Inizio

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For every journey a song. In some cases, lots of songs. After having the better part of a 160GB iPod to listen to in the planes, trains, and hotel rooms during my Germany trip last October, I've decided to "downsize" to 12 albums on a Shuffle. Music has always been an integral part of my travels and I've found that less is more when it comes to "Road Music". Spending my mornings in the courtyard behind our apartment in Paris listening to Jeff Buckley's "Sketches..." and The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi" accompanying me to the west coast of France are both pre-iPod memories from when I used to pack about a dozen cds for a trip. Having a limited supply helps insure that the music and the place have a chance to adhere to one another in your memory. I certainly don't advocate making the journey to somewhere new and foreign only to block out the natural soundtrack of that place with your own soundtrack from "back home". However, if my choices are listening to the rumbling of a train for 3 hours or listening to music; well let me de-tangle my ear-buds. For those who are interested, here is the soundtrack for the next few weeks:

Anton Garcia Abril - The Monsignor Quixote Suite
Beck - Modern Guilt
David Bowie - Stage
Nicole Atkins - Neptune City
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Editors - The Back Room
Elis Regina - Elis Especial
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Gustavo Santaolalla - The Motorcycle Diaries
Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
John Frusciante - The Empyrean
Kyle Eastwood - Metropolitan

Travel Book: Off to the Side by Jim Harrison

8:10 Chicago Time - Somewhere over Canada

The sky finally made good on its daylong threat of rain just as we started backing out of the gate. It took a good 10 minutes of climb time before we broke through, the wings going the color of a ripe peach as they reflected the sunshine from behind us.

Bit of a step down from every other trans-Atlantic flight in that there are no seatback screens. This isn’t a huge deal, as I’m usually reading or dosing off, but I do like to occasionally check our progress on the screen during the flight. This time, if I crook my neck just right, I can enjoy a film starring Zac Efron from High School Musical that appears to be nothing more than a re-hash of “Big” or any of the other “Adult relives high School through a strange occurrence” type films.

No matter. I’m listening to Antonio Garcia Abril’s Monsignor Quixote Suite and will try to get some sleep.

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