Thought I’d do a quick debrief of my holiday while I’m still getting over the jet lag.
It turns out only one of my offspring was still reading this blog by the time we returned. One lost interest about the time we lost our luggage back in Edinburgh, and the other didn’t even make it past Germany. They found the parental intimacy implicit in the comments about beard rash back in Frankfurt far too confronting, and were too afraid of further icky revelations to continue.
People have asked me how I enjoyed my holiday and I’ve found it hard to answer. Normally I say things like “wonderful!” and “I had a great time!” but this time it’s more like “fine” and “OK”.
The expensive luxury of first class flights and posh hotels was great as a once off, but I’d like to actually afford to retire one day before I die, so I probably won’t sign up for that again. Otherwise the things I’d like to avoid in travel destinations in the future are: heat (number one), markets, shopping in general, religion, sexism, poverty, and I’m sure there’ll be more I can add as I think of them. Is there a unifying theme here? Maybe it’s just “don’t push me out of my comfort zone!”, shamefully enough, although I will say I’m not afraid of physical exertion. Sensible amounts of physical exertion, I mean: walking, hiking, cycling – not ridiculous stuff like climbing mountains. You won’t see my body joining the many littering the upper slopes of Mount Everest, for example.
I realise this eliminates large areas of the globe: India, Africa, most of Asia. In fact I’ll be limited to Europe and the UK, North America, and the Pacific. And you know what? I’m OK with that. I think I’ve hit peak travel and I’m glad to cut back in future, for the good of my well being as much as the planet in general. (NB I reserve the right to change my mind once I forget how tough I found this holiday.)
