Trapped in the Burbs of Savana, Slovenia

OCTOBER 16, 2012

“I’m just sittin here watching the wheels go round and round.”  

-  John Lennon

  

One week to go.   I can’t say, “wow that went by fast,” because it really didn’t.  My pace was quicker than most people travel, while at the same time reasonable to me.  There were very few times I felt rushed or that I wanted to see more landmarks and such at any given place.  All the same, I would really like to extend the trip by, I dunno, maybe two years. 

And, of course, there are days like today when the mass transportation gods are not on my side and I’m completely forced to slow down.  And in this case, do it in Savana, Slovenia.  A suburb with zero character or entertainment. 

One of the downsides to meeting so many adventurous free spirits is that their grand scale of their travels can lead to a bit of travel envy.  Moving from hostel to hostel I have heard of the most wonderful escape-from-society stories.  These range from Ken’s 19 month bike tour (referenced in the Skopje post a month ago) to Ibraham’s off and on travel schedule since 1977 to a whole slew of white collar castaways who are just l-i-v-i-n.

Hearing these stories and travel agendas (or lack thereof) makes me keep adding things to my Life List.  The more people I talk to, the more places I hear about.  The more places I hear about, the more I want to travel.  It’s like an aggressive pop up ad explosion from a late-90’s porn webpage.  It really can’t be stopped. 

Fortunately, I’ve made myself slow down from time to time on this trip.   Practice yoga.  Meditate. Sit on random park bench.  Watch the pigeons.  Journal.  In this, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for where I’ve been and the inspiring people I’ve met.

A week from now I’ll be back in Detroit.  A week after that I’ll be in Panama City Beach.  A week after that I’ll be in Santa Barbara.  A week after that I’ll be in San Francisco.  It’s not like my travels are nearing an end.  I’m still technically homeless and running an internet-based company after all.  I’m just nearing the end of the European portion of the trip, and the look back is awesome.

Now back to the pigeon watching.