People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination,
the kind of people they ignore at home.
-Dagobert D. Runes
Much has been said about travelling, about how it exposes us
to a new culture, reveals endlessly a series of bright and beautiful sights
that one could never find at home, how it reawakens in us a sense of childish
curiosity and awe and reignites the explorer in our soul. And so it goes on and
on.
The atmosphere these thoughts create is in itself extremely exciting.
One can probably go delirious deciding where to go and what to do there, even before
one has already been there. And when we finally arrive at our destination, the
novelty of it all culminates in a visual orgasm, one after the other. “Waah, so
nice!” is heard for the umpteenth time. Out comes the
camera and the building is photographed from all 360 degrees and uploaded onto
Facebook for the pleasure of the deprived at home. And before our eyes truly
settle on the sight, we are off again, to our next destination. Our behaviour
strangely resembles camels drinking huge amounts of water in face of an
extended period without it. We gulp as many places as we can, because once
home, travelling is too expensive, or assumed to be so. Therefore cramming so
many places within a short period allows us to draw on the bliss of memory at
some later boring point in our lives.
Besides, there is nothing much to explore or learn back
home. Just a bunch of multi-coloured people with their occasionally noisy
festivals and practises that we are used to by now. The museums and parks,
well, that’s more for the tourists and the retired. Besides why care? I have
been to Paris, I have been to Amsterdam, I have been to Berlin. What is ‘thank
you’ in German? Well, it does not matter; the Germans understand English. Why
are there the ‘xxx’ signs all across Amsterdam? Probably has to do something
with all the sex and the porn around. And the Italians who were living with me
in my dorm, well, they seemed nice, but I did not have any time to talk to
them.
Because you see, I am a traveller.
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