Mar 06 2008
Dreaming and Planning?
Lonely Planet, whom I adore, sends out a newsletter called “the Comet”. The issue in my inbox right now is called “Dreaming and Planning.” And there’s a lot to think about there. Here’s the quote they start with:
The pleasures of travel don’t begin and end on the plane. Dreaming and planning, hitting the road, and the mingled joy and sadness of coming back home - it’s all part of the deal. So come with us on the whole sweet journey, from that first castle in the air to the snow dome on the mantelpiece.
I keep thinking about this.
When Jason and I were first getting together, I took him with me on a trip to Australia and Fiji. He’d never been out of the US before, and so there were a lot of logistics to deal with; passports, luggage, learning to pack, repacking, flights, reservations, research. Putting that trip together was some of the best few months… Sure, there were bills to pay and costs to reckon with. Sure, I booked us in the cheapest rooms the diving liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef had available, and we weren’t nearly as cooshy-comfy as the honeymooner crowd on the boat, with their deluxe suites, were.
But one thing the staff on that dive boat kept saying kind of stuck in my head. They kept saying "once in a lifetime trip". And everyone nodded like, yeah, this is fantastic, but this is probably the only time we’ll ever do this.
And once we got back to the States after all our adventures on that trip, people would shake their heads, admiringly, and say, "once in a lifetime trip" like we’d never do anything like that again.
Why do people say stuff like this? And more importantly, why do they believe it? Just because life is a one-way trip doesn’t mean you have to only do fabulous things once. The newsletter goes on to talk about the homecoming blues.. because you know, being at home is so much less fantastic than being on the road.
Is it, really?
Try this on. What would your life be like if home was where you and/or your family were, and adventure was just the life you were leading? What if you led your life in such a way that you were always either planning for the next, or doing it? How would that be different from how and what you spend your time on now?
Go ahead, breathe that one in. Answers in the comment field, folks. =)
Every single day as a “once in a lifetime trip”? Ya. I like that approach.
Zen: there is only NOW!
“Just because life is a one-way trip doesn’t mean you have to only do fabulous things once.”
Hmm. I think you do actually only do that fabulous thing once. Doing it again is both redundant and futile since you can never recapture the Trail Magic of the original experience. There’s also that basic problem of too much to do, too little time.
I don’t try to recreate my once in a lifetime experiences. I probably won’t ride my bike across the United States, for example, and damn sure am not ever going to make and nurse another baby. Yet, this isn’t a reason for meloncholy. The number of possible once in a lifetime, unique and startling, amazing and exciting, soul changing experiences is — quite literally — infinite.
And Laureen, you know this. You are a Witness to this basic truism. What you are actually articulating is the need to stop simply living a “practical life” occasionally punctuated by memorable events. Instead, we need to open ourselves to the wonder of our every day existence. We must empower ourselves to reach outside the societal pet carrier of what we should do towards the feral beauty of what we can do.
What you describe is basically what I am doing, I guess. The “next trip” I’m preparing for is a jaunt in my own boat on SF Bay, but that involves ~2 more months’ work, so it isn’t trivial. Am I ever looking forward to it!
I like “the societal pet carrier of what we should do.” I am so out of that thing. Pissed on it and ripped it to shreds. Maybe that’s why my arms hurt: ABS is tough stuff, even when it’s only metaphorical.