Calvino Travels

Snow on Kyoto You are a traveller. You are queuing to take a photograph at Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine in Kyoto, Japan. Tens of tourists are lined up outside the very first vermilion coloured gate. It’s one of thousands of  gates that loop up to Mt. Inari and back and there is plenty of time to take a photograph, but your companions don’t realise this. The bearded one is fiddling with settings on his camera. The curly haired one is zhuzh-ing her hair for a closeup. Torii at Fushimi Inari-taisha As you walk around the shrine you notice several visitors wearing kimonos. There are a bunch of kimono rental shops around Kyoto. Japanese visitors dress up in richly coloured and intricately fitted kimonos and walk around the old streets and ancient shrines, stumbling awkwardly in wooden clog sandals on the cobbled walkways. At Kiyomizu-dera You walk through gate after gate at Fushimi Inari-taisha. Later you learn that these gates are called torii, they mark the e...

Near Murchison You are a traveller. You are sat on the middle seat of a tow-truck racing down the narrow roads leading to Murchison, New Zealand. The tow-truck driver is silent. She seems annoyed that you have decided to break down on a Saturday, of all days. Your travel companions are beside you, wincing as you narrowly approach each cliff face before turning sharply. The bearded one is eating peanuts. The curly haired one is silently shaming him. The driver drops you off just outside Riverside Holiday Park next to a local graveyard. A few mourners are walking slowly among the graves. They look at you with disdain as the mechanic noisily lowers your vehicle from the truck. She attempts to start the van, creating still more noise, and after a lot of revving the car idles heavily beside the graveyard. You park up the van inside the park. At Riverside Holiday Park Murchison will be your home for the next three nights while you wait for the van to not be fixed. Murchiso...

The resulting damage of the Alpine Gardens Landslide You are a traveller. You are stranded on the side of the road on State Highway 6 somewhere in New Zealand's Southern Alps. Your companions are debating whether to leave your broken-down van and walk. The bearded one decides to run up the road to try and find some phone signal. The curly-haired one stays with the van, relaxing in a fold out chair, munching on a packet of Oreos. As the bearded one walks into the distance a pickup truck pulls in. You are saved. The bearded one runs back and puts on his best burly-man voice, addressing the mechanic. "Thought it might be the coolant, so I chucked some water in there," he squeaks, puffing out his chest. He has no idea what he's talking about. The mechanic is silent. He clearly thinks you are all idiots and you've got yourselves into this situation, but he agrees to tow you back to the shop anyway. The view from State Highway 6 The mechanic takes you ...

Takayama You are a traveller. You drag yourself around Shin-Osaka station with heavy feet. You haven't slept well, troubled by a snorer in your dorm room, and you’re carrying 25kg of baggage on your chest and back. It feels like wading through water. Your companions are lagging behind, bickering about which direction to walk in. But you know where to go. When you finally lead them to the gates, the bearded one is desperately fiddling with the zips on his puffer jacket to retrieve a Japan Rail pass. The curly-haired one is watching him, patience running thin, anger simmering and about to boil. Shinkansen The tension all fades as soon as you see the bullet train poke it's long nose along the track. The Shinkansen takes you to Kyoto in about 15 minutes. You don't stop there, changing at Nagoya and riding through to Takayama, a sprawling city nestled in between snowy mountains. You head out for a walk around a local park, nervously eyeing signs that read ...

Isthmus Peak walk, New Zealand You are a traveller. You are sitting in the middle seat of a 20 year old Nissan Caravan chugging desperately up a mountain tunnel stretching away from Milford Sound, New Zealand. The tunnel looks as if it had been carved out by the dwarves of Middle Earth long, long ago. There are metal reinforcements bolted slap-shod along the walls of the tunnel that seem slightly battered and are dripping with water. You expect the whole thing to collapse at any minute. Your companions are silent. The bearded one is trying to avoid potholes on the darkened road. The curly haired one has the permanent grimace of an oncoming driver moments before a head on collision. At the entrance to Homer Tunnel near Milford Sound You survive the tunnel and drive back along the road away from Milford Sound, then through Queenstown. There is a campsite at Moke Lake that can only be accessed by an 8km dirt road. You stay there for two nights. Without any phone signal, you ...

Dōtonbori, Osaka You are a traveller. You are waiting for your companions to figure out the rail system at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan. You decide  not to help them. It's too much fun to watch them struggle. The curly haired one is searching one of three train maps she has acquired while the bearded one is staring slack-jawed at the array of Japanese machines, signs and lights around you. Dōtonbori , Osaka Eventually the pair of them figure it out. You head to your hostel in the Higashishinsaibashi district in Osaka. You spend the rest of the evening wandering around the streets of Dōtonbori, an old district teeming with street food vendors running alongside a canal. The streetlights, neon signs and billboards glitter off the canal, turning the city lights upside down in liquid motion. Dōtonbori canal Occasionally you look at some of the food vendors in a vain attempt to find a vegetarian meal for your two companions. There are a lot of c...

Cascade Creek You are a traveller. You arrive at Escape Rentals in Christchurch, New Zealand, to pick up a campervan graffitied with a viking ship. It looks like something you should set on fire during a riot. "Woah, you're in here for a long time," says the rental guy as he shows you the van, "I guess I should show you how to check the oil." He pulls the passenger seat back to reveal the engine underneath. Your companions are shocked. "Cool." Says the bearded one. "That's terrifying," says the curly haired one. You will be straddling a combustion engine for five weeks, sleeping, eating and driving in a Nissan Campervan around New Zealand. You realise that neither of your companions are paying any attention to what the rental guy is saying. This might come into play later. But you put it to the back of your mind for now. The more pressing concern is how you are going to maintain your sanity throughout the five weeks. Martin...