I've bitched and moaned so much lately that I couldn't even bear to write about it. I've felt downright guilty and mortified for how much bitching and moaning I've been doing, and have hidden away to protect others from my gloom.
Today, however, is different. Today, I am going overseas for the first time in my entire, tiny, limited, little life! I will get a stamp in my passport -- my sad little passport that I have had for so long that it expired and was renewed all before it ever got a stamp! I will endure the miseries of an overseas flight! I will step off not merely onto different soil but in a different day! I will expereience jet lag, and drink tea instead of coffee, and hear people talk in an unfamiliar accent! I will be the panel presenter with the foreign accent! I will have to look the other way before crossing the street! I will be an outlander!
I have this very funny perception of places that I will visit, however. When I've known a place only in books, and the books are either historical fiction or history books, then I tend to think that I'm not only going to visit that place, but that time. That means that I think I will not only be stepping off the plane into my destination city, but that I will also be stepping into 1960 in that city. Then, I will get on a train and travel to another town, and I expect to be travellling through a kaleidascope of times from the time of the Roman occupation through World War II, only to step off of the train into 1590. A friend asked if I were travelling in a Delorean. Ahhh, if only (and as long as I could get back)!
If you don't hear from me again, check the news for downed planes -- or a mysterious tear in the time/space continuum.
Meanwhile, here is an earworm for the occasion:
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
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5 comments:
Have a lovely time! My first experience of Europe was much the same. Don't get run over. Meanwhile, I'll try to remember the name of a book that is about London that evokes the relationship between the place you know in books and the place itself. But I can't remember the author...
Enjoy your trip. I'm sure it will be amazing and magical. I kept a small journal of my first trip overseas and it's something I recommend so you can jot down all of your amazed (occasionally appalled) impressions.
If your plane goes down on or near a mysterious island, remember to stand your ground in front of the smoke monster. That sometimes helps.
And have fun!
Have a Most Wonderful time!!!
Have fun! I went to Europe first in 1964. Music was by the YardBirds and the early Beatles; "I want to hold your hand" was #1 in Madrid, which was really funny because of how stiff things were there still, Franco being alive and well; Penny Lane wasn't out yet.
I was very small and could only read fairy tales, and I wanted to see castles, and I did. I liked it very much and decided I would go to graduate school so I could come back (we were there because of a graduate program, so I thought that was how you got there).
Anyway, I'm moved to sptc.wordpress.com, for the time being, due to going undercover, due to budget cuts, FYI.
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