“Fernweh is the opposite of homesickness. It is the longing for travel, or getting out there beyond the horizon, what you might call… awaysickness.”
This is my permanent disability which needs to be continually nourished and fulfilled. As soon as we return from one trip, I’m asking Carol: “Where are we going next.” I’m not totally comfortable, about my life until I have another trip in the offing…it may be a year away, but I have to take my Fernweh medicine, which is knowing that there is another trip on the horizon.
When we returned from India In March, we decided that our next trip would be to “Central” Europe…what we used to Call “Eastern Europe,” until the Soviet bloc imploded and Ukraine and Belarus became the Eastern portion of what is considered Europe and the ex- Soviet satellite countries then became Central Europe. We’ve wanted to do a river cruise for some time…tired of the mega-ship experience of being with 5,000 of your nearest and dearest friends hurried along on to shore excursions with a cattle prod, a leisurely putt-putt down a European river with no more than 100-150 people seemed ideal. I wanted to take advantage of my travel agent perks and get the large discount offered to Travel Agents at the end of the season. We don’t usually do two big trips the same year, but since I’m such an old fart and not sure how much longer I will have my TA card, and my Fernweg couldn’t wait 18 months we opted to double down and go this year. Trying to decide on going to head out in October and November, our thoughts ran as such: “We can be in the rain in Budapest, Prague, or Krakow, or we can be in the rain in Battle Ground, Washington….hmmmm….let me consider that…not much of a brain twister, actually. So the trip was planned….a 15 day river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam preceded by a three week rental car zip from Budapest to Bratislava, where our dear friend Maruska is from, then on to Prague where we have a dear “granddaughter” from Tashkent studying, and on to Poland, (where we have another granddaughter studying In Warsaw) to see the world heritage city, Krakow which has always on my list and then back to Budapest with a lot of national parks and nature in between the cities….
The caveat on this trip is that since we initially planned to do this trip, the refugee crisis which is engulfing Europe has now put a totally new perspective to the journey…the four countries we had decided to visit have formed an “anti-quota” bloc and that means that we are going to be dropping right into the middle of the crisis on an up close and personal level…not just headlines, photos, and sound bites….Hungary has implemented a new law which makes it a crime to transport any refugee, so I have no idea of what kind of emotional roller coaster we will be on in this trip….certainly changes it from a walk in the park smelling the flowers to a realization of the fragility of life. But I’m assuming that the spirits which guide my life have some lessons which I need to learn and I am ready for whatever lies ahead of me, literally and figuratively, on this road of life.
So, let the medicine kick in….just a simple 10 hour flight to Amsterdam from Portland, funny how that seems like such an easy flight these days, and my condition will immediately improve…an extra skip to my step, a heightened awareness of my surroundings, a general improvement in attitude…all miracle remedies for my malady.
Time to live large. Life is good
