How to know someone loves you

You know someone loves you when…

You are blogging on your computer while they are doing a half hour of work after dinner and they change the music to country, look at you and smile big because they know you love it. And then they don’t complain while you sing along to every single song and drink the last glass of wine.

And they don’t change the channel even when the twangiest of twangy songs comes on, and they actually TURN UP the volume when “Storm Warning” comes on because they know you like to dance in your chair to it.

Yup, I’m loved 🙂

Courtesy of Raw Rip

Reading: Walking Distance | Everywhere Once

Plenty of people walk the entire 2,181-mile length of the Appalachian Trail. Others have walked coast to coast. Further treks are possible for anyone with the determination to undertake them. So it’s true that “walking distance” isn’t really an objective distance at all but rather a personal preference.

Walking Distance | Everywhere Once.

So true! When we were in Japan, we used public transportation and walked EVERY WHERE. Seriously, guys, every where. That’s just what you do when you don’t have a car.

You can walk, you can run or bike, or you can walk/run/bike to the train and bus stations.

Walking in Tokyo. Loving the man with the hat.

And it’s perfect. There’s no reason a person should drive something that is close and walking distance.

It took about a week to revert back to thinking that walking to the other end of a shopping center is a decision most people do not make.

Where public transportation is concerned, that idea flew out the window just a few days after our return from Tokyo. If you factor in the massive traffic jams, it makes perfect sense to take a train or bus. Unless you live where I live. Then it makes no sense at all, for various reasons.

One) I have a car.

Two) I’ve looked at the bus schedules. If I wanted to visit my Dad I could be in the car for 6 hours or on a bus for 24 hours. Tell me, which is more efficient? And why in hell can’t a bus get there in under 10 hours?

Three) If I wanted to ride the bus to work, it would take me at least 3 hours. But if I drive, it’s 45 minutes.

Four) There is no train from my city to my office. Or from my city to anywhere. I would have to drive to another city to take the train. This is not logical.

Conclusion: There is something seriously wrong with our public transportation.This should be no surprise.

Also, I know I already mentioned this, in Japan people are efficient in leaving train stations, department stores, etc. by escalator or stairs. They stand on the left side and let the people in a hurry walk past. This is an entirely new concept for me.

I’m accustomed to rude people standing in the middle of the darn escalator when I’m 15 minutes late to an appointment and I have to wait for the darn thing to get to the top, then wait for a gap to open up so I can hustle my way to the door.

By the time we got off the plane at LAX etiquette was already waning. We walked the little moving floor to pass people on the way to immigration/customs and already some people were standing on the left and on the right and right in the middle of the moving walkway. WTF people. You were just in a country where this does not happen. What changed on the flight??

And then my friend Erin over at Erin’s Library pointed out that in large cities people are polite and nice and stand to the side to let the hurriers through. So I guess efficiency is not dead, not completely.

Why can’t I live in one of those cities?

Where should we travel next?

Now that I’ve got my handy-dandy passport all 1-stamped and ready for more, I have this feeling like I can go anywhere.

At any time. Whenever the need strikes.

I realize this is not entirely true and that there are money and logistical concerns to think about…  but it’s a good feeling nonetheless. I like the illusion that I can escape the country if I need to.

Not that I would need to. I mean, it’s not like I’m planning to become a felon or anything. Though I suppose no one plans on that.

But that’s beside the point.

The point is, travel is awesome and I’m not a picky eater and I don’t mind long plane rides. This means I can go anywhere in the world if I can just schedule it right and save up the funds to pay for it.

Here’s my short version of a travel bucket list. The long version would list every country in the world, and also the moon, which is not entirely feasible before I die. Unless they invent some way to extend the good years of life. I wouldn’t want to go to the moon when I am 95 years old. That just seems irresponsible.

Places I would like to go (in no order)

• Italy
• The U.K.
• Ireland/Scotland
• France (including but not limited to Paris)
• Turkey
• Israel
• Peru
• Costa Rica
• Tahiti
• The Bahamas
• Florida
• Montana
• Alaska
• New Mexico
• India
• South Africa
• Amsterdam
• Thailand
• Wales
• Australia

Places I have already been

• Japan
• Arizona
• Nevada
• Colorado
• Washington
• Oregon
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Mexico
• Michigan

Places I have already been but would like to return for more

• Japan to see more of the country and Kyoto
• Colorado outside of Denver
• New York
• Mexico. I walked across the border once, before passports were necessary. I’d like to go back for more than a couple hours and actually see the country.

So, what countries am I missing? Anything not on the list that it’d be a travesty to miss?

Here’s me on a plane:

Me on a plane. No make-up, that's right.