moving forward
I spent the morning at the airport today with J and The Bun, for no real reason except that we couldn't decide where to go with the weather being as temperamental as it was - rainy one hour, blazing hot the next. The tourists passing through Terminal 3 must really think Singaporeans are very odd to actually go to the airport to eat, shop and hang out, but perhaps they don't realise just how tiny our island is and how any air-conditioned place with decent eateries (more than decent, really) is bound to be mobbed on weekends.
Anyway, we spent some time at the viewing gallery in Terminal One, watching the planes come in to land. I've been truly lucky to have had the opportunities to see as much of the world as I have had, and really, travel is one of the activities that truly bind J and I together. We first met while we were traveling for the first time by ourselves as young adults, and we got together and became a couple while traveling to NYC. Since then, we have racked up more than forty journeys together. I remember huddling together in a freezing cold bunk bed in Paris because we were too poor to afford a hostel with proper heat. I remember having a petty squabble at the top of some mountain in Norway, and then reading Harry Potter novels later that day in a park, my head in his lap. I remember walking through the streets of London for an hour to get home after seeing in the Millennium at midnight. I remember skydiving in Queenstown and discovering that when you scream at 12,000ft, no one can hear you. I remember falling asleep (!) on an hour-long elephant ride in Chiang Mai. I remember road trips through the desert and waking up at dawn to get to Machu Pichu. I remember eating every three hours in Japan because we couldn't resist anything.
With The Bun in our lives now, we no longer travel as much or as often as we want, mostly because traveling with a young child is very different from traveling as an adult, and sometimes I just can't be bothered to engage in the fuss of planning and managing a toddler on the road. We also don't have anyone who can babysit The Bun for a few days without a great many work schedules being disrupted, so travel for us always includes him because we don't have much other choice. Unfortunately, The Bun sometimes becomes my excuse to avoid rocking the boat too much. I know that all this is temporary; I know that in a couple of years, the sort of trips we go on will change again, and again, and again. And isn't this why we travel? To see the world; to force ourselves out of our comfort zones; to change.
For once, I am spending a lot of time these days thinking about the future instead of looking back into the past. 2012 is going to be a big year ahead for our little family, especially as far as travel is concerned. I alternate between great excitement and deep dread. I've always been a bit of a stick in the mud, but change comes upon you, whether you like it or not. Perhaps it's been so long since I truly experienced the exhilaration of a new place brings that I've forgotten that I can i) not only cope with change, but flourish with it and ii) my comfort zone, while undeniably comfortable, makes me boring and lazy.
Those memories of travels past are my best reminder. Onward ho!
Anyway, we spent some time at the viewing gallery in Terminal One, watching the planes come in to land. I've been truly lucky to have had the opportunities to see as much of the world as I have had, and really, travel is one of the activities that truly bind J and I together. We first met while we were traveling for the first time by ourselves as young adults, and we got together and became a couple while traveling to NYC. Since then, we have racked up more than forty journeys together. I remember huddling together in a freezing cold bunk bed in Paris because we were too poor to afford a hostel with proper heat. I remember having a petty squabble at the top of some mountain in Norway, and then reading Harry Potter novels later that day in a park, my head in his lap. I remember walking through the streets of London for an hour to get home after seeing in the Millennium at midnight. I remember skydiving in Queenstown and discovering that when you scream at 12,000ft, no one can hear you. I remember falling asleep (!) on an hour-long elephant ride in Chiang Mai. I remember road trips through the desert and waking up at dawn to get to Machu Pichu. I remember eating every three hours in Japan because we couldn't resist anything.
With The Bun in our lives now, we no longer travel as much or as often as we want, mostly because traveling with a young child is very different from traveling as an adult, and sometimes I just can't be bothered to engage in the fuss of planning and managing a toddler on the road. We also don't have anyone who can babysit The Bun for a few days without a great many work schedules being disrupted, so travel for us always includes him because we don't have much other choice. Unfortunately, The Bun sometimes becomes my excuse to avoid rocking the boat too much. I know that all this is temporary; I know that in a couple of years, the sort of trips we go on will change again, and again, and again. And isn't this why we travel? To see the world; to force ourselves out of our comfort zones; to change.
For once, I am spending a lot of time these days thinking about the future instead of looking back into the past. 2012 is going to be a big year ahead for our little family, especially as far as travel is concerned. I alternate between great excitement and deep dread. I've always been a bit of a stick in the mud, but change comes upon you, whether you like it or not. Perhaps it's been so long since I truly experienced the exhilaration of a new place brings that I've forgotten that I can i) not only cope with change, but flourish with it and ii) my comfort zone, while undeniably comfortable, makes me boring and lazy.
Those memories of travels past are my best reminder. Onward ho!