The Siren Song of Far Away Places

I love to travel. Seeing new places has always interested me. Thankfully, I have plenty of opportunities to do so, although not frequently the way I prefer to travel -- with my family. But I'll take what I can get, and look forward to retirement when I'm hoping to have both the time and the money to really see the places that I all too often rush through on my way to a conference.

The pictures on this page, and ones I am linking to, are from a two week trip to New Zealand and Australia for business purposes. Actually, as I post this on the web I'm still on the trip. A weekend layover in Sydney has afforded me a chance to do a little sightseeing (mostly just walking around town), get caught up on work, upload photos to my web site, and post this.

I'm trying hard to not get behind in my work on this trip, since this is just the beginning of a heavy travel period that may not end for a couple months yet. The fall is typically my heaviest travel period, and this year is no exception.

But business travel, as tiring as it can be at times, and as little time as you typically have to look around, is still travel. If I sometimes complain about airlines hardly ever being on time, or the length of airport security lines, in the end these are but petty annoyances. I am, after all, still going places. So you won't find me complaining to my wife, who all too often is left at home to keep the kids fed and shuttled from place to place. I know I have it good.

Traveling reminds us about the diversity of the world. It takes us out of our comfort zone, and challenges our assumptions. It forces us to grow, and see new perspectives, and think. In the end, it shows us the humanity of humankind, and the fact that in our diversity we are still very much alike. The siren song of far away places lures us away so we can learn how to be at home in our world.