Departures

It's that time when one can let go of all the stresses, to do lists, anticipation: it's now! Lock the door behind you and off you go!
This is probably one of the reasons I ended up in the travel business. Because it doesn't matter to me if I am leaving with a group on a long tour or with friends on a weekend jaunt. It is the unknown that is exciting.

I remember when I left on a first class flight (first and only time!) offered by Singapore Airlines to join their top managers for a meeting on Public Affairs. Actually I was so concerned about the business that I didn't quite take full advantage of that luxury. But I ended up in a cockpit used for training, wow! That other time when I went for my Christmas vacation to Burma for the first time (I hate the new name Myanmar!) -it was the year 2000- where I met a group of women with whom I'm still friend after many years.

Bagan, year 2000

And when alone I drove up the Black Mountains looking for quilts (I was so terrified that I took a one way road on the wrong direction that was only for trucks!).            

On all these occasions I had no idea of what the trip was going to be, what kind of people I was going  to meet or travel with, next to whom I was going to be sitting for hours on the plane. Every single time I met interesting people I thought I would never forget, but of course I did. But not all. For some small details -a comment, a gesture- they stay in my memory and appear from time to time in my mind to say hello.

Once I was flying from Milan to London and next to me on the other side of the aisle a man was sitting looking very pale. When the plane started moving he turned to me and said "can I hold your hand?" He was terrorized. We held hands until we landed, then said goodbye.

Recently I joined a small group of really great people for just a weekend adventure. Jaunts and road trips are for me the best, but only if they are in the Southwest desert. Nothing can beat the amazing landscapes of the Four Corners!  I knew only a few but it seemed that we had grown up together. A weekend made of simple things: one found some fun stuff in a highway store, another one sang cowboy songs all along, some had a bit of dope, and others just discovered each other. We were alive, happy, and worry-less.

Even when I ride on a coach with some 20 or 30 people, despite the tension and long days, we create a sort of micro-world that becomes our cocoon for some time. Suddenly we share personal stories, memories, photographs, always medications (!) and often sing and cheer at the old CDs I bring on my tours.

Strangely, it's when you are with someone you never met before that you feel you can be yourself. Together, in those moments, or days, we share everything: excitement, discoveries, music, food and everything else around us. It's magic!

Departures are for me the salt of life.