Thoughts on travle…..For 45 years, I travelled between the Rockies and the Appalachians at least twice a year, to visit my parents in western Maryland. The first few years, those trips were via Greyhound. It worked when I was young and small, and could kind of fold up in a bus seat to sleep. Sleep deprivation was bad though. Once I rode the Green Tortoise rather than Greyhound. That took longer, but was funner. Then my earnings went up, and I started flying. I didn’t love it, but it got me there in a hurry. After 9/11, though, airport security became so tiresome that I wanted a different way to get from Montana to Maryland. And I discovered Amtrak. I had to drive nearly to the Canadian border to get the train, but even that drive was pleasurable. Even riding coach, it was way better than Greyhound: the chairs recline, like a great La-z-boy. But then I discovered the sleeper! Now that was a fun way to get across country, arrive in rested fashion, and enjoy things along the way. We took to exploring in downtown Chicago when we had to change trains there. Sometimes I went alone, sometimes my husband, or a friend, went with me. One time my husband, his 78-year-old widowed mother, and her 85-year-old widowed sister, made the trip with me…..that was about the funnest two weeks I’ve ever had, enjoying those dear ladies having such a wonderful time on our Geriatric Tour!
But overall, I don’t like to travel very much these days. At this point in my life, it’s a hassle, and I’d just as soon stay home. Travel requires energy, and I have less of that then I did half a lifetime ago. Also, it requires constant decision-making. For me, stability is a blessing: ‘boring’ is my favorite adjective! And rootlessness is disconcerting. I am Bilbo.
Thoughts on travle…..For 45 years, I travelled between the Rockies and the Appalachians at least twice a year, to visit my parents in western Maryland. The first few years, those trips were via Greyhound. It worked when I was young and small, and could kind of fold up in a bus seat to sleep. Sleep deprivation was bad though. Once I rode the Green Tortoise rather than Greyhound. That took longer, but was funner. Then my earnings went up, and I started flying. I didn’t love it, but it got me there in a hurry. After 9/11, though, airport security became so tiresome that I wanted a different way to get from Montana to Maryland. And I discovered Amtrak. I had to drive nearly to the Canadian border to get the train, but even that drive was pleasurable. Even riding coach, it was way better than Greyhound: the chairs recline, like a great La-z-boy. But then I discovered the sleeper! Now that was a fun way to get across country, arrive in rested fashion, and enjoy things along the way. We took to exploring in downtown Chicago when we had to change trains there. Sometimes I went alone, sometimes my husband, or a friend, went with me. One time my husband, his 78-year-old widowed mother, and her 85-year-old widowed sister, made the trip with me…..that was about the funnest two weeks I’ve ever had, enjoying those dear ladies having such a wonderful time on our Geriatric Tour!
But overall, I don’t like to travel very much these days. At this point in my life, it’s a hassle, and I’d just as soon stay home. Travel requires energy, and I have less of that then I did half a lifetime ago. Also, it requires constant decision-making. For me, stability is a blessing: ‘boring’ is my favorite adjective! And rootlessness is disconcerting. I am Bilbo.