As I pulled out of the Gare Routiere (bus station) in Aix yesterday, a poem from a book that everyone knows popped into my head. "The road goes ever on and on / Down from the door where it began / Now far ahead the road has gone / and I must follow if I can / Pursuing it with eager feet / Until it joins some larger way / Where many paths and errands meet. / And whither then? I cannot say."
Tolkein had a lot to say about the merits of travel, and even more insight into the spirit of adventure. While I found his books rather tedious and hard to sift through, his stories epitomize the idea of adventure, and what I have just finished has been one great adventure.
Travel is "fatiguant," and time is a weird concept. I left Aix yesterday morning at 4:40 a.m., which was actually 11:40 p.m. according to where I am now. Twenty hours later in real time, but only fourteen hours later in stated time (4:40 to 6:40), through three security checks in three countries and four flight of varying lengths, I made it to the Jackson airport. My parents and my boyfriend were there to greet me with balloons and hugs (and to give me a hand with my seemingly infinite but actually very well packed luggage).
I am missing very dearly my friends in France. Chris's complaints about us not being there to cook him dinner make me smile (gotta push the bird out of the next sooner or later), and it's eerily comforting to know that Michelle is moving to Laos tomorrow, because whether or not I were still in Aix, she would soon not be there to adventure with me. Two months down the road, when everyone is gone, my feelings will be different, but for now, while I am not wishing I were still there, I am missing everyone very much.
As for Jet Lag: I woke up at 5:45 a.m., which is almost 1 p.m. (a time I've been known to sleep past) in Aix. It's not even 9 a.m. and I've been up for 3 hours. Something is amiss. I may take a nap, but if I do, someone's going to need to take responsibility for waking me up before 5:45 a.m. tomorrow, or I may never readjust.
I must follow if I can pursuing it with weary feet until it meets some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.
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