Today I'm on a train in Switzerland, heading to St. Moritz. Yesterday I was flying over the Grand Canyon, the day before that I was overlooking a glacier in Iceland, and just last week I was on some temple steps in Burma. Yeah, I get around.
It's hard to think of a place I haven't been, because after a while the memories of all these places blur together. Heck, I've recently ridden in a taxi in Burkina Faso, Africa, driven a scooter in downtown Jakarta, Indonesia, walked the streets of Lucknow, India, and was hiking in Alice Springs, Australia (fair bit o' dry there, mate!).
I've been in Nome, Alaska, across the strait in Vladivostok, on the train that crosses the vast expanse of Siberia, and of course to Moscow.
I've also been to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, France, Denmark, Sweden.....
...England, Ireland, even the Azores. I’ve been to Tahiti, the Seychelles, a tiny island archipelago called Tristan De Cunha, said to be the most remote inhabited place on earth, to Antarctica (natch), and pert near everywhere in South America.
I've driven down the streets in many African capitals but still have a few to go, the only reason I haven't been to those leftovers already is because I didn't at the time know their names (mental note to self- look those ones up!).
I've been to Morocco, Sicily, Thailand, Vietnam....
.....Mongolia, Madagascar, high up in the Himalayas, down in the sweltering swamps of Louisiana, across the high plateaus of Bolivia, in nasty gang infested areas of El Salvador and Nicaragua, in South Central LA, across the border in Tijuana, to old battlefields and historic sites, on trips down various rivers, hiking in the Pacific Northwest, on the beachfront boulevard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina....
...to whiskey distilleries, in attendance at laser light shows, and at innumerable, it seems, music events. This summer I binged for three days at Lollapalooza!
I've ridden in everything from gliders to some of the biggest airplanes in the world, where I have always had a cockpit view.
I’ve been to many exotic places.
Ryan Tang- Unsplash.com
I've been in the cabs of numerous 18 wheelers, crazy contraptions called ‘swamp buggies’, driven a train, ridden down a mountain luge course, and launched rockets into, if not orbit, way way up to where I could see the curvature of the earth.
In addition to my travels I've gone to school on many subjects I have been interested in, studied military weaponry, dabbled in occult subjects, and took part in numerous science experiments (many of those performed by amateurs!)
Some days I don't know where to go and sit around stymied, wondering what to do, just waiting for inspiration to come. I know not where the road will lead me but almost always enjoy the journey- once I get going.
I'm not interested too much in the way of drama. I avoid observing tragedies, surgeries, or violence of any kind. There's too much good out there to give any of those possibilities my precious time.
Which is time very well spent for I find I'm continually amazed by what I witness. So many people have volunteered to share their experiences with me. I hope that I can someday offer them up some tasty fare in return, for they have given me so, so much.
Yet, I can't say that I am sated and wonder sometimes if I'll ever be for the capacity for more seems to be boundless. The amount I take in doesn't seem to come close to filling my container.
I’ve been to too many gray countries lately. Think I’ll go to this one and get some sun.
Ryan Spencer- Unsplash.com
The only limit to what I can take in seems to be time and the ability of the human body. The body needs rest, needs to shut down for eight hours every day. How inconvenient! Yet, that's the way it is.
I guess I should clarify here what I mean by 'time'. 'Time' for me means 'the brain's ability to stay focused on a task', for in reality I am not limited by time. I can go backwards in time all I want, forward too. I can slow time down, or speed it up. It's amazing to play with time in those ways. History? I can gorge on that, if I want. I can even animate portions of it.
But, my attention span is too short to stick to one task too long. I know that about myself. I also know that there are loads of items on the buffet table and that more get added every minute.
Another thing countering any tendency towards having a singular focus is I have learned that too much of any one dish might not be good for me. It's better that I dabble. Little of this, little of that. And why not? There is so much to do!
(Hold on- my train just stopped on a siding up here in the Swiss mountains. Must be another train coming. No- we were just waiting for a signal change. We're back rolling again).
During this train ride I may or may not come up with an idea of where to go to next. I could go anywhere and do nearly anything. At almost any time! It's hard to choose when my choices are as wide open as that!
Sometimes I just pick a place randomly and off I go, following links and ending up miles away, or even across the globe, from where I started.
Well, this train ride is getting kind of boring. I'm going to get off the line here and.......
....get on another one in uhm….
…South Africa, I think. They've got trains there, I'm sure of it! I'm going to get on one and see what their trains are like.