Traveling

I came across a small piece in a "travel" notebook this afternoon.  Perhaps I've posted it before.  I don't remember one way or another.  It must have been written close to 5 years ago.

But in these non-traveling times, it struck me as interesting.

This is what I wrote:

"Traveling encourages self-reflections, simply by contrast to the familiar routines of "regular" life. Some of our lives are more routine than others, both by inclination and circumstance.  Those of us who are good planners are seldom surprised by small everyday challenges at home; we've already made sure everything is humming along.

I'm remembering this afternoon, though, as I'm writing this, the profound disorientation that surprises bring while traveling: the unfamiliar dish, ordered by mistake, the holiday not know about (thank goodness for the plum and apple trees in roadside rest stop plantings on my trip to Germany some years ago -- I hadn't had Unification Day in my planning!)

And so many twists and turns that turn traveling into an envelope of adventure just opened.

Sudden observations become aha moments encouraging consideration of something new."

Three dogs in Rome from a long ago trip.