Jetset Lifestyle

Every now and again, I get that feeling of what it would be to look at my current life from the vantage point of my younger self.   What would a 17 year old version of myself think of my current life? I had one of these moments when I arrived at the Venice airport yesterday morning.

I've been to the Marco Polo Airport a half dozen times over the past few years, usually to go to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste.  The airport feels very familiar and I'm quite comfortable with it.  After landing, I waked straight out with my carry-on and computer bag and headed straight for the rental car station (noleggio auto).  The woman manning the AutoEuropa/Dollar/Thrifty stall recognized me and proceeded to give me a better rate and said "you remember the way out to the cars?" To which the answer was "yes."  I popped out and got my car and then began driving out without looking at a map. I knew all the turns and main cities, very much like the drive from SF to Palo Alto.  Knowing that the main city is Udine, where the toll booths are, knowing the exit off the A4 on to the SS14 and knowing the blind turn down to the Adriatico guesthouse.

It's just a strange life being with dozens of cities around the world: New York, Tokyo, London, Florence, Chicago, Oslo, Geneva, LA, Istanbul, etc.  There's no wonder or feeling of exoticness that there was a decade ago.  It's hard to imagine before it happens.

I guess what is missing is the expected level of anxiety around traveling to some place half way around the world (okay only 9 timezones).   After traveling for a decade, I'd gotten so familiar with having stress levels rise.  The purpose of stress is to cause you to be more aware and vigilant -- Experiencing the narrowing of vision and the raising concentration and a general level of jumpiness.  Instead that's all gone and life on road is comfortable.

It's a bit sad, because that sense of newness is one of the reasons people travel.  I don't think it's gone for good, but I think I need to travel to new places to experience it and that list is beginning to shrink.  Europe is a very small place to me now.  I still have a couple of countries to axe off the list:  Portugal, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Iceland, Malta, Cyprus.  But that's getting to be short now.  Africa and South America are still mostly unexplored and India I've still yet to go to.  I should go to one of these places in the aftermath of tenure.