Leaving Australia is so much harder
than I expected it to be. I never imagined that I could feel as though I belong
in more than one place, and yet I do. I love California; I have talked about it
constantly since I left. But now I love Australia too. I am sitting in the
Auckland Airport at the moment and as excited as I am to see my family, eat
Mexican food till I burst, play with my dog, and catch up with all my friends…I
can’t help thinking that it won’t be all that long until I go back. Hard as I tried I couldn’t do absolutely everything that I wanted to,
and I think that secretly made me glad because it gives me a great excuse to go
back.
I
tend to get very attached not only to certain places but also to people. And
this experience has been no exception. Saying goodbye this morning to my two
best Aussie friends was miserable. It didn’t help that we had to get up at the
butt crack of dawn and that I had to do some last minute semi-stressful luggage
juggling. But it would have been hard anyway. The cool thing is that I know
that I have made some life-long friends; the only downside is that some of them
live half way around the world. Yet another good reason that I have to go back
right?!
I
have decided that traveling involves a stupid amount of sitting. To get to the
airport you sit in a car, or a train or sometimes a bus. Once you’ve checked in
and dodged security, you sit and wait to board. Then you board the plane and
obviously sit until you land. Time for a layover…surprise! You most likely sit
some more. Because unless you have a travel companion (or 11), it is too much
of a hassle to walk around with all your carry-on baggage, unless maybe you
plan better than I do and don’t have much carry-on baggage. And on it goes.
Sitting, sitting, sitting. Have I mentioned how much I dislike sitting? I think
that Ben was on to something when he used the flat escalator-ish walkways as a
treadmill. In fact, I think that all airports should have treadmills. I bet
everyone would be a lot less cranky about traveling if they didn’t have to sit
so much. Just saying…
As silly as I feel for being so sad
to leave, I would much rather feel silly and sad than not. It tells me that I
truly enjoyed my experience. As my friend Courtney constantly reminds me, “it
is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.” Turns out
this applies to places and friends, not just to a significant other. But the truth
is I haven’t really lost anything and I have gained more than I can explain. So
yep, I’ll take a little sadness, It just reminds me how good everything really
was and gives me something to look forward to for the next time I see my
friends and return to Oz. In the
meantime, Merry Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever it is you celebrate! See you
soon, I’m off to defy the traveling odds and walk around in spite of my
excessive carry-on baggage.
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