Traveller of the mind

I start back at work in less than ten days; real life work, stuff I'm actually paid for even though it's not what I want.

This is a twelve month contract, a whole year of busting my butt for others, being nice and courteous to the public. I'm fortunate in that my job is in a beautiful area and in a national park. Of course, the money's good too.

Away from that reality is what I can do with the money, and my plan is to go overseas again. It's been ten years since my last jaunt. I find that too long. I love travelling; love the different cultures, different personalities, different landscapes.

But I'm not a tourist. I'm a traveller. The journey is just as important as the destination. Each journey teaches me about myself, and my fellow travellers. Not for me the phrase 'we have a bigger/better one in our own country', or bitching about the service, the food, the transportation, the accomodation. I like to study the differences, not criticise them.

The same can be said of the books we read: Whether one author is better than another, whether the story is intriguing or not, whether we'll read more from that author.

Each book is a unique experience, we imagine the story, the characters, the worlds created for us. The book's imagery settles into our mind like a memory, and when we see the title years down the track, we remember what it was about, or the blurb prompts that memory.

Whether we are travelling in fact, or travelling in mind, the memories build up to create a patterned quilt of our lives. The good, the bad, the dangerous and the downright ugly all come together to give us experiences we might not have otherwise had.

The difference, of course, is that books open up new worlds to us. Nothing limits us other than the quality of our imaginations.

So I'm pondering on where I shall go: The Pacific Northwest and New England? Or do I go the other way to Europe and the British Isles to hunt down my ancestors? One is an adventure novel, the other is a mystery novel. Both will be exciting and create more experiences in my library of memories.