One trip to Europe and a tour of China do not a traveler make.
I can’t recall whether or not we were apprehensive about our second (or what I like to call our first official) trip to Europe. The training wheels would be off this time. No hosts. No interpreters. No chauffeurs. When I think back on that time, I am filled with fear and anxiety. What were we thinking? What if…? How were we going to…? Maybe the travel bug had bitten us so deeply that we were absolutely blind to the pitfalls of independent international travel.
I am still gobsmacked. How was this all done before the internet and smartphones? Imagine lugging around maps and printouts of hotel reservations and train tickets! Clearly, if we had the money, we could have hired a travel agent to make all the arrangements. But what if we had a limited budget or didn’t want to just stick to the usual tourist traps? Would the sights and sounds of Europe be closed to us forever? In our golden years, would the best we could do was reminisce (in my best crackly voice) about that “one time we went to Europe”?
Our answer was a collective and resounding “NO”. This was also around the time that I came to another life realization. Many people our age or older dream of traveling the world after they have retired and the children have flown the coop; by then hopefully they would have the finances and time to do so. What they possibly fail to realize is that although their minds (and bank accounts) may be more than willing, their bodies may not. I am sometimes tempted to think that this is God’s cruel joke or his/her way of reminding us to live in the present.
As a gay couple, it might come across as flippant of me for reiterating this but we are no different. Any perceived difference is just that–a misperception. We have a mortgage and bills to pay each month. Our (fur)kids, while four-legged, still need us for food, shelter, and love. We have 40-hour 8-to-5 jobs that we enjoy on occasion. There is the constant worry about having enough money for retirement or for that emergency car repair. The losing battle of the bulge is real and ongoing. There is the health and well-being of family and friends that keep us up at night.
Even despite all this, there is the overarching question: is travel (international travel, in particular) worth it? For the staunch opponent, no amount of convincing will do; travel will always seem a waste of time and money. But for the willing or even just the curious, travel opens up a whole new world. Cliché? Absolutely. There is truth in this though.
How is life lived by those that share this planet with us? Do they have the same hopes and dreams as we do? Do they have the same fears and weaknesses? How have they been shaped by their environment? Their culture? Their history? Sometimes to deeply and profoundly understand you must be there.
