actually today
Today is wasted in Nagoya. I knew I couldn't get to Kyoto at any reasonable
hour from where I decided to not sleep last night. so today I will sleep as
much during the day, wake up at four and get to Kyoto as early as I can.
Normally I wouldn't be worried about the 135 km ride, and I'm not really but
I've just had so many fuck ups already on this journey that I'm counting no
eggs till they hatch. And once I'm in Kyoto, I feel like my world is going
to improve leaps and bounds.
Till then, I'm at least stuck with Internet.
I try to remind myself that while this doesn't feel like normal travel, this
is still going to be a great experience. It reminds me of sitting on a curb
in Utrecht, (Netherlands) contemplating if I ought to pay 12 to enter a
museum of moderate interest. I decide it's not a good use of my 10 a day
budget and sit on the curb outside writing instead. And I wonder, why the
hell did I fly all the way to Amsterdam to sit on a curb on a slightly
chilly day? I went to all of two, three? museums while on my bike tour in
Europe. Art museums, my absolute favourite thing, I would just look at the
catalog in the museum shop instead of paying the fee. Sometimes I still
wonder if it was a crazy waste traveling like I did. I was not culture
viewing, I hardly ate the local food, mostly just bread and salami. I spent
half my time in Montpelier sewing a bike bag, hardly even seeing the city. I
don't even know why people go there.
Yet, it honestly was one of the greatest trips on my life. Somehow, I felt
even a richer connection with the people, maybe cause I passed thro their
suburbs late at night. Or smelt their garden beds.
Maybe cause I looked so many of them in the eyes as I biked past them,
making sure they noticed me to avoid collision.
I know for one, that the one museum I paid for, I walked in every single
room, read every single placard. I loved it, I spent five hours there. I've
never done that before in a museum, not that much detail. And the few, less
than five, times I ate at a restaurant, I feel like those are enough. If I
had eaten at 20 restaurants, I probably would only remember five. Is this
because our memory is limited, like we can only hold seven digits in our
short term memory. do we only need to explore each sense seven or so times
to be able to hold all the memories? Or is it that our categorizing works
in extremes and we only remember the best and worst, and the other three
place holders in between. All else fade together.
Either way, I traveled then in a way many would think was boring. I spent a
lot of time in parks on curbs writing in my journal. Sometimes I'd people
watch. Sometimes I'd just go in my head for a bit.
And I even knew at the time that all the silly plans I made while biking
from city to city, about what I'd do when I got back or what my life would
look like in 5 years, wouldn't happen in just that way, I don't regret
thinking for hours about being a travel magazine writer. It was in ways like
watching a movie, about a self I could explore. And while no, that's not
what I'm going to do with life, the exercise was still strengthening my
sense of self and my imagination regarding life.
And so, I went to Europe and I did not see many attractions nor famous
things. And I'm here in Japan, sitting on a curb writing my thoughts on a
some what chilly day, but I'm not going to fret about things I might have
missed, or wasted time or money or life. This time, I will just enjoy
what's in front of means try not to ask for more.
hour from where I decided to not sleep last night. so today I will sleep as
much during the day, wake up at four and get to Kyoto as early as I can.
Normally I wouldn't be worried about the 135 km ride, and I'm not really but
I've just had so many fuck ups already on this journey that I'm counting no
eggs till they hatch. And once I'm in Kyoto, I feel like my world is going
to improve leaps and bounds.
Till then, I'm at least stuck with Internet.
I try to remind myself that while this doesn't feel like normal travel, this
is still going to be a great experience. It reminds me of sitting on a curb
in Utrecht, (Netherlands) contemplating if I ought to pay 12 to enter a
museum of moderate interest. I decide it's not a good use of my 10 a day
budget and sit on the curb outside writing instead. And I wonder, why the
hell did I fly all the way to Amsterdam to sit on a curb on a slightly
chilly day? I went to all of two, three? museums while on my bike tour in
Europe. Art museums, my absolute favourite thing, I would just look at the
catalog in the museum shop instead of paying the fee. Sometimes I still
wonder if it was a crazy waste traveling like I did. I was not culture
viewing, I hardly ate the local food, mostly just bread and salami. I spent
half my time in Montpelier sewing a bike bag, hardly even seeing the city. I
don't even know why people go there.
Yet, it honestly was one of the greatest trips on my life. Somehow, I felt
even a richer connection with the people, maybe cause I passed thro their
suburbs late at night. Or smelt their garden beds.
Maybe cause I looked so many of them in the eyes as I biked past them,
making sure they noticed me to avoid collision.
I know for one, that the one museum I paid for, I walked in every single
room, read every single placard. I loved it, I spent five hours there. I've
never done that before in a museum, not that much detail. And the few, less
than five, times I ate at a restaurant, I feel like those are enough. If I
had eaten at 20 restaurants, I probably would only remember five. Is this
because our memory is limited, like we can only hold seven digits in our
short term memory. do we only need to explore each sense seven or so times
to be able to hold all the memories? Or is it that our categorizing works
in extremes and we only remember the best and worst, and the other three
place holders in between. All else fade together.
Either way, I traveled then in a way many would think was boring. I spent a
lot of time in parks on curbs writing in my journal. Sometimes I'd people
watch. Sometimes I'd just go in my head for a bit.
And I even knew at the time that all the silly plans I made while biking
from city to city, about what I'd do when I got back or what my life would
look like in 5 years, wouldn't happen in just that way, I don't regret
thinking for hours about being a travel magazine writer. It was in ways like
watching a movie, about a self I could explore. And while no, that's not
what I'm going to do with life, the exercise was still strengthening my
sense of self and my imagination regarding life.
And so, I went to Europe and I did not see many attractions nor famous
things. And I'm here in Japan, sitting on a curb writing my thoughts on a
some what chilly day, but I'm not going to fret about things I might have
missed, or wasted time or money or life. This time, I will just enjoy
what's in front of means try not to ask for more.