I’m excited. Or am I? Yes, I think I am. Very much actually.
As I’m sitting at the Munich airport, terminal 2, with a long chain of boarding passes for eleven flights, Thinking about the past years. Thinking about the upcoming year. Thinking about what going to happen after I sit down at seat 37K of flight TG 925 in a few minutes. That moment.
Oh, experience is cheap
If that’s the company you keep
And a chance is all that I need
And I’ve had it
I’ve had it
Where did my journey start? Was it when bought my round-the-world ticket? When I decided to go on a trip? When I left Anne for good? Or even earlier? Maybe when I was born. Or with the big bang? Or the rim of an expanding four dimensional black hole? Because every physical interaction, decision, every minute had led me to that moment. That moment and everyone to follow.
So we all just started playing
And then something strange occured
Not a person stirred
Oh, it started out one way
But it turned out to be okay
And I felt that somebody should say…
Little did I know what I was going to find, little did I know what I would become. They say that at the age of thirty, your life is pretty much settled. You’re not going to change much, neither your life, nor your personality.
Oh, experience is cheap
If that’s the company you keep
And before you know that it’s free
You’ve had it
You’ve had it
The plane is on time. At 21:16 I take my first photo with my camera. I look at the shot. It’s slightly blurry, like my future. I’m wearing my new brown shirt and my black fleece jacket. I blend in against the dark background. I look bland. Bored. Exhausted.
That photo is an unmistaken evidence that I would never have expected this. Two years from now, I will look back at it, and I will fathom that moment. Those last moments in Germany for the next twelve months.
I will re-read my first blog entry from Bangkok and laugh about all the bickering. All the stuff that I tought was important and was not. All the friends I left behind who were the same when I returned — except for the few that were lost in the rear-view mirror. No, these were not the things in life that I reckoned made it worth living. Or not worth living.
Like most amazing things
It’s easy to miss and easy to mistake
For when things are really great
It just means everything’s in its place
“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” Indeed. But this is nothing you can convey to other people. Everyone has to make their own experiences.
Let’s do the time warp. Again.
When everything was over
And we loaded up the van
I turned and said to Dan,
Dan, I guess this is our prime
Like they tell us all the time
Were you expecting some other kind?
Today, exactly two years ago, I took a plane to Thailand. Roughly year ago, I returned ended my trip. Two years since I started! Back since a year ago. Unbelievable. And I still haven’t gone through my photographs, told all my stories, met all the old and new friends.
And believe me. I’d rather be on the road to an unknown future right now than to sit here in Erlangen, doing a quite frustrating job that I’m still good at, in a country that alienates me, after I’ve seen so many others. Wait a minute! My future is always unknown. Hah!
But life is about change. In so many ways! You exchange some things in the favour of others. And usually, it’s not easy. It’s never a bargain. I had to let go in so many ways. But I gained on so many others.
Oh, experience is cheap
If that’s the company you keep
And I’ll never get that disease
’cause I’ve had it
I’ve had it
I guess I’ve had it (Aimee Mann, I’ve Had It)
21:50. Ready for take off. What would you do, if you had the chance?
Let me tell you one thing: You have it.
