Travelling

For some reason I can't fathom I am going away quite a lot this year. Unfortunately several trips come very close together - a school reunion in Birmingham in March, a mini break in Berlin in April, a mini break near Chester in May followed hotly by a tour of the Hebrides in May / June. Then finally a decent period at home before Rome in September. All have been at the instigation of friends apart from Berlin which I'm doing with my daughter.

My first reaction is how lucky I am to have people who actually want to spend time with me in such close & prolonged proximity. Holidays, as I have discovered to my cost, can easily break friendships. We think we know people well, friends or family. Being together 24 / 7 sometimes reveals that we do not. What was a slight irritation can become a major nuisance or a real bar to getting on.

Travelling is, at times, bound to be stressful. We take ourselves out of our comfort zone & doing it not knowing how well we can rely on our companions can be risky. Are we compatible in our likes & dislikes, our understanding of other cultures, our ethics? Do we want to be joined at the hip or are we self reliant & independent?

This years holidays aren't intrepid - been there, done that, got the Tshirt, (literally). That sort of travel has broadened my mind more than any other life experience. Many of the places I have been are now war zones - not my fault I hasten to add. My daughter once said that she wished she had parents who just went on holiday to places where people weren't likely to shoot you! (It wasn't really that dangerous except possibly Yemen or Libya).

Life itself is a journey along an individual path. You can make of it what you will. You decide what you will or won't do with your life. There are constraints & they increase as you age, but you choose whether you will let those constraints inhibit you. So, I am trying not to let inertia stop me. I'm trying to ignore the small voice in my head which says - do you really want all the effort or organising & packing, then returning & catching up? Is it really all worth it when you could be comfortably at home in your own routine?

I think I do & it is worth it. When I really can't do it any more I will have a huge store of memory & experience. Unless Dementia gets me of course.