Monday, May 25, 2009

Travel Bug : Mission NZ

After a spell of staying put in SF, the fire in me to travel has rekindled and I'm out and about planning my next travel. Traveling is addictive - the more you go, the more you wanna go... Luckily, world travel is still quite primitive - otherwise, we will all be traveling around the world too quickly and will forget to smell the roses.

I have one too many friends who inspire me daily; I know a lucky friend of mine, working in Europe and traveling around there a bit, much too much to my agony :) (yes, I'm unabashedly jealous!) Another one, has traveled the world so many times, that his life must be boring, now that, he has set a fairly monotonous rhythm to his journeys - again, my envy gets the better and reduces his flight among the birds a trivial pursuit. Thinking about his life and journeys, would I ever be able to leave all my creature comforts behind, and pursue such a path of monotone? Maybe for a short while... ? How short 'short' really is? Ever since last November, these thoughts have become ever so strong - with the passing away of a very close friend of mine - letting his last gasp of air following his dream. Watching his memorial slideshow gallery and finding bits and pieces of my life intertwined with his, but still, missing a huge portion of destinations, leaves me yearning to follow his erstwhile sojourn. Was Juergen a forceful divine suggestion/intervention of sorts? - if one could call it that - maybe its my destiny perhaps, to elongate his footprint around the world, to provide continuity to his merrily quest. Such thoughts, often, bring to forth my worldly commitments, reminds me of the bills that are due, the responsibilities that weigh me down - or is this all just a facade of a coward, with no courage to pursue what could potentially be his only path for eden. For now, I procrastinate, in the vain hope of attaining this magical illusion of 'sustainability', that last deposit to come back to, planning a resting place for the weary feet.

A lovely song, Burden of thought, from one of my newly discovered bands (Epidemic), comes to forefront. Could I be suffering a serious bout of BoT? Sometimes I feel the time is just around the corner, to set my sails and spread my wings wide, and follow the unchartered territory with no obvious plans - no maps, no return tickets.

A seriously quiet weekend among the giant sequoias, a 10 minute solo walk, had me convinced of this - multiple travels due the rest of the year. And Juergen needs to be exercised, among other things... Let the planning begin, I said, loudly. A few up my sleeve for the rest of the year, capping with NZ? Why the heck not! A long trip is so overdue!