Traveling

In the strange other world of plane flight, I've been reading The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, a digital book borrowed and thought overdue, but still readable on my Kindle app. Curious.

After immersing myself in guide book reading for most of the journey so far, it's seemingly apt, now, in the last leg of the journey, in a darkened airplane, to read his lyrical descriptions of walking in places that evoke their ancient heritage, and the paths made by those who lived there many years before.

We'll be in equally ancient places, but perhaps not in a culture that's easy to know. Already surrounded by Spanish speakers, and Guatemalans traveling home, Spanish is the first language spoken on the announcements and directions. And it also seemed to be dominant in the Miami airport, just left. But much of Guatemala harbors speakers of various Mayan dialects as their first language, rather than Spanish, reflecting the rich and diverse past of their country, even with Spanish as the official universal language.

 

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Traveling

Heading off tomorrow is a familar dance -- of preparation, both for travels and at home. House sitter and plants - check; last vegetables harvested and cooked - check. Refrigerator empty of things that could moulder away - check.

But the more interesting reflection is around the journeying.  Heading to a developed country (Ireland), where they speak English, is hardly as challenging as traveling in the developing world, but perhaps that's a good thing.  We'll be able to enjoy the fellowship as well as the spectacular scenery!

Ireland will be a lovely country to visit, I'm totally sure.  It'll be free-wheeling, with a rental car, anchored by a 5-day retreat in the Beara Peninsula. 

It's reminding me of previous (solo) trips to England and Germany, for some reason.

I'm taking much the same gear, but not my old digital camera -- it'll be the iPhone this time along with our small Panasonic.

This was my gear in England, on a self-guided garden study tour several years ago.  It's the same for this trip, minus the acquired Kew Gardens tote and the BGCI bag, which I still use for all sorts of things, but including a small backpack (for the laptop, ugh, which I'm bringing because of the retreat, and its voice to text capabilities).  Only when there's a car in the plan does a laptop make sense anymore.

In recent travels, I've just taken an iPad with a camera connector.  But it's time to upgrade all of these devices.  Hhrmph.  This will be the first trip, however, with a smart phone -- I'll swap out the SIM card in Ireland for a local one, for data access on the road.