The wandering albatross is one of the worlds’ amazing species. It lives among the islands of the Southern Ocean ‘Antarctic Ocean’, leaving its home annually, sleeping on the wind. It soars through the air, its vast wing span enabling it to fly for months, hunting for seafood seeming to be beyond the parallels of lesser creatures such as humans. It flies in solitude, sleeping when necessary and only returning home to mate and recharge its batteries ready for the next adventure. I have often felt like that albatross, travelling for days at a time, alone, sleeping fitfully, always on the alert for predators and keeping a keen sense for the next discovery ahead.
It is a fascinating life for me and the wandering albatross, a bird I first heard about on a trip which began in South America. I came across the large creature in a documentary which was being shown as I was travelling through Chile’s southern fjords, a cold and exciting journey. Listening to this documentary gave me the notion of real freedom.
The story about this bird provoked a further dimension of wonder and fascination. My email address whilst travelling was tonythetraveller[at]hotmail.com, although my close friends like to think of me as Tony the Tiger! It was the mixture of nature’s creatures and the challenge of single mindedness, the solo flight of that bird living a life of solitude and perfection in my mind, that provided the idea of a further challenge, the trial of writing, a task also containing loneliness and solitude. I have come to think of myself as that albatross flying over the oceans on a solo journey of who knows what, only returning when necessity calls.