Enthusiastic travelers want to convey all their experiences, thoughts and images to their loved ones, don't they? For example, I want Emily to know how exhilarating it was to watch hundreds of birds -- Sooty Shearwater birds, to be exact -- take off together from the surface of Doubtful Sound right next to our boat, skimming the water with their brown feathers beating together then, as they rose, the bright white of their wings' undersides glinting in the sun. I want Sarah to see the subtly varied colors and textures of the mountains as ridge upon ridge of green trees recede in the distance. I want Ruby and Hugo to notice how the clouds move quickly over the peaks hugging them like puffy white sea serpents. I want Andrew and Jordan to try to spy the seals flopping on the Tasman Sea rocks and a penguin popping up from his hiding hole and dolphins playing by the shore of the sound. I want Paul to sympathize with me as I try to find a decent brewed cup of coffee in this otherwise stellar country. I want Arun to hear with me Mother Nature's recording studio -- silence broken only by birdsong in Crooked Bay when the engines stopped. I want David to know it all -- all that I have done -- because he would enjoy it too.
And that's the traveler's dilemma. You want to share it all but you can't and should not really try because all those loved ones will have their own travels, as they should. So, loved ones: be patient when travelers come home. Listen and learn what you can and appreciate how excited we are. And then tell us when you have had enough, and you want to take off on your own adventure.
And that's the traveler's dilemma. You want to share it all but you can't and should not really try because all those loved ones will have their own travels, as they should. So, loved ones: be patient when travelers come home. Listen and learn what you can and appreciate how excited we are. And then tell us when you have had enough, and you want to take off on your own adventure.
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