Famously, my father once hollered in to my mother, "Rose! Rose! C'mere and look at this." On TV was a travel advert for Ireland - all sweeping green hills, rock walls, and ocean cliffs. My mother instantly became excited, thinking he'd want to go abroad together. "Oh would you like to go!?" He turned to her with, I can only assume, his usual look of disgust and replied, "Go there? Why would I need to go there, I just saw it!"
Many people in my life wonder why I travel and especially why I return to the same places, most of them cold and rainy. "Why are you going to Ohio??" "Dublin? Again? Why?" So here's a few reasons:
• to go somewhere where no one knows me and therefore no one places expectations on me
• becoming exposed to different languages and culture
• seeing art that I could see nowhere else - such as Bernini's sculptures - standing before them in-person could never compare to merely viewing a flat version of them on a page
• relying solely on my own wits when travelling alone and coming home with just a bit more confidence in myself
Travel can be like the evening news - you only really hear the negatives. Here are my positive experiences:
- "Maria" in Tuscany. My first time abroad I managed to miss our bus stop in Piombino. I looked out the window at the stop and thought, "this looks like the Google map image of the train station at the end of the road to the resort..." I felt in my gut that I needed Nicole and I to hop off but I ignored it and managed to get us to the end of the line which was a 20 minute car ride past where we needed to be. We had all of our god damn luggage, which was way too much and I had no idea how we could get back to the hotel. The driver spoke next to no English but there was one woman, "Maria", who spoke English and said she would help. I told her the name of the resort we needed to reach and she left us standing at the train station depot and told us to wait while she searched for the driver of the taxi that was parked. We waited and waited and I started to really panic. Then Maria came walking up the road with a woman. She found the driver! Maria whispered to me that she told the cabbie that I was a friend of hers that was staying nearby and needed a lift. I can still see her lovely face as we drove away and I hollered out the window "Thanks again - see ya later!" and winked. She beamed back at me and I have loved her dearly ever since. She hooked us up with a wonderful and honest driver who got us to the resort for about twenty-five Euro and Maria helped us, getting nothing in return.
- various train attendants who helped make sure I got on the right train
- Flemish man who stopped me from giving money to a beggar at the train station and then read the guy the riot act because there is no begging allowed on this side of the Scheldt. I then looked at the beggar and said annoyingly, "Thanks, you just got me in trouble." But how nice was it for that man to have my back and also stop and make sure I knew the rules.
- the gals on the train in Belgium who, when hearing that I thought KSP and I were on the wrong train looked up everything on their mobile, told us the next stop, the platform we needed to be on for the train back, and the time it would depart as well as reach Brussels
- nearly every single person in Dublin:
the fella at Carroll's who recommended locally filmed TV series Love/Hate
the ladies at Retro
the folks at Blazing Salads
all the cabbies especially Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Hanway
- being told of a play starring one neighbour and directed by his wife and having a spectacular time
- becoming friends with Barbara, Michel, and David beyond them just being a host to me on Airbnb:
Michel messaged me from Eurovision, months after I arrived home - then would send me photos when he traveled to Madrid, Finland, and more recently, Washington DC and Dublin. At one point Michel said that the next time I came to stay with him, he would give me a spare key to his apartment. That way if he was travelling and I was able to fly over, I'd be able to let myself in and leave some cash on the table for when he returned
Barbara trusted me so much that we went off using Airbnb and I would pay her entirely in cash
David gave me his personal business card and told me to just reach out to him directly if I ever wanted to stay at his place again. All three would hang out and chat with me when I visited.
- chatting with Steven about Indy Rock music
- the bus drivers in Edinburgh
Everything in life is stressful for me. Getting in the car, fighting through traffic, getting to my destination (like the supermarket), not finding a parking spot, it starts to rain, the cart I choose always turns out to be the one with a wonky wheel that clatters and makes a racket. I go to self checkout in order to avoid a rude cashier or a bratty child in a cart in front of me, but the scanner doesn't work, I have to flag down a sullen worker who shuffles over to "help" and silently lets me know that I completely disrupted them. Then I haul all my shit to the car, battle through traffic home, drag it all into the house, letting bugs in because one of the bags slips out of my hand right in the doorway as my neighbour across the way comes out, says hello and reminds me that I'm not getting any younger and that I need to settle down with a man soon. I close the door, unpack it all, get into my jammies, sit down, and the beyotch upstairs decides to work out and stomp around her floor which is my ceiling and now I am spun into an anxiety attack and debate getting dressed again and leaving but where can I go until she goes to sleep and I can find a moment's peace? And that scenario is only 2 hours total of one part of one day in life. When travelling, going through TSA, since I know what to expect in advance, can be pain-free. Once through I can then sit in a seat in the airport and read until I get on a plane in a seat that I selected and eat my own snacks while listening to an audiobook and poof! I soon find myself in a totally different place and instantly feel the weight of an everyday nightmare that is my life just slip away. So in answer to the question of "Why travel?", for me it is most definitely, why not travel?!
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