I do have to say that I'm humbled by this family's journey, and don't expect mine to be nearly as challenging.
Of course the packing and the leaving and the sitting and the lugging bags are a hassle. But when you arrive in a place 8 time zones away, well, it's a bit hard to focus. So the anticipation is like preparing for an operation that may leave you with temporary memory loss. And you feel like tattooing your name and phone number on your hand, just in case.
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I won't be sleeping much for the next few days, and my stomach probably won't let me eat all the foods I normally would be able to.
What country am I going to again? I have to make sure that I have all my documents in order, as well as some of the local currency, so that I can at least pay for the bus fare when I arrive.
Do I even have a fresh toothbrush and a pillow waiting for me for that first night? Maybe not...after all, I'm going to be living in a different apartment. And what's my new address, anyway? I'll have to figure out how to get there from the airport. I think I remember. But what if I have a brain lapse when I arrive?
How am I going to plug my computer in when I arrive? I forgot that it's a different voltage.
And I have to remember to get registered within 3 days. I dreamed that I had forgotten.
Hopefully I'll be able to tackle things one task at a time and get settled in smoothly.
Part of it for me is that I have a sort of spatial disability. I can't quite believe in space I have traversed QUICKLY.... I can walk and get a sense of where I am. I can even drive, slowly, stopping at lights - when I can get out of the car - and have a true sense of things. But, put me on a freeway, unable to stop and touch the earth, and I somehow lose my groundings. I have no sense of really having traveled through space - only time. So, if that is the way I am on a freeway - well, air travel is like entering dreamland. I feel more like Russia is in another universe or another era than another PLACE. When I go there it is like some magic; and then I'm back here again. More magic. Space and place do not seem to enter into it anymore than they would if I had read a book.
ReplyDeleteI have gotten the feeling that this is different for other people. I think I hope so.
I know what you mean, although I wouldn't have described it as poetically. :) It's strange to end up on a different continent just a few hours later. Even a different state. And then you're back, as if nothing happened. I think with sea voyages you get the sense of the whole journey and of time passing. But airplanes are so quick! Actually, there's even that feeling when you're inside a building for a whole day that you were in some sort of a time warp.
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