Travel Notes - 1.

I desperately wanted to get away from home today. London. McLeodganj. Colombo. Anywhere.

But then I remembered one of my favourite Cavafy poems.

The City

You said, "I will go to another land, I will go to another sea.
Another city will be found, better than this.
Every effort of mine is condemned by fate;
and my heart is -- like a corpse -- buried.
How long in this wasteland will my mind remain.
Wherever I turn my eyes, wherever I may look
I see the black ruins of my life here,
where I spent so many years, and ruined and wasted."

New lands you will not find, you will not find other seas.
The city will follow you. You will roam the same
streets. And you will age in the same neighborhoods;
in these same houses you will grow gray.
Always you will arrive in this city. To another land -- do not hope --
there is no ship for you, there is no road.
As you have ruined your life here
in this little corner, you have destroyed it in the whole world.

-- C P Cavafy, 1910

There's no getting away from a mess that's actually just inside you. Travel is discovery, not escape. Finding, not hiding.

objects in my room aka home is away

maps.
bicyles.
ships. one on a keychain, one on a ceramic plate.


and then i wonder why all i want to do is to be on the go.