‘World traveler’
Do you know folks like this? They’d walk into a room full of strangers and immediately make themselves at home — grab their favorite drink, fill the plate, find a comfy spot, start a meaningful conversation with a 100yo deaf great-grandmother-in-law in a wheelchair? Yup, they are awesome, and I am often nothing short of personified awkwardness dipped in embarrassment sprinkled with introversion and controversy.
‘But this time — this time everything’s going to change’, I thought when I walked into a house full of joyous family members this past Thanksgiving.
I ended up next to my friend’s uncle. He had a mane of grey hair, cute dimples that I knew were there from the previous Thanksgiving, and a very welcoming back. I pulled myself together and whispered into it:
‘So did you get to travel anywhere this year?’
Boom! The question hit home. He turned to me, very animated.
‘Oh, yeah. We just came back from South Korea. Stayed there for a month. We visited China, you know, Tibet, there were monks, stopped by Shanghai on a whim.’
My jaw dropped a little, because I’m a sucker for going places.
‘Actually we are leaving in a week on a cruise to South Africa for 21 days. From Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires to the South Pole. It’s funny how the North Pole has only bears and Antarctica has only penguins’ — he carried on lightheartedly. Like he wasn’t seeing the effect this made on me!
‘We took a cruise once to Iceland and Greenland, then crossed over to London, then went to the North Pole and back to Alaska. We stayed on the ship on Alaska because of ecology, but they swim you through the glaciers, and we saw polar bears and the auroras.’
He pointed at a woman carving the turkey ‘She works as a hostess on a ship, so I get discounts on cabin prices and airfare. I get $150 airfare to South America, regular is $2000. So I tag along. Once they didn’t even know that I’m staying in her cabin at all.’
‘Oh, and in spring 2015 we are going to Bali, and then in a month after that to Australia. I just give my car to a friend and he gets to drive it everywhere. I don’t care. I hop on a plane and tell him “I’ll call you when I get back”.’
‘Is there a place in the world you haven’t been to yet?’
He thought for a moment ‘Actually, no. I’ve been to about 80 countries. Visiting some twice now.’ His cheeks with them cute dimples slid sideways in a very cute, happy, charming sincere, and pleased smile. Do you love your adjectives as much as I do??
Tormented by the glimpses of places and things that his monologue offered, I was about to go ‘I wanna see pictures. I wanna hear stories. See the faces of people. What were your emotions? How’s the nature like? What color is the water?’ I wanted to ask all those questions!
So I asked with bated breath ‘Do you have a blog?’
My new found 60-year-old friend looked at me, all confused and polite and attentive, and uttered
