I know the world falls into travellers and non-travellers, just as it falls into shoe lovers and those who are indifferent to shoes. By travellers, I mean those like Thomas and I who go away as often as they can afford, who can barely imagine a week off where you stay at home and those who feel obliged to go away every year or every other year but who really can't be bothered with airports, transit, vaccinations, visas and the whole caboodle - I think I'd throw my brother in that bag. As I hitch-hiked and inter-railed my way across Europe as a student, I was wide-mouthed in amazement when my brother preferred to spend his summers amassing money working for an insurance company in Glasgow wearing a suit. I wanted to jump up and down and scream, throw him in my rucksack and tell him he was only young once and that money was nothing compared to freedom - but I imagine he'd have been as unhappy poor and in my rucksack as I'd have been in his suit - funny man! (love you Derek - even if you are odd!)
Anyway, I got to wondering whether the lack of travel in my early childhood - I first went abroad (by car) at 13 and didn't step on a plane till I was 15 - made me the traveller I am or if it is more innate. I hope the latter is true because I was watching Marcel and Lots on the plane on Saturday morning. The weather was perfect - clear skies with a postcard view of Denmark from the sky. Despite having been on literally hundreds of planes I still hang out the window in wonder at the beauty of it all - knowing how long I had waited for this view as a child. My kids on the other hand sat with jumpers over their faces trying to sleep away what they see as another boring run of the mill flight because they too have been on hundreds of planes, but they started flying at 15 weeks, not 15 years, so never knew what it was to wait to fly. I hope that despite their lack of awe, they will want to travel the world while they can rather than sit in an office.
I guess their enjoyment of our little missed flight hiccup in Stansted gives me hope.
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