I first read this poem on the rooftop garden of a dilapidated youth hostel in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. It echoed on my head for weeks. I was at a time in my life where I needed to spread my wings and discover who I was. I had just left an awful relationship and took off backpacking with Jarrah, who was only 4 years old. At home I was bored, restless, stuck and inspired. I wasn’t being myself – just some version of what my small town had thought I should be. It didn’t matter how much I kicked against it – I just couldn’t shed that version of myself I didn’t particularly like. Of course travelling has a way of revealing who you really are – not changing you, so much, but stripping away the cotton wool that muffles your true notes.

“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do — especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” -William Least Heat Moon

It scared me shitless but I knew I had to go. I remember being at the airport running through a checklist in my head: passport, wallet, backpack, 4 year old (repeat). Yep, I had my boy in tow – no way was being a single Mum going to stop me. There were a lot of people at home saying I was irresponsible but I felt it was worse to be a liar, to be inauthentic, unhappy, uninspired. And my family thought it was the right thing to do, bless them, so I had their support too.

'We are constantly invited to be who we are' - Henry Thoreau

It was Cesky Krumlov that allowed me to see what my note might be. Jarrah had met the kids of the hostel owner so was often running around with them. My friends and I would drift down the Vltava in inner tubes talking about life and love. At night we would sit on the river wall and drink beer under the stars. It took me 3 months to leave and I was only meant to be there for 3 days. The thing is, I was so myself there. My new friends constantly made me realise that my true self was pretty likeable and I could start afresh on the road, with no histories to bog me down. I felt happy for the first time since I was a kid.

I can't think of this place without this song in my head so I thought if you’d like to listen to it whilst you read the rest of this post, that would be really cool as you’d get a sense of the song in my heart. I had bought the CD in a shop in Prague and listened to it constantly. Ali Farkar Toure had said he had written those songs when he was a 'fool for the guitar'. Hani is one of my favourite all time songs and I love all of this man's work. He certainly found his note. Every time I listen to it I’m reminded of that transformative time in my life.