A Reflection on Travel

Yes, this is a travel blog, but I am a metaphor person too. Travel in its most dramatic form is physical. I buy that expensive plane ticket, get on that plane, my body moves through the sky, and I arrive at an exotic, new-to-me destination. We recognized that form of travel without question, but we can also never physically leave a place and travel too.  For example, when I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, my imagination plays the scenes of the novel in my head. Time passes fast with a good book. I have never left the couch, expect maybe to get some food or tell the cat no, but I have been traveling in my head. We also understand this concept of non-physical travel. We even understand how life itself is travel as a journey. That cliché comes up in many an old 80’s Rush song.

I have blogged about a physical and exotic travel I took in January to Brasil. This was also a life travel as well since I was meeting a whole set of in-laws I had never meet before. My concept of family doubled when I met and married my husband and then again after we were married and I met the Brazilian side of his family. I even meet some of my mother-in-laws friends, her extended family, and they joined our life as well. That is clear from the previous posts. I would also call these elements of travel blessings.

But, our life was about to take on another dimension of travel when we arrived back from Brasil. Ernani had rocked the LSAT and we were waiting to hear which schools he got accepted into and which were to offer us money. We had a big decision to make that would result in us moving, or traveling, to a new city and it could have been Austin, D.C., Chicago etc. They were all over and all interested in him. This physical travel was again coupled with a mental change. He would go to law school and I would pursue work. That work suddenly became open to any possible kind of work, not just teaching.

We have of course made our decision by now. We will be moving to Iowa City, Iowa. This is a place that is close to my husband’s heart. He went to school there for his philosophy degrees and his brother and sister-in-law and their family live there. In many ways, he is going home. I, on the other hand, am moving to a new place. It is another exotic destination and one that presents many options and life travel paths for me. Ernani of course has his new path: law school. What will mine be?

Right now, all I can say is we will see. But, this morning as I was catching up on Gretchen’s blog (http://www.happiness-project.com/), I read an interview she posted with Richard Florida who was talking about the importance of where you live. It does of course matter in terms of happiness. We are happy where we are accepted and where we can pursue what we enjoy. It also matters in terms of what travels we take. Our place does affect us and the places we go do as well. Being close to family matters to both Ernani and I. Being in a job that allows me to teach and be creative matters to me.

We visited Iowa City a few weeks ago. It was a very good trip. We were productive, we found a bank and a place to live. Ernani took a tour of the law school. We found a great coffee shop. The public libraries are amazing and wonderful. There is park every 10 feet. The food in the grocery stores is reasonably priced and there are 4 days of farmer markets in the area. My friend Carol is 20 minutes away. My parents are only a day away. My brothers about 5 hours away. The farm is 2 hours away. It seems a wonderful place to live and raise kids and be a writer. When I told the landlord I was going to pursue writing as work, she did not dismiss the idea or respond negatively. She was sincerely enthusiastic about it as a workable idea. I took this as a good sign of community and acceptance.

If community acceptance is key to happiness as Richard Florida asserts, I pray that Iowa City accepts me as I think it might. This is my wish. This is my new travel destination.