Hodophobia, or not

[jchrisobrien]

I grew up in a poor family. We scraped along with all the basics, but the concern over money was always hovering above us. When we did take vacation, they were all in driving distance. We flew to Disney World once or twice, but flying was otherwise unheard of. Taking vacations or visiting other countries were as foreign to me as accounting or calculus. More importantly, I thought the idea of spending hundres of dollars just to Go Somewhere was a waste of money. Slowly I made changes to that. I traveled to tournaments, then to Montreal, then to San Francisco. Last year I walked the streets of Germany and Poland. Travel was not an impossibility, just a rare treat.

I bought plane tickets to two events in London over the summer, and I will have to buy another ticket from London to Serbia. I found out this morning that one of my events is being moved to a new weekend. A brief wave of panic surged over me, and I started berating myself: this is the Universe punishing you for flying to London for something as frivolous as a tournament.

Let's be clear: the Universe does not punish us. The Universe does not care what we do. I was nervous about spending a lot of money on two trips. I was trying to talk myself out of it by putting down my reasons for going. Why does anyone travel? To see new things and have new experiences. Any trip can be boiled down and de-railed and made to look ridiculous. At this point and time, Warhammer is My Thing. It's not as glamorous or sexy as many other hobbies or interests, but it's mine. I've already shown I can travel overseas to play games, so there's not reason for not doing it twice. I have the savings for it. I can replenish my savings. My savings are not for a house, it's just because I can. Or for having an adventure.

There's a very good chance that I can transfer my tickets to a new flight once I get confirmation on the new location and date. There will be a few anxious days waiting until every thing is ironed out. Then I can get back to planning the details of my two trips. To play games overseas. Which will be awesome.

Comments

[spitcurl.livejournal.com]

Word.

Some of my most memorable travel experiences were the same ones with the greatest snafus or chaos. (That includes almost drowning in Nice, the crazy day navigating Istria in which I lost cris' cell phone, and the Christmas Eve accident in Merida that left me with a big scar on my leg.) Letting go of the need to organize and just going with the flow...not the easiest thing for me, but always worthwhile when life sends me a big reminder.

I hear you silas7 on the growing up poor and taking mostly local driving vacations. I couldn't afford to travel off the continent until I turned 30, and I still have to budget carefully to do so.

If it helps, the British Museum is free and spectacular. And the Victoria & Albert currently has a David Bowie exhibit which looks amazing: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

Very wise post, silas7.
Second spitcurl on those museums too.