In the End

Plattsburgh, New York

December 13, 2017

Latitude 44˚ 58’

In the end, I spent a month and one day on the road, tackling four countries in a way of travel I used to do but no longer do much of.  I flew, took trains and busses and felt as if it was 1985 all over again.

In the end, Latvia and Lithuania were two new countries added to the ongoing list of “countries visited.”  I would very much like to get to 100 by the time I turn 70. 

In the end, almost all of the trip was new, which is exactly what I wanted.  I’ve become far too comfortable in Mexico and it was time to break out of that rut.  I’ve heard far too many older people say how difficult it is to travel and I’m making this commitment now not to be one of them.

In the end, I glutted on Christmas markets and still did not have enough.  There is no end to them on this continent and I have no doubt I’ll do another trip of this sort.  I loved the short, cold and cloudy days and long dark nights.  I really never tired of living in shades or browns, grays and blacks.  There will be plenty of sun later on when I return to Mexico for the winter.

In the end, travel has changed—some ways for the good and some for the not so good.  I was able to stay in my own apartment and avoided hotels because of Airbnb.  That I liked.  A lot!  What I did not like was having to plan every element of this trip months in advance.  Because so many people are traveling these days it’s far more difficult to be serendipitous.

In the end, there are some definite perks to travel today that simply did not exist even a generation ago.  How nice to exit a train and not wait for a bus.  Uber at your service requires a Smartphone and a data plan, but it’s well worth it.

In the end, Airbnb put me in multiple apartments where I could prepare my own meals and not worry if the tenant next door is making too much noise in his hotel room.  Airbnb as allowed me to live in neighborhoods that were never available in the past.

In the end, I wonder if travel today hasn’t lost something in comparison to the past? Do we truly ever “get away?”  There were days I was in touch with people at home almost hourly, either via texts or FaceTime, Messenger or WhatsApp.  There was a day when I was 100% in France, or wherever, and there was minimal contact with home.  I don’t want to go back to that, but there was something nice about being fully present in the place you’re at.  That’s a bit lost these days.

In the end, I see why people take tours and cruises. They’re so much easier.  All one has to do is show up.  I’ve had to orient myself to 10 different locales is the past month.  It’s good for the brain, but at this point I’m ready to coast, go home and not have to do that again—for a while.

In the end, almost everything I did was new, which was what I wanted.  Outside of Paris, which might as well have been new considering how long it been since I’d been there last, every destination was a new experience.  I’ve missed that in travel and am glad I made this choice—a choice I’m going to make more often. 

In the end, I was so ready to fly home.  My body hurt in ways it never hurt before in traveling.  That, plus the facts that I was tired of the cold, tired of the cloudy days, tired of being alone.  It was just time.

In the end, the Little Engine did quite well.  I knew I could, I knew I could, I knew I could.”  But it was time to go home, and gladly so.  I took the wizard’s advice, clicked my heels three times and said, “Home.”  “Home”

“Home.”