I’m a week and a half into this and a funny thing has happened: I’m beginning to feel invisible. It occurred someplace between Paris and Florence – most likely during our two days in Cinque Terre, where the streets and restaurants were clogged with tourists – all speaking different languages, all entirely oblivious to anything…
We’ve begun a tradition of sharing our day’s ‘high/lows’ each night at dinner. The only rule is that we must narrow it down to one ‘high’ and one ‘low,’ though there is no penalty for stating multiples of either. I usually can’t help myself. Yesterday, my high was the train ride from Paris to Genoa,…
Before leaving for Paris, a friend I place in the tip-top echelon of ‘foodie,’ as she not only appreciates excellent food but flawlessly executes complex recipes herself, assured me that I would love the food. In her words: “The French take food very seriously. Everything you eat there is impressive.” After five days of doing…
After fifteen uncannily smooth hours in the air, many of which I passed reading Geoff Dyer’s “The Paris Trance” (how fitting) while picking my way through the 112 songs on HBO’s Girls’ soundtrack, I landed in Paris feeling the way that everyone feels after lengthy air travel: a distinct sense of accomplishment, as if it’d…
The last few days have featured a slew of goodbyes, which has been especially uncomfortable for me. I much prefer the Irish style. But on the brighter side of things, it has brought me an overwhelming awareness of the incredible community of family and friends we’ve built here in San Francisco – a thing that…
I’m typically a last-minute packer. It’s a two-step process that begins with a list and ends with the zipping up of my carry-on suitcase. But this time is different. Yes, there’s a list – an exhaustive one – but there’s also a few extra steps. And none of this is coming together last-minute (even if…
We are solidly within the two-week mark, and this should all be feeling quite a bit more real. Yet it still does not, and I’m thinking that’s due to our plans (or lack thereof). At the time that I write this, we have the following actually ‘planned’ (read: paid for): 2 one-way tickets from SF…
As this trip draws closer I’ve begun to encounter (with increasing fervor) a familiar comment from most everyone I run into. It goes something like this: “You must be getting SO excited for your trip!?!” I know it’s harmless – it truly is, but with each rendition my anxiety has risen another octave. Because the…
This all began with an email I flippantly fired off to Dave one Monday morning. It was semi-prompted by the look on his face late the previous night as he anxiously checked his blackberry for the sixth time – from bed. In that email, I proposed a hastily constructed list of ‘next steps’ for our…
Somewhere Seeking 