we were both available. I looked through the apartments on Booking.com and very carefully chose one that was guaranteed to be pleasant and quiet. And then it was time to go. On the day of departure, my friend texted me that she had come down with the flu. Panic. I was already packed, ready to go, and mentally prepared to test whether I could handle traveling, at least on a small scale. None of my other friends was available that day. The accommodation could not be […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Tenerife

The Enchanted Forest Trail in Anaga

One of our first Tenerife trips took us to the Enchanted Forest Trail in the Anaga Mountains. I would like to say that it was like something out of a fairy tale. That dewy ferns peeked out from under our feet. That the ghosts appearing out of the fog could have been tree branches, but also forest spirits.I would like to write all this, but I can’t. My own body betrayed me, and I was so exhausted that day that I didn’t enjoy the trip at all. Unfortunately, reservations for this trail are always for a specific day (14 days in advance, online, otherwise you can’t get here), so it was now or never. And because I really enjoyed the Trail of the Senses last time in Anaga, I hoped that despite my fatigue, I would also be enchanted by the Enchanted Forest. Only 45 people are allowed on this trail per day. This is to preserve its natural wealth. That’s why we only met two other couples there during the whole day. There’s something special about having a beautiful laurel forest almost to yourself. That’s why I was sad that I wasn’t able to really pay attention. I focused […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Tenerife

Streetart in Puerto de la Cruz

My first trip to Puerto de la Cruz had a rather silly motivation. I wanted to buy a mug with a lizard on it. I had bought one the first time here, but to my sadness, it broke. I kept joking that we would have to fly to Tenerife to buy a new one, and here we are! Ben’s trip to Puerto also had a silly motiveation, or rather a motivation close to his stomach. He wanted to eat at our favorite restaurant, Pomodoro, on the cliff above the sea. We stayed in Puerto last time and we already knew the town a little. We had already seen a lot of the sights, so we could afford to be a little frivolous with our time. However, both of our missions proved to be only partially successful. I found a mug with a lizard, but it wasn’t exactly the same mug with a lizard as the one before, which was obviously a huge problem! Of course, I realize that it was pointless to hope that they hadn’t changed the design of their souvenirs in five years. But hope dies last! In the end, I found a mug that was a bit […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Tenerife

The Wild Weightlessness of Waves

Our first day in Tenerife was the most awesome of the whole first week in this amazing place. We set off to Playa des Roques, a tiny stony beach, close to us. When we got there we found we had a minor problem. On the descent to the beach we ran into a notice board “Entry prohibited”. Despite that, we saw several couples bathing in the sea and so we decided to try our luck. When we got down the locals were just leaving so we had the beach for ourselves. Rocks behind us, the stormy sea in front of us…The beach had a ‘pebble’ part if you can call something as big as your head a pebble. Fortunately, behind them was a strip of sand, black volcanic as everywhere around here. We changed into our swimsuits and dived into the waves. The waves plunged forward to meet us. We let them swallow and carry us. Just this wild beauty of nature and us. I ran against the waves and I screamed at the top of my lungs. And then I jumped into them with all my power. I let them drag and roll me around. With all my body […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Tenerife

The Island of Dreams and Fulfilled Wishes

(The following series of Tenerife posts were written during our November 2021 stay there. It was an endeavor during which I could take nothing for granted – especially my mental health.) ~~~ The air here really smells the same as before. We are again on the Canary Islands, in the land of eternal spring. And it looks as if nothing has changed. The sea is humming, the sun is shining, everything is interesting and new and inspiring… Even though originally it was only a dream. Last winter was so awful that I decided that I would never again endure it. Winter depression and anxiety left me rolled up into a ball, screaming with inner pain. Every minute was un-survivable. I decided then that it was the last winter I would spend in Czechia. At that time I believed that it was only wishful thinking. Something I wish for but cannot have because of my mental health. It all looked like a crazy plan. I spent the summer fighting with my demons, so they allowed me to spend at least a few days in our summer house – in an environment which I know a bit even it is fairly new. […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Thoughts

Great pain and little joys

Trigger warning: implied suicidal ideation When I was around 20 years old, I came across a book called The Artist Way by Julia Cameron. It really spoke to me. But then I got to a chapter that I didn’t understand. She wrote how little joys help to overcome bad life situations. She illustrated this by an example – how her grandma loved tending to her garden, whatever came. My thinking was very black and white then. I thought “How can I feel joy when I feel bad? If I feel good, I feel GOOD, and if I feel bad, I feel BAD. That’s it.” I had severe mental health problems and I often felt bad, capital letters BAD. More than ten years later, I can say that I not only started to understand the message of a grandma finding little joys in her garden – I also became a student of little joys, and they helped me and continue to help me through terribly difficult times. Now I finally understand that feelings are complicated, we feel feelings in “layers” and we can feel more things at once. My little joys became an anchor, a lifeline that connected me to life […]

by Helena Dvořáková

A woman dancing happily with ribbons on the beach

Thoughts

Feeling joy when terrible things are happening

Trigger warning: mental anorexia There is a Czech blogger that writes about raising children, living a good life in harmony with yourself, and also a bit about spirituality. She lost her husband some time ago, but she managed to find great personal growth from this tragedy, so her posts have a very strong message. This blogger travels with her children a lot. She is basically worldschooling them, and from everything she writes about them, I believe her to be a great mum. Lately, she got a message that she shared with us. It went basically like this: “Confess that you are currently abroad! How dare you travel when there is a war going on?” This stunned me. Since when is traveling something bad to which you have to “confess”? Some Czech people are really masters in judging and envying, often masked as a virtue. Of course, we should help as much as we can, but I enthusiastically disagree that we shouldn’t feel joy and do joyful activities when something bad is going on in the world. If you don’t recharge your inner resources, from where do you expect to find the strength to help others? If you make yourself miserable […]

by Helena Dvořáková

Austria

Viennese Wandering

It is a beautiful March day. The last day in Vienna. The sun is bright and outside it is about 20°C. So quickly, let’s get out into the streets to collect my last experiences, see everything I haven’t seen so far, I must hurriedly visit all the monuments so I can feel like a proper tourist… Or not? It is a beautiful day. The dandelions are blooming. Why am I in a hurry? Previously, when we set off to the town by the tram, we always crossed the river. I watched people lying on the banks and was a bit envious of their doing nothing sitting by the water enjoying the view… And so today that’s my destination. Instead of palaces, I will visit – the river bank. Slowly I weave my way through the suburb where we are accommodated. All the houses here have an interesting design, they are organized into original premises. I would love to live in many of them. At least for a little bit. I am admiring curiosities like the newspaper vending machines, attached to posts. You throw in a coin and get a portion of a daily read. (That would not last long in […]

by Helena Dvořáková

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