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Wednesday 6 March 2019

A Smaller World

I'm not much of a one for foreign travel.  I went on Voluntary Service Overseas when I was twenty one, came home with both legs seriously broken and then never left these shores until I was fifty and my sister wanted to visit Alaska so I went to carry her bags. When I was nearly sixty I decided to do my cruise of a lifetime so sailed across the Atlantic and up the east coast of North America from New York to New Brunswick.  Since then I've been to Bruges to see my nephew a couple of times but really I am quite content to explore my own island.   

And yet I'm very aware that when I say I'm not much of a one for foreign travel I am comparing myself to my contemporaries.  One of my friends returned from Australia having gone to help at the birth of her third grandchild.  Another is planning a visit to New Zealand to see her daughter in the autumn.  My cousins daughter is holidaying soon in Thailand and a friend will soon be accompanying her husband on a business trip to Vietnam.

But my grandmother never left this county, never mind this country!  My grandfather served in France in the Great War and never wanted to cross the sea again.  Compared to that generation I am very well travelled.

However, even without leaving my armchair I can chat with people in far off lands.  It's nearly 2am here and I have been chatting on line with a friend in Texas and talking about holidays, the weather. her grandchildren, my trundle truck and all the minutiae of everyday life.  I wouldn't be doing that to any of my local friends as 2am is a rather unsociable time to chat but it's about 8pm where my Texan friend is.

I may not travel - but the world comes to me.

6 comments:

  1. And this is the part of technology I like and enjoy! The miles just melt away, don't they! Thanks for such a nice chat!

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  2. I love the internet for that very purpose. I get to see a tiny portion of the lives of people I would never run across in my 3-d everyday life.

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  3. That is why I love blogging and the internet. You meet fascinating people that you can chat with any time of the day (or night).

    Our eldest son loves travel and does so whenever he has time off from teaching. This Easter he is going with a group of students (who do online learning) and their teacher to Italy (for the second time) and this summer he is traveling through the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries.

    If my last set of tests go okay (or if we can arrange it) I want to go to Greece in May. Keeping my fingers crossed. Of course our oldest has already been there.

    God bless.

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  4. And I've just risen at 6.30 and found three comments, all from North America - the wonder of leaving an opinion on my blog for just four hours and getting an international response! Thank you, each one of you!

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  5. I'd say you've done a fair bet of traveling. And I'd say armchair traveling by blogging counts too.

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  6. Isn't technology wonderful. I get to see my Grandchildren daily despite been miles away from them.

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