There’s a reason I love international travel – aside from the opportunity to see new cultures and meet interesting people, I love it because even mundane activities have an air of the exciting about them. Going to get bread at the local bakery in Fortaleza…trying to navigate the subway in Tokyo…taking a full hour to mail a package from the post office in Mombassa which would normally take 15 minutes in the US…all things that were their own little adventures. I find it hard to garner as much excitemet about domestic travel.
But still I’m determined to document as many of my trips as possible, so here goes. I’m on day two of my travel from LA to Farmville, VA for Christmas with my family. I haven’t been to Farmville since I had to go for my Aunt’s funeral probably close to 20 years ago. The vague memories I have were of a very rural town (the city name says it all) and the large, old plantation house my Uncle Johnny lived in at the time and a bed that was so high off the ground that you needed a ladder to get in. Actually, now that I think about it, this may be the perfect place to spend a traditional Christmas…snow on the ground and big old homes. My Uncle has since moved from the plantation home, but I’m sure where he lives now will be just as cosy…especially with 7 extra people in his home!
The trip from LA was arduous but luckily fairly uneventful. LA to Vegas, Vegas to Chicago and then Chicago to Richmond. I packed everything into carry-ons so I didn’t have to worry about my luggage deciding to spend the holiday in Vegas while I went on to Virginia and I was lucky that the longest delay we had was about 45 mins in Chicago. Not bad considering the snowy weather that had come in last week. Now I’m holed up in the Hilton Garden Inn at the Richmond airport waiting for some kind soul to make the 1.5 hour drive from Farmville to come pick me up so I can join my uncle and step-aunt, my mom, my cousin, his wife and their 3 kids. And while I wait, I work. Just having started a new job, vacation time has not accrued, so I’m on the clock waiting for my next conference call to start up. More later when I actually get to where I’m trying to go.