A Taste of Travel Scrambles my Brain

As I write this, my view is from a lovely mountain in South Carolina.

The home I'm staying in is the most authentic reproduction of an old Tuscan house as I have ever come across, despite years of living in communities where faux Italian architecture was the norm. The view itself could easily be one of the Italian countryside.

The nearest town is very nice, as well. Clean and interesting, full of shops and restaurants that are unique and not branches of large chains. Having spent 3 days in Las Vegas eating at nothing but chain restaurants - where I did have a great time, I should note - this varied offering was well received.

We ate at a fabulous place in town last night and, once again, I completely forgot to take any photos. But we all had steak and fries, so it really wasn't that interesting looking anyway. Even the dessert wouldn't have made an extraordinary photo. Maybe the appetizer, but I thought it looked kind of small. Still, it was all delicious and we had fun, plus I found a new type of wine I like, so it was a success on all the important levels.

As the plane was approaching the airport where we arrived, I happened to look out my window to see a particular plot of land spread widely out around a house and surrounded by hedges. All around it, for what looked like miles, was more greenery and wide open spaces lightly dotted with buildings. At first glance, my first thought was that it looked very much like Ireland, or England. And in that first moment, my heart quickened slightly with excitement, interest and curiosity.

Almost instantly, I remembered I was still in my homeland country. And while I was still mildly interested in visiting a location unfamiliar to me, there was no longer any excitement and not very much interest or curiosity. I'm sorry, but the only places in this country exotic enough - meaning different enough from my everyday life in a way I would find exciting - are a few major metropolitan areas. Maybe a couple of beaches.

Still, I find it extremely strange in myself that almost the exact same landscape could cause such different reactions within me simply because of their location. I mean, it's the same exact landscape!

So I can look upon the view pictured above and appreciate its loveliness, feel grateful that I am allowed to be productive in such a beautiful and peaceful environment. If I were actually in Italy, however, I would still feel all of that plus have a little bubble of excitement that there is a whole different culture in my surroundings.

On a whole different topic, this trip has very much been a mixed bag of experiences. None of it has been uncommon, nothing different than has often been experienced by many people, all the time. And, yet, it has had a profound effect on me and how I intend to live my life from now on. Or, rather, let me amend that to how I intend to *try* and live my life from now on.

It's a bit of a jumble, but basically boils down to two things.

The first is that I am planning to start an entirely new blog once I begin my life of all travel, all the time. I am hoping that will be no later than around 6 weeks from now. I am determined that it will be no longer than 6 months from now. It will naturally revolve around the places I will be visiting. But it will also, obviously, contain a great deal of reflection on what it's like to live more or less like a nomad. In the past, I have gotten tired of traveling after 2 or 3 weeks and wanted to come home. The plan now will be to just find a place to stay for a more longish period of  time, until I feel like hitting the road again.

Although I do, of course, plan to come home for visits during the time I am away. The difference will be that those visits will also be very much like traveling, because it will not be my home I will be returning to.

But my point is that the next blog will be all about travel. It will be truthful, but with as little negativity and controversy as I can honestly make it. There will almost certainly be complaints and unfavorable comparisons, but I will try very hard not to rant. I want to observe and remember, to record experiences in order to help me remember them later. But I also hope that some of what I write will be useful to other travelers. 

It occurred to me that I might need to keep this blog as a place to discuss those parts of my life that are not related to travel. I've been seeing a few people I follow online recently begin a second blog devoted to a particular subject, yet still go back to the original blog for everything else. But this trip has shown me that, as I tweeted earlier, when I have a life full of offline activities, I barely have time to keep up with anything online. Much less an extra blog of my own.

Second, part of this trip has held some intense moments of negativity and controversy. And they made me a little sick to my stomach. It's been noted in the past, by myself and others, that many of us seem to blog more about negative parts of our lives because those are the things we have to work through in our heads. But I've found that I don't want them in my head. I don't want them in any part of my life.

The relatives I am visiting are my social and political opposites. The one I am actually related to tried to establish a policy of no discussion of sensitive subjects but the spouse just couldn't stick to it. And so our first night here was spent thrashing out a slew of issues to no avail. We are so very far apart that there was no chance of meeting anywhere near halfway. But we did finish the night by agreeing to speak no more of any of it and to just enjoy all being together.

I determined to bite my tongue and not engage no matter what the provocation and have, so far, been pleasantly surprised to find that it has not been necessary to do so. Admittedly, there has been very little contact today, and we leave tomorrow. But we had two very enjoyable days together.

My conclusion is that far more often than I thought possible, one can simply ignore negativity or refuse to give it a place. Maybe I am much more capable of simply not engaging than I ever believed I could be. Turn the cheek, walk away, when there is no productive result possible from engagement.

In which case, do I truly need this blog once I start the travel specific one? If I try to banish all negativity and controversy from my life, can't everything else relate - one way or another - to the life I will be leading? After all, it is not necessary to discuss those things over which I am outraged. I can simply do my part, in my life, to mitigate them. I don't believe that I was ever a successful advocate, anyway, for those causes. I will leave the public activism, then, to others who are better suited to it. And who have dedicated space to it, the way I will dedicate mine to travel.

We all have our passions. And while mine are hot in relation to  injustices I perceive, I take no pleasure in them and do not seem to have accomplished anything in sharing them. So nothing is really lost by allowing those who are more successful in their accomplishments to lead. I will, instead, try to be an individual global ambassador. If I can manage to always act with courtesy and respect, no matter what the circumstances, then maybe that will have an impact of which I can be proud.

I can live with that.

Anyway, I find that writing and talking about negative things just extends their lifespan. I will just deal with whatever comes along in private and save my online presence for the other stuff. I want to be Pollyanna now. Internationally.