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Travelling, life and more, by Freya Wissing |
Winter is around the corner in the southern hemisphere where I am based mostly. Although just after Easter, we are having the last of the few summer days… and counting…
With this indian summer upon us, I started enjoying every minute of it as if it were our last days on earth, makes one so appreciative not knowing how I will be seeing summer again so soon.
I was recently asked what if it really was one of the last few days as we know it, what would I be doing? “What would you be doing if you had two years till armageddon?”
I guess I havent pondered much on that, as its not the collective reality I would want to create. I love life, and I love life the way it is, with the ups and downs, and the reality of each new day with its pure potential of how and what we may want to do wit hit, wether we do it or not. I have a very close friend whose brother in law just passed with cancer, I see the things that he did and didn’t do, we agreed how we might have done some of the things differently with the time he had left… There is no right or wrong, and no judgement, but it is always good to understand yourself if ever faced in a similar situation or with a loved one.
But giving it thought now, off the top of my head, I guess it is good to ask ourselves these kind of questions here in there and be caught off guard as to see how off our realities we are to what we should maybe realistically be getting closer to or have achieved?
so if I knew I had another two or so years to live…. I’d go to Brazil with my whole family, I’d sit in the sun and fry my Freya, I’d eat all the Brazilian treats, I would have sex, I would find a sponsor or work to feel weightlessness in those airplanes in Vegas, I’d fly business class to one more destination, (maybe my honeymoon one in the South Pacific). I woud, have a baby, but if world was ending I wouldn’t.
I would… Waste time slowly… Enjoy myself… Dance, make someone happy… Maybe make a difference in a kid from orphaned places and keep him or her with me till that day of Armageddon. But if I was going alone, then I’d take my mom or dad somewhere they wanted to go. Hopefully my husband or boyfriend too. And sis and brother and my brother in law who is like family now.
Like I said before, somewhere in these articles, I am not afraid of dying, in fact, it might even be great! Because only in the dying can we really live. And live to our fullest potential within the parameters of what we have without worries about the future, and wrong actions because of consequences for a future that is not in our realities, that most cannot even know with certainty what and that it will be.
So what would you do if you had, say a year or two left?
Join me as I wonder the streets of St-Tropez, made famous by Brigitte Bardot. We stop for brunch at Cafe de Paris, later a long lunch at Les Palmieres and Le Voile Rouge. Sunset drinks at Nikki Beach on the way home to La Maison Blanche for a lovely shower. Then we get ready for a night out at one of my favourite night-clubs Les Caves Du Roy, where the rich and famous come to play. You can easily rub shoulders with Prince Albert, Tamara Beckwith, Caprice P diddy Shaun Puffs, Combs whatever.
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Part 2:
So here I am on a plane again. I travel so much and yet when I find myself in these air turbulence circumstances, I always seem to find peace in the knowledge, that there are people that are in the air much more often and for longer times than me. (Think business men that travel once a week, or air hosts etc).
Yes, I can tell of a few harrowing times, although I’ll never know if they were dangerous, like that one time in the Caribbean that now seems more like an adventure and not something risky, but I was very young, everything was new and exciting.
My mom always sends me a little prayer as I am about to board: “Deus esta digirindo esse aviao por intermedio do piloto”
I know that thought attracts, (it has been scientifically proven), so I always like to say that the people flying with me are always safe as my belief system is stronger. Then as I look around the calm faces I should hope the few negative faces does not add to the collective consciousness, but positivity prevails. (Tip: Always look at the air hostesses, if they are calm, then it is normal, and if they are not, just have faith, with all your MIGHT that you will land safely, and you shall).
Right now as the plane gets sent from side to side, I am trying to put my mind on winning an award, or my wedding day, or having babies… Happy thoughts… Wether in my distant future or near.
Obviously the more I travel, the more I wonder if I should be travelling many more times. (So much for my positive thinking)
I’m definitely not afraid of dying. I just dont want to feel any pain before. I guess that is what we most fear.
I find myself eating chocolates, now I know or understand the whole feel good food theory. Hey, at least if i’m gonna go or go down, I can have something nice and sweet.
