Without descending into another "travel used to be better" reverie, my fixation on the details has made me wonder about what it was like when the details didn't matter.
I think sometimes about what it was like in those long sweaty summers where I had to go the Baptist "day camp." There was little to look forward to, really, given the Baptist (at least the ones who ran the camp) tendency toward, "go play in the creek and catch crawdads if you can." These Baptists were not so much into structured day camps. Trapped by the creek for days on end, the very idea of traveling seemed better than Christmas. We'd get in the car and drive to the beach. I looked forward to it, despite strong evidence that it wouldn't be as fun as I hoped. Because my brother and I couldn't get along in the car, one of us would often be banished to the "way back" of our VW station wagon, underneath which was the engine. In the South. In the summer. Without air conditioning. Still, a trip was a trip was a trip and at least I didn't have to go hang out with the Baptists for a week.
Next week, as you might guess, I travel. I travel from one coast to another and back and then down this one some away from where I live. I've worked the details. Somehow, I can't access those feelings of anticipation I used to have. I try to comfort myself that this trip will involve no time on top of the engine of a mid-1970s Volkswagen 412 station wagon.
Still I can't help wishing it felt a little less like staring into green water looking for the crawdads I could never catch.
6 comments:
I rarely look forward to travelling anymore. Maybe because I am always travelling for work. But I do get giddy if I am going to meet friends...or lovers...
I am sorry you have to travel, it truly is a hassle these days. If you can fly Virgin America that would be better, but I think there are far more expensive.
we're traveling this week. details are what spouses and office managers are for. i did make the list of what vegetarian restaurants are in the area -- not a detail the spouse particularly appreciates, i must admit...
Lately, my travel has been for fun only. While I'm excited to be where I'm going, not so much excited with the process.
Wishing you well, going & coming.
I love the adventures of travel, if only it didn't cost so much to have fun.
Was it Robert Louis Stevenson who said, "'tis better to travel hopefully than to arrive"? Evidently that was before the TSA got involved and the airlines decided that it would be oh-so-fun for its customers to wait in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, with no idea what time they would be able to flee the spot.
I am sooooo tempted to go to the airport in my underwear topped off with a raincoat. That would save so much undressing time in the security line....and as long as I didn't get arrested for indecent exposure, or get dragged off the plane because the airline assumed I was out of my mind, it seems the best option around.
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