Travel thoughts

Created 20 August 2021

Updated 23 August 2021

Here are some thoughts I had travelling from Chile to the United States, post covid and after about 1.75 years without being in the U.S., and from my first week there.

• Aviation is amazing. For several hundred dollars you can be on the other side of the world in less than a day.
• Shout out to flight crews. These people work all night so I could get to where I wanted to go.
• I had to show some extra documents, like a PCR test and mobility pass. But other than that, travel was the same as before.
• I was so close to so many people in the planes and airports. Each of them could probably a genius at something. Do they know what that thing is, and are they cultivating it? Who is the Leonardo of Arlington or Santiago?
• They have messaging on flights now. Airplanes used to offer solitude with ones thoughts, respites form the hectic nature of life. Why do we want to take that away?
• Pack light. Then pack even lighter.
• The words "travel" and "travail" have the same Latin route, a word describing a tool for torture. Makes sense. This word also gives us the word for "work" in many Romance languages, including Spanish. But that's for another time.
• The U.S. is very diverse. It's incredible to see
• Lots of people in the U.S. dress like they rolled out of bed or are on their way to the gym.
• Change your money before leaving, if possible.
• Virginia in the summer is a steam room. It also rains a lot.
• The trees in Virginia are huge. You probably need all that rain to grow trees that tall. Insert metaphor about hard times making hard people here.