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Saturday, July 21, 2018

Anticipation

Sculptures outside the Bröhan Museum
NOT just a great Carly Simon song!
The pleasure isn't in doing the thing, the pleasure is in planning it.
~ John Green, Paper Towns
I disagree BUT...

I’m generally not a planner – not when I go on vacations. I like to keep myself open to whatever might show up in my face. Historically, before venturing out, I read minimal amounts about my destinations. That right there, is a failing. It really is possible to read and learn, to do advance exploration, without locking myself into a rigid plan. Also, would it kill me to have a B&B reserved? Ya know, a home base, a place to drop my rucksack when I land, before I Begin the Beguine (and shit)?

But, but, but....what if I don't like the place? What if someplace else that I happen to pass on my way from the bus stop looks much more charming and darling? Gee duh, I can just change my digs. At worst I may lose a deposit. NOT the end of the world!

The first time I went to Berlin, all I knew was the romance and magic of Christopher Isherwood’s stories, the horror and grit of the wall and that they had some must see museums. On that trip I wandered the streets. Yes, I went to the Pergamon, the Berlinische Galerie and the Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie (at that point, Berlin was reunited but much of the wall was still standing) but, mostly, I meandered aimlessly, stopping in cafes to nosh, read and people watch.

It wasn’t until MUCH later, after Della and Martin moved there (it’s Martin’s home town!), that I got to see so much more of the town. Berlin is VAST. I hope to visit again soon.

This loose, no-plans-please-we’re-free-spirits thing’s all well and good but I do think I’m missing out. I can read up, get ideas ahead of time, travel in my imagination without locking myself into a hard, unbreakable, MUST DO program.

We need the sweet pain of anticipation to tell us we are really alive.
~ Albert Camus
Hmmm. "Sweet pain" somehow that seems less than pleasant. And yet...
“Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh 
I don't want my anticipation, my imagination to outclass reality. Is that actually even possible though? While I have an inventive, interesting bean, I doubt that I can create a rapturous, Elysium universe so perfect and full that, in contrast, reality is nothing but a weak, dreary sister.

'scuse me, I believe I'm going to cut loose and enjoy some anticipation. Cheers!
Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.
~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

4 comments:

  1. I shouldn't even comment on travel, since I leave my immediate vicinity a couple times a decade. But on the trips I have taken, I have gotten way more out of it when I discover a city by just venturing out and see what I can see.

    I feel like I know New Orleans and Tuscon and Denver, having just wandered around those cities. With Boston, I was visiting with my then-girlfriend's family, and they had a fully booked schedule to all of the important places scheduled. It was a whirlwind that i don't remember much.

    The plans ruined it.

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    1. Ya see, Boston's a total walking city. You can go from Kenmore Square to the Back Bay to the North End to the South End and then over to Cambridge on foot. Easily done and you'll see so much interesting shit than you would on a tour. Granted Boston's not as cool as it was 20-30 years ago but that might just be me being nostalgic AND resentful of all the rich-asss developers.

      I've never been to New Orleans. Denver, not in *gasp* 40 years. Tuscon just once and I want to go back.

      NYC, Edinburgh and Amsterdam are 3 of my favorite cities for aimless wandering.

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  2. That's a great Carly Simon cut, truly an under-appreciated talent.

    Though I too shouldn't be commenting, having not been south of Klamath Falls Oregon since 1988, nor east of Missoula Montana since 1999. Y'awl can have them big cities, just give me some desert sky!

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    Replies
    1. Me? I WANT IT ALL! As long as “all” includes an ocean. That’s a MUST have 😁

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