So I did something wildly different … I booked a coach trip. Yes. Voluntarily!!!
Why a coach, you ask? Because there’s something oddly poetic about sitting by a giant window, doing absolutely nothing, while the world scrolls past like a slow Netflix documentary. No driving stress, no Google Maps drama… just you, your thoughts, and comfortable seats.
Now, unlike London coaches packed with energy and chaos, this one had a very… distinguished vibe. Let’s just say silver was the dominant hair colour. Not judging, just observing. I felt like the youngest intern on a wisdom retreat.
Destination Sussex.
Weather glorious.
Mood joyful..
We reached just in time for a late breakfast and then wandered into a castle that looked like it had been rehearsing for a period drama. But honestly, the gardens stole the show. Tulips posing like divas, rhododendrons having a colour party, azaleas showing off, and forget me nots quietly gracefully displaying their beauty!
I of course clicked photos like a tourist on caffeine. Not a single corner was spared.
At lunch, I got chatting with a lady travelling solo. She casually mentioned she used to live in the Netherlands for 17 years with her Dutch partner. Then came the plot twist. The relationship ended, savings vanished thanks to an unhelpful partner, and she had to restart life from scratch in England. Now she works as a shop assistant and treats herself to these trips whenever she can.
There I was, going mad over tulips… and she had lived among them.
Life clearly writes better scripts than we ever can.
Now before I get to the Formula 1 gentleman, a quick story from a previous coach trip. One passenger suddenly went quiet and a bit unresponsive. Within seconds the whole bus went into full drama mode. People panicking, tour guide looking worried, someone almost ready to Google symptoms.
And then, like a scene from a medical thriller, one elderly lady stood up calmly and said, “I know what this is.”
She asked the wife, “Is he diabetic?”
Wife said yes.
Out came a bottle of Lucozade. No fuss. Straight into his mouth.
Within minutes the gentleman was sitting up, chatting away as if he had just paused for a short interval.
Honestly, the entire coach looked at her like she was some undercover superhero. No cape, just common sense and experience. How clever is that.
Back to Sussex and the return journey. I got talking to a gentleman with a walker, recovering from a hip surgery gone wrong. But here’s the twist… he used to be part of the analyst crew in Formula 1. Yes. The Formula 1!!!!
And then he casually opened a portal into that world.
Take Lewis Hamilton for example … he’s not just the driver of the car, he is part of it. If he gains a kilo, lap time suffers. If he loses a kilo, the ballast has to be moved around to balance out the lost kilo!
The driver can't just eat his meals as he pleased .But everything he eats is measured. Inside the car it feels like sitting in a sauna while being shaken like a cocktail. He sweats buckets, inturn loses fluids and can lose focus… and at 300 kilometres an hour, that’s not something you want.”
“No big muscles needed,” he continued “Just a neck that can handle all that G force, a strong core, and lightning fast reflexes. And by the way, the driver can't be too tall either… otherwise he or she won’t even fit properly!”
By the end of it, I was mentally handing over all the money to F1 drivers out of respect.
And then came the quiet irony.
A man who once helped make the fastest machines on Earth even faster… now walks slowly with support.
And yet, he travels. He chats. He laughs. He shows up for life.
I boarded that coach thinking I would just see Sussex.
I came back with tulips in my camera… and perspective in my head.
Funny how sometimes, the real journey is not outside the window… it is sitting right next to you...
Isn’t it?
MKP
3.5.26
#arundelcastle
#coachtrips
#learningfromthebest
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