Travel Dreams

I don't travel much, I am not a well traveled man... Which is a terrible shame!  

I've never been a rich man either, and because travel costs money, we have reached an impasse in the narrative already.  My usual forays away from the homestead are in the shape of choir tours, and this year will be no different.  Truro Cathedral Choir are on their way to Sweden this year, in August, and it promises two things: Singing and, well... Drinking, let's be honest.  Prices for alcohol might be supposedly sky high over there, but remember!  There is always another way.  

But let's pretend that I have endless supplies of cash.  Oodles of frequent flier miles, I dunno.  Where do I want to go?  Where would I choose to go? (Because it's about what you choose, not what you want)  Predictably (is it predictable?), I'd like to go to America.  It'd be nice to go to the land of the almighty Dollar (which I suppose isn't exactly so almighty these days) just to experience it.  I've spent all my life within European borders, and I'd like to get out and see the other side of the pacific.  Even now, my friends are finishing their years abroad, and have had various results.  I dunno how much American TV I've watched, and I know it's completely wrong to base one's expectations from mere entertainment... So it would be nice to see what sort of reality it comes from.  I can read about as many cultural differences as I like, but nothing will ever beat going over there.  I hear even the air's different too.

I've been to Germany a total of 4 (that's right, FOUR) times as well, and I wouldn't mind going back.  My sister spent a year in Berlin on her internship with the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy, and she intends to go back there to celebrate her birthday.  What a Git.  Anyway, I've been to Berlin for a grand total of three days, choir trips to Osnabruck for a week and a tour of the Rhineland, and a school trip to the Black Forest.  Berlin particularly (probably because it was the most recent in... 2006!  Erk) stands out, being stood out on a balcony til the early hours of the morning, and then repairing to the 24 hour bar in the Sunflower hostel for a coke, while the English guy with the dreadlocks NEVER SLEEPS.  Ahh... Happy days indeed! 

Closer to home though, I'd really like to get back to England for a bit.  There is actually a difference down here in Cornwall, culturally and meteorologically to say the least, and seeing as I the last time I left Truro was to go to Norwich last October, I really need to get out more!  There are more than enough in the way of churches and beaches and everything in between down here though to keep me occupied while I'm forgetting my writing schedule.  I do love living away from home, but it's almost as if I can't go anywhere at the moment due to abject poverty.  Do you even bloody know how expensive it is to travel on the trains these days I mean OY GEVALT. 

Never having traveled as a child, I've just gotten used to...not really thinking about it.  I still get envious, which I know that I really shouldn't do, but still... When you're stuck in while other people are off to fabulous destinations... Oh well.  I'd love to travel on my own, as stressed as it would make me.  I have enough problems on the Tube through London, could you imagine me interrailing around Europe?  It'd be brutal.  I'm terrible at traveling light, that's for sure.  The last time I went to Norwich I took my backpack, my case AND my Banjo, which on the tube on the way home was nothing short of murder.  I'd like to say I've learned from this experience... but probably not.  I take a lot of things with me when I travel so I feel comfortable all the time.  It's crazy, I know, and I'm sure that I just need to go traveling with basically nothing to snap me out of it but... I dunno. 

Of course, signing on as a Lay-Vicar will keep me in Cornwall for a few years yet.  Maybe, once I get a job, I'll be able to get away when and indeed, where I want to without having to worry about traveling on a shoestring.