Longing to Travel

If the other night was any indication, 2020 is going to be a long, sleepless year.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to get away twice. In late March, DW and I flew to Mexico to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. When we look back on that vacation, we look each other in the eyes and let out a longing sigh. It was probably the best vacation that she and I have taken together in ages.

Every couple of weeks, we find ourselves looking at the video we shot of that trip to the Mayan Riviera.

Less than six weeks later, I took a solo trip back to South Korea, where I relived some of the days when DW and I lived there, from 1997 to 1999. When I first returned to this East Asian country, I told myself that it would be my last time visiting this far-off land. Since then—especially when I watch the 70-minute video that I made—I've been telling myself that I could easily go back in a couple of years.

When DW and I were planning our Mayan getaway, and when I was planning my Korean vacation, I lost countless nights of sleep, lying in bed, thinking of our itineraries, working out where we were going to go and what we would do when we got there.

I also thought that for both trips, I would make video recordings that would tell the story of our adventures, and I'd lay awake, making a mental storyboard of what I'd shoot, and how I would string everything together into a story that not only she and I would enjoy watching over and over, but would be something to share with those who might also enjoy watching our trips.

I went almost a week, with maybe two hours of sleep each night, before I'd become useless during the day. So you can imagine how I felt, just the other night, lying in bed, thinking of our next trip.

You see, this weekend, DW and I purchased our airfare for our next trip.

We're going to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Twenty-two days in Europe. For about eight or nine days of our trip, we plan to buy some touring bikes and cycle from Amsterdam to Bruge, and along the Mosel River, from Trier to Koblenz. We want to return to Berlin—I was last there in 1988; DW went with a friend in 1989, shortly after she and I started dating. We want to see Bonn, Cologne, Munich, Dresden, Rothenburg, Brussels, Antwerp, Haarlem.

So much planning. So many places over a three-week span.

And so, I'm now starting to think of how I'll capture our trip, on video, to tell another story. This time, the challenge will be to make the video brief. And, in the planning, I'm already staying awake til the wee hours, imagining how I'll shoot this video. Already, making a mental storyboard.

The other night, I was up until nearly 3:00, only to wake up at 5:30.

So, why is 2020 going to be a long, sleepless year? Because, we don't leave for Europe until mid-September.

Stay tuned...