Playing in a Travelin' Band

I've gotten used to travelling a few times a year. It's not an addiction, per say, because I feel that's an overused word, but I certainly notice when I haven't moved about in awhile. I suppose it began with those group trips to the western US or outside of the country, followed by regular high school football away games, band trips, and the occasional educational and immersive foray into Spain. College continued this with football and basketball trips, alongside New York in 2008 and Orlando recently.

One unusual aspect that I enjoy as much as the locale or event itself is the time spent travelling. A to B, you know? I've probably touched on this before (years ago), but I still don't know if I've quite expressed the feeling. It's the suspension of expectations: the pause of all else in place of being idle for an extended period of time. It's a strangely freeing sensation to me.

What to do with all that time? Much of it is watching movies or eating time with one form of media or another. What I enjoy, however, are those extended conversations with people: those times where you connect with someone else beyond the normal realms of conversation. In my experience, this almost only happens when we're forced empty or recreational time and don't always know what to do with it.

But one further aspect of travel is this heightened sense of possibilities. It's only enhanced by sensationalist movies to and fro that add to the potentially surreal nature of the trip. It sounds silly, but that longing for a perfect love story, amazingly good party, or thrilling adventure becomes palpable when you're so far away from the known. And so is, all-too-often, my experience on holiday.

I remember these situations often in more detail than the roller coaster rides or the tall, old buildings. I remember missing a 3:1 gender ratio in my favor in Europe. I remember my head against the cool glass of a charter bus late at night when a girl takes the time to pity me and have a meaningful conversation. I remember offering my jacket to someone whom I knew was interested in someone else outside a Hard Rock Cafe. I remember discussing at length for hours many topics concerning gods, society, and more in Hawaii. I remember being flirted with on a school bus on the way back from an away high school football game. I remember spending every waking moment with someone in Spain, possibly being closer to someone than I ever have been. I remember (hearing of) mischief at every turn.

Some of these I remember fondly. Others I know would not have amounted to anything permanent today (much less as picturesque as imagined), but it's those experiences I never had that irk me. It's often a waste to consider petty "what if"s, but did I miss something important back there? Something I won't be able to get again?

I'm certainly most reflective away from home. It's far from the humdrum and the norm, liberating both physically and mentally. But it swings both ways.