Reverb 10: Travel

December 22 – Travel How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?



This one is fitting.
I am writing it from El Calafate, Argentina. In Patagonia.

This is the third trip I've taken this year on a plane. I usually am a solo traveller, but this year I made an effort to travel with other people.

I went to NYC with a new friend over Easter weekend.




I went to Iceland in May with a friend and my cousin



I am currently in Patagonia with a friend I have not really known very long in person.

I travel a lot. I am generally an efficient, experienced traveller. I tend to have my shit together. I look for travel partners with those same qualities. But the people I travel with are never as experienced when it comes down to the details of making a trip "happen". They depend on me a lot... Look to me to make decisions..

And that can sometimes piss me off.

I sometimes feel like a tour guide on these trips when I just want to be a passenger.

I know I sometimes have high expectations for other peoples behaviour. But they are no higher than the standards I set for my own behaviour. They are almost always much lower.

And.. Perhaps I pay attention to, and care about things that other people do not.

So I need to change things. While I like to experience things with other people and like to have more than self portraits of myself in places - I need to set the bar higher for my travel companions. If I want to keep travelling with people.




Maybe I should make up a questionnaire...

Are you a light packer and will you carry all your own stuff?

Are you decisive?

Are you on time for things?

Do you take care of, and pay attention to the details that are needed to be taken care of to make this trip happen? ( checking in and out of places, arranging stuff on the go)

Are you remotely mechanically inclined and have a bit of a problem solving personality?

How do you react to stress?

Can you be alone? Can you spend a whole day on your own in an unfamiliar city/country?

Are you able to give me alone time and space on a regular basis?

Can you drive, if needed? If you are even remotely afraid to drive, please say so.

Will you totally take care of yourself, within reason? (if you need my help, you need to ask)

If the shower rod falls down, what will you do?

Will you watch my back as much as you think i will watch yours?

Can you calculate a tip on a bill?

Can you be quiet and still, and not talk?

Can you read a map?

How do you cope in a place where you do not speak or understand the language?

.....

Or maybe I should just keep traveling alone and give up.

As for the future- next year I am going to Montreal alone, and perhaps southern and eastern europe next summer.

I've barely spoken to any of the people I travelled with this year, after we got back..

/<.