Wednesday 22 February 2017

On Travelling & Destinations

The journey is the destination, as the saying goes, and that essentially translates into that one should enjoy the travelling and to not impatiently wait for the final destination. But how do you that in a tube, at an altitude of 10 000 meters, with three guys in the row behind you who are just getting to know each other and do not seem to tire of sharing insights of the most dull nature possible? How's the weather in Switzerland in July? Difficult to say ... Indeed!
Sigulda, Latvia, July 2016

Many years ago, I embarked on a bus trip from Bangkok to Ban Phe where the pier to Ko Samet is located. I was with a couple from Munich who were seasoned travellers and fond of local transport.  This bus trip would be fascinating, they said, and fell immediately asleeep as soon as we took off. 

Of this I felt reminded when last summer I took the train from Riga to Sigulda. I didn't see anybody sleeping – the trip lasted not much more than an hour – but most of my fellow passengers stared at their mobile phones or at their notebooks. Why don't they stay home? I said to myself and felt determined to thoroughly enjoy the journey by contemplating the passing landscape. The problem however was that there wasn'r really much to see for there were only endless rows of trees in front of the windows. 
Jurmala, Latvia, July 2016

When I finally reached my destination, the Sigulda train station, I asked for the city centre. And was told that it was where I just happened to be.

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