At this point I just wanna get this plane down as I write this on a vomit bag, and spend least time in the air possible, as it goes around in circles waiting to land because of bad weather.
Putting on brakes, I wonder if after such a bumpy ride, I will be traumatized for my connecting flight. I detest nauseating adrenalin in my body, I already have natural or too much adrenalin as it is, (hence I have no need for extreme sports, bungy or rollercosters, although I did jump off a moutain in Rio once and had an amazing time).
Anyway, as we are in this macabre, dark topic of death, obviously I think the person who dies is in a much better place and luckier. I always feel for those left behind with a vaccum as I can only imagine. I often really wonder if I will cope without my parents, I guess I will have plenty to live for. LIFE ITSELF IS WORTH LIVING FOR. The way I see it, I was put on this earth for a certain number of things, by the rate I’m going, I will Never die.
I dont know why I am so worried about anything… I remember, I have even flown myself on the way to Bazaruto on a friends jet while he (the pilot) went to the bathroom. It was rather pleasant picking up other planes in the vicinity on the radar, and another time on a cezner on the way to pamplonas from Munchen.
So, next time you find yourselves on a less than kosher flight, I urge you to think completely relaxed thoughts, and visualise a happy scene, no matter what is happening in front of you. Physical reality is just an illusion that we have created, so create differently and choose your visions. And that applies to everything in life that you are not happy with.
“We are all artists, forever painting our realities” -Freya Wissing
Click here to see my paintings www.freyafreya.netsons.org
I don’t drink alcohol, smoke or drink coffee, mostly waters and some fresh fruit whizzed up with more frozen water… So I have a really clean palette and, because I’m a woman, an added heightened sense of smell and taste. So I am a water connoisseur (also an olive oil afficionada).
I have to say that it all started with disgusting tasting Evian, then came Vittel… And the rest is history.
I don’t know what’s the story with europe’s waters, but thanks to the powerhouse of fantastic advertising from the latter two, everybody seems to be copying that metallic, slightly salty, mineral tasting waters… For me it is so heavy. It gives me a stomach cramp and sinus. I’m not the only one. I really struggle when I go to France as a result of the monopoly of these costly waters. And because they have done so well with their brain washing of a lifestyle, de rigueur feel, if you are lucky to find anything else in the supermarket shelves or restaurants, it has exactly the same taste. Yuck.
Now, I’m not saying Evian shouldn’t exist. There are those whom genuinely like the water…and maybe this source really has some more sulphur or strange minerals in it’s soil that make it taste that way. It has it’s Market. But I’ve just been in Greece and visited the 7 springs in Rhodes amongst others around the world, I have to say, that coming directly from a natural source, the waters don’t taste like that. They are almost sweeter.
As for whether Evian and the likes, in recent years since the surge of this heavy salty fashion, have been tested, I am not sure. Following the scandal of Perrier in the 90’s. Possibly, such a million dollar corporation will have all it’s tracks covered or corruptly paid the European version of the FDA, we will never find out. In the meantime, as much as I live and love water, and grew up with a spring in my ranch, in the mountains of Brazil, a place that is not as congested as Europe and unaffected by acid rains and pollution of that extreme… I will stick to my fresher, sweeter tasting waters and what my body is trying to say.
But the best light tasting ones, for me, is glacial Voss (after all, how badly can water that has been frozen for decades, when there was no pollution, be wrong?) Fiji, Laurentana in Italy, water from my taps in Itaipava, most south African waters, yummy one is Karoo, and La Vie. Btw,Fiji water came about from blind tasting.
I am not sure of all the waters I like if they have been thoroughly tested or not, but I can say my body rejoices and feels great when I drink these hydra thirst quenching H2O’s.
But most importantly we all know that we should be drinking out of glass bottles…
And while Voss has a glass bottle, it’s plastic cap still leaves me wondering. I guess, for someone who drinks around 3 litres a day, when I find the right bottle or tap, I am still to know what the past of my plastic bottle imbibing will bring.
