And I wondered, in that moment on the plane: was this even “travel”? Why was I going to India at all, if my entire experience was to be one big, Americanized, air-conditioned one?
Loved this line! Just came back from a trip to New York & was thinking also about the serendipity we lose when we map to a specific place and take the most optimal mapped route from here to there, vs. walking through, following whims and letting the city guide us / shift our plans :)
Brilliant point! I wish I'd thought to include that — the *serendipity* of no maps / no food apps / no other optimization or set directions certainly is lovely and often now missed :)
I love this! All of it. And yes, resources are (as are all things) a mixed bag. My favorite statement was: "I found, to my disbelief, that all but my individual train car had vanished. The conductor explained that the train’s front half had gone west to Sofia, and the back half south, to Athens." And only on a long Eastern European train trip on which you stay awake and wander about could this happen. I love it. Thank you for taking the time and the care to share these things with us.
So many quotable bits but I'll go with this one. "I was in 'work travel mode,' a kind of dull corporate fugue state..." I so totally know that feeling.
This writing is different than the other stuff and I think belongs in your travel writing substack. So get that going and start writing stories, you'll have a book before you know it. It's good shit.
And I wondered, in that moment on the plane: was this even “travel”? Why was I going to India at all, if my entire experience was to be one big, Americanized, air-conditioned one?
Loved this line! Just came back from a trip to New York & was thinking also about the serendipity we lose when we map to a specific place and take the most optimal mapped route from here to there, vs. walking through, following whims and letting the city guide us / shift our plans :)
Brilliant point! I wish I'd thought to include that — the *serendipity* of no maps / no food apps / no other optimization or set directions certainly is lovely and often now missed :)
I love this! All of it. And yes, resources are (as are all things) a mixed bag. My favorite statement was: "I found, to my disbelief, that all but my individual train car had vanished. The conductor explained that the train’s front half had gone west to Sofia, and the back half south, to Athens." And only on a long Eastern European train trip on which you stay awake and wander about could this happen. I love it. Thank you for taking the time and the care to share these things with us.
Thanks for taking the time to read and the great comment — I'm glad it resonated!
So many quotable bits but I'll go with this one. "I was in 'work travel mode,' a kind of dull corporate fugue state..." I so totally know that feeling.
This writing is different than the other stuff and I think belongs in your travel writing substack. So get that going and start writing stories, you'll have a book before you know it. It's good shit.
Thank you sir :) And yes! It's a rough feeling indeed — thank goodness it's been a while since I felt it, but I do remember it...