Just One More Trip
"I could feel history and geography transforming me, and I fell stupidly in love with travel." -Brad Newsham, from 'Take Me With You: A Round-The-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home'
April 26, 2012, Washington, DC: I bought one more plane ticket last night. It's for the final trip I'll be making for the purposes of this project back to one of my former hometowns. I haven't been back to Toronto since I moved away in 1982 and I can't wait to check it out.
A trip confirmation appearing in the inbox always brightens my spirits. I love that decisive moment when we finally make the purchase after spending months tracking price alerts, mulling over travel dates, calculating whether we can swing it. Again and again, an investment in travel is with every penny, even this time without a single frequent flier mile remaining. Immersing ourselves into the history and geography of other people's hometowns results in an experience that stays with us long after the bags are unpacked back at home.
Remnants of travels, in fact, are with me right now. Here outside of Eastern Market this afternoon, there's a smell on the air that takes me back to Guatemala. Travel can do that to you. It can infuse something new into the same old scene. It can fill the air with unexpected layers of someplace entirely foreign.
Just one more trip. I don't really mean it. There will be another ticket after this one, I can assure you.
Related Posts on Neighborhood Nomad:
- Home Is Where The Airport Is (July 1, 2011)
- Ode to DCA (November 23, 2011)
- A Train Home From Philly (October 10, 2011)
- The Long Way Home (December 23, 2011)
- Spinning the Globe (October 16, 2011)
- Points of Entry (January 14, 2012)