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What a long, strange trip it's been

© Diane Goldberg under the original topic name

I have been struggling with my need to write about the tragic events in Littleton, Colorado. Hatred, murder, and mayhem have no place on a budget travel web page. Or do they?

Last fall, when I was interviewing a nice young man at Paramount's Carowinds, I told him that one of the reasons I love travel writing is that, personally, my view of the world tends to be dark and depressing. I often believe that most folks lead "lives of quiet desperation." Or, at least lives full of evaporating dreams, exorbitant bills, disappointment, and nasty plumbing. Given my somewhat grim [or realistic] view of dailyness, I see travel writing as a near-sacred trust. If I can persuade you to leave your angst long enough to get on a plane to Athens or drive to a craft fair in the next county, I'll consider that I've done my bit for the human race.

You see, I really believe that you can run away from your problems. I have numerous times, and I plan to do so again whenever possible.

Travel removes you from the confines of your life. Travel takes you away from the roof that leaks or the schoolmates who ridicule you. Travel gets you away from your TV, your dirty dishes, your old ideas, even your language. When you wake up in a strange city the world is quite literally a new place.

Travel shows you that the world is a vast place full of people who never heard of your home town, who don't care what they are wearing in Topeka or what's cool in Edinburgh. Travel can show you that something as basic as a toilet varies from country to country.

Travel can also let you assume an identity. The strangers on the next train don't know you're a geek or a cheerleader or a Goth or an accountant - or all of the above. It isn't only a case of where do you want to go . . . it is equally a case of who do you want to be . . .

One of my least favorite debates is the one that centers on the difference between a tourist and a traveler the implication always being that being a traveler is somehow superior. I find that a silly and unnecessary distinction - we are all tourists, travelers, or residents of this planet and we have all found ways to make it better or worse . . . to learn or to hide from change . . .

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