Travel Musings

While traveling your way of thinking begins to shift along with your definition of the ordinary.

You just have to trust people. In Edinburgh, Colin, the owner of the B&B was kind enough to make me gluten free pancakes for breakfast. As a guest in his home and his country, it would generally be perceived as rude to question his authority. I had to trust that elderly, kilt-wearing Colin did indeed make me pancakes sans gluten. Similarly, you have to trust that your cab driver is taking you where you asked to go and along a route that won’t double your cab fare. In Chicago I feel very confident telling the driver how to get me home, or whether Lake Shore, Clark or Halsted is the best route to avoid traffic. In Europe I feel very confident I have no idea where I am going 96% of the time

You develop a new definition for dirty. When you have an entire dresser and closet full of clothes at your fingertips dirty means you wore something once and it now needs to be laundered. When you have a 60L suitcase and barely enough clothing to get you through the week, dirty means you wore it 5 times, it doesn’t smell too bad, and you can barely see the small spot of ketchup on your sleeve.

Your vanity goes out the window. I actually got excited to wear my Patagonia wedges to lunch after a week of rocking Birkenstocks.  I felt dressed up. I felt dressed up in Patagonia wedge sandals.

You enjoy traveling in a group. Ryan and I have been talking about taking this adventure for years. When we found out our wonderful friends Richard and Julie had the same idea we decided to start the trip as a foursome (Richard and Julie are also blogging). If I am being totally honest, I was a bit hesitant to change the dynamic of what I believed to be a trip Ryan and I would take together. However, Ryan and I have a relatively similar travel style.  New people bring new perspective, force you to try something you might otherwise not have, teach you to go with the flow and you always have a buddy.

You get really excited when you find free wifi. “Excuse me, what’s the wifi password?” has become a thrice-daily (if not more) utterance.

You develop monopoly money syndrome, which is a bit dangerous given the stellar value of the dollar.

You start, arbitrarily, comparing things to home. It is a bit like the section in US Magazine reminding us that stars are just like us. “Oh look! They use pillows in Scotland too!” “Craft cocktails and beer are trending in Dublin too!” “Whoa, people wear suits to work here as well!” It is silly.

You have an exaggerated sense of everything. For example, I walked by a rose bush and while I did indeed stop and smell the roses I also thought, for a fleeting moment, these were the most beautiful roses I had ever seen. They weren’t.  They were just roses. However, in that moment, in another country, they were just better. This happens more often then I wish to admit.

You think it is cool to incorporate local buzzwords into your daily vernacular.  I am embarrassed to admit we (for the record mostly ironically) have been using “wee”, “arse”, “ye”, and “pint”. Can ye pass me a wee pint before I fall on me arse?

You feel very small. It is cathartic, terrifying and remarkable.