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SHE GOES HERE,
I GO THERE |
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My wife is in southern Spain right now, visiting cathedrals
in Seville, a mosque in Cordoba and the Alhambra Palaces in Grenada. I've
never been so delighted to not be with her.
Let me explain, because I'm well aware most people would give their
right arm to go on a trip to historical cities of Europe. But there are a
few of us, like me, who would give their right arm not to go.
I wasn't always that way. I've been fortunate to have
traveled all over the world. I did the backpacking thing in college,
staying in youth hostels, and then a lot of limited budget travel in my
20's, before kids came along.
The travel bug eased a bit when the children were young, but
when they reached their teens we were eager to show them the world, too. I
still remember a conversation with my 17 year old daughter, long ago.
"Want to go to Europe?" I excitedly asked her when we started
planning a family trip.
She shared my excitement, but answered in a typical teenager
way. "Yes!" she said, "but not with you!"
I think she was kidding. She went, and we had a fabulous
time. Since then, I've been lucky enough to go around the world. I've seen
museums in London, prisons in South Africa, temples in Japan, and the
ruins of the Colosseum in Rome. It's been wonderful, and I'm done.
I know exactly when I hit the proverbial wall. It was about
four years ago and we were on a tour with some friends in Peru. We had
seen cathedrals in Lima and Cusco, and had wandered through the ruins of
Machu Picchu. We boarded a train and it stopped in a small town where we
could tour the ruins of an old settlement.
"NO MORE RUINS!" I cried when my wife spotted me
wandering away from the tour group. "I never want to see another ruin
again!"
I realized right then and there that I also didn't want to
see another cathedral, or another temple, or another mosque. Or another
building, for that matter. I was done with architecture, or the ruins of
it.
I know how jaded this sounds. I've been very fortunate to
have been able to see so many cities around the world. I just don't need
to see any more.
I thought my aversion to cosmopolitan travel was just a
passing phase, and the travel bug would return. But it shows no signs of
resurfacing, at least when it comes to buildings. When my wife showed me
the itinerary of her southern Spain trip, I had zero desire to go.
So off she went last week with one of her best girlfriends. I
stayed home, making a mess and watching sports. As always when we're
apart, I began to miss her on the fifth day.
I was very happy being home, though. When she called on
arrival in Spain to say the airline lost her luggage, I sympathized with
her. When she called to talk about her day walking the streets of Seville
and touring the cathedral, I cringed.
I had no pangs of jealousy. On the contrary, I was thrilled
not to be there. Maybe no one but me feels this way, but I'd guess there's
others out there who have had enough of buildings and ruins.
Give me the countryside. I'd be delighted to travel to
Alaska, or to the southern island of New Zealand, or to the beaches of the
Amalfi Coast in Italy. I haven't been to any of those places, and I'm
ready to go.
Just no more cities. I'd much prefer hiking through the Alps
than walking through the streets of Paris. I'd much prefer hiking 18 holes
in Ireland than riding the subway in London.
The only problem is that my wife prefers the opposite. The
good news is that 98% of the population agrees with her, not me, so she
has plenty of travel companions ready to go.
It does, though, cause a bit of a problem for any future
travel plans we might have where we want to go together. She wants cities,
I want remote islands.
Oh, well. I suppose we can always have family reunions in the
airport.
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