travel thoughts

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul…then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.” –Herman Melville

The sentiments expressed here by Herman Melville in his introductory chapter to Moby Dick are ones I’ve often felt myself. Not that I ever have or will join a whaling ship on a disastrous metaphysical journey in search of the unattainable, but I understand the feeling, need, to get out there! Travel to places far different from the one experienced everyday. It has now been more than six months since I literally lived on the other side of the world and I’m getting a touch of cabin fever. The desire to find a place, research it, plan the route, mark out the stops, and enjoy the unexpected ways the plan is modified while making the journey… is almost unmanageable. Like Melville’s Ishmael there are specific ways I know that the time to travel is upon me, one of which, is that I become unjustly irritated by my home culture. I love where I grew up and I would not trade it because my family and friends here are unbelievably good to me. But, of course there was a “but” there, I can take only so much of the suburban American dream. When I realize that every single day in a given week I have made a trip to both target and chick-fil-a, I know its time to travel! Travel keeps life fresh. Flexibility is an essential aspect to enjoying travel and it is a great way to increase humility in one’s life. Sure being at the mercy of others to help you know where to go, what to eat, and even how to ask for these things can be scary but its also a great reminder of the reality that we control very little in our lives. And that depending on other people is not an entirely degrading thing. Does this mean that I will now again move to the other side of the world for another two years? No, but it does mean that I’m feeling rested and ready to leave my little nest and feast my eyes on something new. Find a place where I can try some new local food, meet people whose situation in life is even just slightly different from mine, and appreciate the interesting things that happen while getting there. For like Ishmael (and Melville himself I think),

“I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote.”