Getting Started

Yesterday morning I looked through my journal and saw entries from a year ago when I first began to seriously consider some travel. At the suggestion of my Spanish teacher, I had been thinking at first of teaching English somewhere like South America. But as castled-Europe had filled my travel dreams from an early age (and with the consideration that a primary purpose of my travels would be to practice a foreign language), Spain quickly became the destination of choice. Especially southern Spain, Andalusía--spiced land of heel-stamping flamenco dancers, Moorish architecture, the Alhambra. Hmmm...exotic.

But, with nine weeks why not see all of Spain? And so, I begin in Barcelona, capital of Catalunya. Here they speak Catalan, not Castilian--which appears to me as something of a combination of Castilian Spanish and French, but not quite either. This is the home of Pablo Picasso, and just to the north in Figueres, the home of Salvador Dalí. There will be much to see and explore. I don't know that five days will be enough!

All summer I have been preparing for this trip: buying a travel pack (which I love!); determining which clothes will pack, wear, and line dry the best; researching the sites and the history; learning how to pack. I've been collecting items to take in a basket in the corner of my room: travel clothesline, travel journal, 3 oz bottles, maps, compass, astrolabe, star chart, travel guide, portable encyclopedia for research along the way. Traveling light is going to be tough!

As travel day approaches--heck! even as my last day of work approaches--I feel more and more the truth of Steinbeck's observation that "In long-range planning for a trip, I think there is a private conviction that it won't happen." Before I have even left it, I am beginning to miss my daily rhythm of early morning walks to the train station, the hectic or slow days of work routine, study and reading time on the hour-long train rides. There's nothing like impending change to make us nostalgic!

So here's the countdown: four more days of work, twenty-five days till I fly. Yikes! I'd best get packing...

¡Buen viaje!