Do you play by different rules at home and on the road? When surrounded by the familiar versus overwhelmed by the new?
It’s a massive challenge to merge the travel self and the home self. To approach the world with open intensity no matter what part of the planet happens to be underfoot.
Do any of the following divides sound familiar?
Work / No work
Save / Spend
Established friends and family / Meeting new people
Cooking / Buying meals
Car or bike / Buses, taxis, etc.
Clutter / Essentials
Presentable / Grungy
Scheduled / Improvised
Routine bites of busy / Big wide life-changing experiences
What Didn’t Go Down in Bethlehem, PA
I took a walk today trying to catch the fall colors with a camera. Didn’t stop in a cafe or bar, didn’t even grab a slice of pizza. The root reason being that I’m saving for travel.
Crossed paths with some strangers:
The green-sweatered man behind the counter at Pat’s News Stand, tired of watching browsers leave fingerprints on the covers of his magazines.
Two homeless guys tossing crumpled cans off the Fahy Bridge.
A waitress sitting in the sculpture garden drinking out of an oversized Styrofoam cup.
Kids popping noisemakers in front of the corner bagel shop.
A church caretaker sweeping the steps.
There were a few words exchanged with some of these folks, sure. But not enough–the curiosity mechanism is still bugging me about each of them: Where would it have gone?
These are the people I’d have talked to if I were traveling.
Got a long way to go.
Photo by Frabuleuse
Tags: 3 Comments
What didn’t go down in Bethlehem – was a lovely part of the post and really true. I can and will talk to anybody about almost everything but I am more reserved here at home.
It is easier at a bar but outside there I feel the walls come up and sink back into some weird shell that I really do not have after the first 30 seconds of meeting someone.
Thanks
Hey Donald, thanks.
It’s weird, right? Especially considering that this seems to be a pretty open hey-how-ya-doin’ town.
Hi Brett
This post really resonates. It’s strange how on the road and back home you can be two wholly different people. I’ve heard the explanations that say it’s just escapism, that the willingness to step out and live a little more is temporary, fleeting and unnatural. I’ve never held to those opinions and only wish I could bring a little more of that travel-self into my real life.
There is a post waaay back in the archives of my own blog on a similar theme, which you might enjoy (but are welcome to remove from the comment – I don’t want to be a link troll
at http://www.richardstupart.com/2009/05/04/doppelganger/#more-583