Salt + Soul Adventures

Getting salty, smiling, and chasing experiences

Tag: travel

  • Chasing Chains

    Lots of folks have probably thrown a frisbee at some point in their life, or at least seen one.  Turns out, it’s also a great way to explore the outdoors.  A few years back, my fabulous partner discovered the sport of disc golf.  A former ultimate player, he’s always been pretty great at throwing a disc, sometimes to the point where the dogs won’t even chase it as its gone too far!  However, ultimate requires a good number of players and can be pretty hard on the body, plus the whole running back and forth thing.  Disc golf, however, whole different story!  Now, don’t be put off by the word ‘golf’.  Yes, it does involve different holes, some level of frustration at times, and if you’re really good even a caddy.  However, the wardrobe requirements are a lot looser, for better or worse there is often lots of time spent in the trees, and you are less likely to loose a disc than ball (though it still happens, hence why we’ve trained up the dog to be a disc searcher extraordinaire, particularly when spending time in the trees…).

    Trying to describe the sport is fun.  It goes something like ‘You throw a piece of plastic at some chains.’  However, the chains are part of this metal basket thing, which the ‘fun’ course designers like to put on top of things like rocks, tractors (‘merica), or tree stumps, or even better at the top of a hill where if you miss, the disc may end up even further away from where you initially threw it from.  In Europe they like to ensure you know how much you f-ed up by chanting ‘disc goooolf, disc goooolf’ as your disc rolls down the hill to a guaranteed double bogey or beyond.  Also, the pieces of plastic have all different details to them.  While all round, some have curved edges, some are thinner, some heavier, and even some floppy (to minimise your risk of ‘disc gooolf’ when throwing at a dodgy basket position).  Basically, different discs are like different clubs in your golf bag…there are drivers, mid-range, putters, and the ‘close your eyes and hope for the best’ ones like when trying to get out of a sand trap (or thick patch of brambles/ hedges as is more common in disc golf).  Also, like golf balls those suckers sink fast, so my first year of playing has seen me spend many a hole in some body of water trying to find my disc before the dog goes too hard-core scuba Steve and makes seeing through the muddy water impossible.

    Unlike golf though, disc is much more enjoyable (I think) for newbies.  You make take a million strokes still to get to the hole, but there’s no risk of completely missing and going nowhere, as the disc is held in your hand instead of the cruel game of trying to connect awkward length metal pole to small hard ball.  Plus, you’re not carrying this heavy bag around, paying $$$ of greens fees (many courses are free!), and some courses are even dog-friendly!  It’s also a cool way to explore new places, and the gear is waaay easier to travel with than stick golf stuff.  For example, two years ago I persuaded my partner to take a romantic week holiday to the south island of New Zealand, envisioning a week of hiking, saunas, wine, and candlelit dinners.  What I got was seven different disc golf courses, a significant number of thorns in my legs, and almost murdering a sheep with a disc gone wild.  However, I also got a river-side course with the most amazing mountain views, a unique way to see the Queenstown gardens (there’s a course that runs through them!), and my mandatory holiday 20,000+ steps per day, not to mention quality time with lover boy while he shared something he loves with me.  And, there was still time for wine.  These are definitely the kind of chains I think he, and I, are happy to be attached to.

  • Day drinking and pixtos (tapas): a lesson in just being

    May 21, 2025

    When in Spain… As we strolled through the streets of Pamplona at 11am, after a much-welcomed slow start to our Saturday morning, the beverages were flowing through the streets in this beautiful town in northern Spain’s Basque country.  I mean beverages of the alcohol variety by the way, not the caffeine fix we were purposefully strolling for.  After a fabulous coffee and veggie bagel at Compañia Café, we continued our meanders around Old Town, returning to the main square around 2pm…to debauchery.  The alleyway bars were overflowing with people, clustered around small tables, windowsills, and throughout the streets in general, laughing and chatting with drinks and pixtos (plates of tapas) in hand.  At first pondering if there was a festival or holiday we didn’t know about, we realised it was moreso just the Spanish way it seemed.  Celebrate life with friends, sharing good food and beverages (un Vermut por favor!), making every day seem like a party!  Not sure I could handle the daily drinks and seafood on toast selections, but it was a great reminder of how essential friendship, socialising, and celebrating the every day is for optimal wellbeing. 

    After checking a few streets’ worth of bars ensuring we picked one with the best-looking tiny food selection, we settled upon one of the rowdier corner places.  As we emerged with our plates of little Spanish omelettes, anchovies on toast, and who knows what else, luck greeted us with an empty table to settle on!  Actually, we had many a windowsill on offer as well looking around.  Turns out there is no stuffing about with siesta time!  It appeared come about 3pm everyone empties the streets, assumingly to go nap off day drinking and enjoy a tapas slumber.  Basically, Christmas day living every day…eat, drink, sleep, repeat!  Luckily by this point we’d learned in much of Spain dinner is near impossible to procure anytime before 7:30 or 8pm, so we stuffed ourselves on cute little Spanish dishes to tide us over and enjoyed our final evening here.

    The following day, we headed to San Sebastian, a coastal dream, to continue holiday mode with coffees, pastries, pixtos, and a beverage or two.  As we perused some local shops, avoiding the chilling wind, we got chatting with one of the salesfolk in this funky shop slinging great coffee and fun, unisex, locally made and printed gear (shout out Colors Coffee by Sakona!).  We were captured by some shirts sporting ‘Txikiteros Club’ labels, depicting an image of a group of sharply-dressed older gentleman holding small glasses and seemingly enjoying life.  He informed us the local approach was, upon retiring, said gentlemen meet up with their friends in the morning and enjoy a small glass of wine, toasting the day.  That’s our kind of club!  Though maybe we kick it off pre-retirement (and sorry lads but not just a boys’ club).

    For someone who didn’t drink until late into her 20s, and even now still hardly do, I can appreciate this approach to life may on the surface seem unappealing to some (I plan to return to my routine 8pm bedtime after this trip for one!).  However, what’s been clear across our experiences, witnessing many a ‘party-goer’ have water, soda, or an espresso in hand instead of alcohol, that it isn’t about the drinking, unlike in some places we’ve been.  Instead, the  clear focus is connection, spending time with others and enjoying the moment for what it is: once in a lifetime.  Whether you toast to the everyday experience of life with water or wine, what matters is the toast.  We don’t need to be holding out for ‘the big moment’ or ‘special occasion’, these are in front of us every day if we just slow down enough to notice.  While we are very much going to appreciate the cozy sweatshirt and almond cakes we got in San Sebastian, what’s going to stick more is the time just wandering, embracing the every day, and what we spent together on experiences, not things.  Gracias for the reminder Spain, es la vida for sure.