‘I don’t remember, I don’t recall, I got no memory of anything at all.’ Lyrics from a Peter Gabriel song, that reminds me of my youth and that has become a favorite of Klara’s lately. It’s also a song that came to mind the other day as I was working on my current ‘passion project’ - organizing old photographs.
As I was sorting through pictures from the many trips abroad I have been fortunate enough to enjoy, I was struck by the large range of impressions these trips have left. Some I remember very well, and I have fond memories of which I like to recall. But then others seem to have left very little trace in my memory, and I feel like a detective searching through notes, letters, and pictures, to piece together the timeline of these trips I hardly remember.
In 10th grade while still living in Germany, I went on a foreign exchange to England, to a town called Felixstowe in Suffolk, it must have been in 1992 or 93. I barely remember any of it. I have no pictures of the trip and I have no pictures of the return visit of Claire, the British exchange student, who came to stay with us in Würzburg. I have a foggy recollection of a train trip into London, visiting the Tower of London, and really wanting to visit the London Hard Rock Cafe but not getting a chance to - or maybe I did get a chance?
In the summer of 1996, I spent two weeks on Crete. A fascinating place with so much ancient history, a warm climate, sun, beaches, and good food. And Greek food is my favorite! I do have a wealth of pictures from the trip and yet, it’s not until I take out those pictures that I say to myself, ‘Wow, yes, I went to visit Crete all those years ago, I had forgotten about that.’ Why is that?
Sometime in the early 2000s I spent two weeks on Corsica. My detective work has not yet revealed to me what year it was. Another beautiful island in the Mediterranean, that did not leave a lasting impression, and I don’t feel any urge to go back. Just like with the trip to Crete, it’s not until I take out the photo album that I remember I was even there.
In 2004 I spent two weeks on the Greek Island of Lefkas to learn to windsurf. I have pictures of a line up of butt-naked windsurf instructors entertaining the participants of the surf course on the farewell evening. You’d think something like that would stick in my mind?! Alas, not so! Not until I take out the picture, I go, ‘Boy, look at all those good looking, oiled up, and tanned bodies. I had forgotten about them!’
There might be other trips like those, but I don’t remember 😉!!
Then there are those trips I remember easily; I have fond memories of them and stories I like to recall from time to time. Like riding into the desert on a camel and making bread in the desert during a trip to Marokko, or attending the Buddhist wedding of a friend in Milan, Italy. Hiking up to the lava fields on the Big Island of Hawaii, standing on top of the Teide volcano on Tenerife, the lights, the sounds, and smells of Shanghai, China, or standing on top of Fox Glacier in New Zealand. I love that I got to see these places and cherish the memories. While I'd probably happily go back to some of these places, I would also be fine if I did not get to visit them again.
As I am reviewing the dizzying list of trips I have been on, I am ready to acknowledge the fact that my desire to travel has greatly diminished. When I first left Germany and started attending a boarding school in Ireland, I used to look up at planes in the sky overhead and I’d think to myself, ‘I wish I was on that plane and I don’t even care where it goes, just away on a great adventure.’ (I was not especially happy at boarding school.) Today, when I look up at the sky and I see a plane, I think to myself: ‘I’d love to be on that plane so I can visit my family in Germany and stop in Ireland on the way. No other grand adventures needed.’
There are very few places that I’d want to go back to just for the sake of the place. Ireland would have to come first, for some reason it just won’t leave me alone, and then Scotland and Iceland. Scotland, because in 2007 I went hiking in the Highlands with my parents and I was supposed to stay for another week to go canoeing but I got really sick and so I had to cut the trip short. That was very disappointing and I’d like to make up for it someday. Plus the Highlands are just stunning and in my opinion, Edinburgh is the most beautiful city I have had the fortune to live in! Iceland, because when I finished a North Atlantic research cruise there in 2001 I only got to spend 36 hours on the island and it struck me as the kind of place I’d like to see more of.
I have to admit, that this forced Corona hibernation has me also dreaming of taking 6 months and just traveling the world to visit friends I have not been able to see in a long time for many reasons, not just the pandemic. It would be a trip where the destinations would be chosen based on the friends and family and not the places themselves. I realize that won’t happen, but it’s fun the think of all the friends around the world we could go and see. It could be quite an epic trip.
But well, Matt and I are becoming settled down ‘grown-ups’ (which is currently proving challenging for wandering dreamers like ourselves) and so our traveling and moving, when we can do it again, will be modest, unless of course, my mother drags us off on some adventure we can’t resist … like crossing the Atlantic on a ship ...
For now, I’ll keep playing detective and dig through the evidence of a life partially forgotten it seems, to see if I can remember and if I can recall any memories at all!
- o -
For the record, here's a partially complete list of places lived and foreign trips taken:
Trips of a lifetime - list a work in progress
Images:
1. Corsica ca. 2002
2. Crete with fellow travelers, just before starting a hike through Samaria Gorge - Summer 1996
3. Riding into the desert on a camel, in Marokko - 1994
4. In the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland - 2005