Life without travel is, well, not life

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Maddening-that is the direction NOT traveling pushes me; I'm not talking lose your mind maddening, but what's happened to my life priorities maddening. Not having the perspective of other cultures or being someplace different where life slows down guarantees, most assuredly, that your life goes by without any fresh perspective--isn't that what Anton Ego (voice of Peter O'Toole) says in 'Ratatouille': "you know what I'm craving? A little perspective."

When traveling abroad you can't help but to see many things anew, and new, and begin to have a rediscovered interest in life. It's not the same as being at home where there is very little of a noticeable change when one can't help but know what's right around the corner: a Starbucks, a McDonalds a dry cleaning business. Don't get me wrong-I love where I live and am extremely fortunate; however, I need the jolt which accompanies new and different: things like the smell of plumeria as it wafts through the air or the smell of chilies coming from one of the multitude of small, sidewalk noodle stands; the hot, humid often breezeless air; the variety of different flora and fauna; even something as mundane as the wire pole with a menagerie of wires you could never imagine someone troubleshooting-but it's done. Besides, I miss the slower pace of life that accompanies my travels. It has been too long since the last trip and as a result I have become less interested in what's happening here, time is really slipping by, and I am feeling more disconnected with my job and the work v. holiday ratio. On top of that, the rush of traveling disappears almost as soon as the plane hits the tarmac at home because I need to start running just to catch up with everyone else and to where I was before I left. As distasteful as it is, I want to experience the 'Tarmac Syndrome' in order to feel that I have traveled. Once I get back into my 'back home' mode I lose touch with all things travel. I get pulled into the fast moving lifestyle where everything is a click away and where I am less inclined to reflect on and appreciate my surroundings-thinking only of going out on the road, once more. <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/travel

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Photos

Abigail
Always hard to leave her

daBlob
It looks like a fish 1300 meters down

Plumeria
Or, frangipani, a very fragrant plant that likes sun and warm temperatures

noodle stand
Scattered throughout Thailand these offer satisfaction at only 75 cents

Wire pole in Asia
Hundreds of power lines-many of them are illegal hook-ups where people attach a wire to a 'hot' line and get electricity for free

Clay road Vientiane
Do you look at this and wonder what lies down the road, or wonder what it's supposed to show?

Red
Even Red didn't want to leave the Gibbon Experience-

Travel with family
My brother Terry and I hitting O'Reillys in Bangkok