Santé
When travelling nowadays it is so difficult to find the perfect gift or souvenir, unfortunately the colonisation of big brands make nothing very unique or special anymore. People are no longer real artisans or thinking outside the box. I see this from my dad’s quality of work as a one man’s jewellery custom made operation, to the quality in well known brand jewellers that you are paying more just for the name, like Tiffany’s, Shimansky, Cartier, commercial trash. I was dismayed on another example when I bought a renowned french foie gras for a present, and when I got to N.Y. the same can at a specialist shop for slightly less, also take perfume as yet another example. Or can you believe, when on a recent shoot in Tanzania, the tanzanite stones were more expensive than in South Africa.
It is a pleasure to stumble along some really rare find or unique things. Apart from some good quality labels or ‘every now and then pieces’ that come up (I end up buying two or three of each in case things get discontinued the next season) nothing blows me away anymore, very seldom. And when there is creativity to that level, that little shop or boutique will soon be whipped up to become commercialised merchandise to turn to the next best thing or brand, understandably, but sadly so, this globalisation of ours.
Gone are the days in the beginning of my travels when we could go to Europe and bring that special French bottle of wine back home or take to my cousins and family a giant size poster of a giraffe or elefant or take to the states an ostrich egg from Africa that was probably never seen before, or a good collectors cape wine. Now everything is attainable everywhere, and tourist destinations are filled with orders made in china of things typical of their country, they don’t even have the imagination of ordering a variation for the shop next door.
Another tough one is, what do you give a man who has everything? One has to be very creative. I have exhausted my brilliant ideas, but it gets very hard indeed. I guess the best gift u can give anyone in a friendship is loyalty and communication.
As my birthday (and xmas) approaches each year I am always asked what would I want…
Hmmm
Let me think… Starting at the top… To the more realistic choices at the bottom.. Anything from a jet to a chocolate box since I don’t like flowers, unless they come potted and I don’t have to watch them die.
I was also once asked by an ex if I would prefer a huge, so many carats, diamond pendant or a small painting or print by my fave artist, in this case it would have been a Rembrandt. I asked him how well did he know me???? He said to my reply that I was very unlike any other girl he knew, to which I stated that was why he was with me.
A friend once told me, and he was really good at presents, that when giving something one should always give a thing a person needs, that just helps out with their lives a little better, and something that they don’t need, such as a luxury they wouldn’t necessarily buy themselves. Such as a candle, a day at the spa, a fancy body cream, perfume, plants, jewellery… etc… Those are always welcome and not likely to be passed on.
Here’s my wish list:
-A private jet
-A yacht
-A sports convertible car
-SUV perhaps Something I can fit my babies (by babies I mean rather large oiled canvasses) maybe a truck wud b better in that case
-A tennis bracelet
-4 jars of oscietre caviar (that I can indulge in for a week with a tea spoon) and share one with my dad.
-A small painting or any original works by Lucian Freud/ Jackson pollock/ Anish Kapoor/ kentridge/ G Catlin/ Britto/ O. Fonseca/ Tracy Emin / Banksy
-Studio time for recording a hit single (I’ll need a year)
-Maybe the singing lessons for a year to go with it.
-A publicist.
-Private tango lessons.
-Or a series of endermology to maintain the figure and keep the cellulite away.
-Or like the caviar, some of the best gifts is a gift one can share, and if I can bring joy into someone else’s life, specially those close to me and family, then that makes me super happy too, from anything like art, a forest in Israel or my back yard to a fondue set, or such as the gift of travel or a holiday with my parents like the year we went to Denmark for a traditional white Xmas. Or when my ex fiancé wanted the in laws to meet so he flew them to LA. Or when my sister bought a ticket and came to surprise me in Venice for my bday. Or when I took my mom to Croatia, that was like giving myself a gift too. As my friend Tana always says: “Sharing is caring”.
-A small surprise party
-A nice dinner at my favourite restaurant.
-Bicycle (ha ha)
-Rollerblades?
-A few trees perhaps
-Box of chocolates
And of course I was only kidding about the jet and yacht.. I’d much rather charter one… just kidding (we all know there are only two days we are happy to have gotten the boat; the day we bought it and the day we sold it)
Enjoy where you are at, on the way to where you are going!