Outside the routine
August 30th 2007 07:38
Travel is not about the A and the B. It lives comfortably outside of any routine and will always defy our own definitions because travel is really all about possibilities. Every field or home, jungle or city we visit is merely a reflection of all the possibilities that exist in the world and when we walk out of one world, into another, we can live that possibility and make it our own. 'This is what my life could feel like,' we think as we experience our first Flamenco in Spain, float on our backs in the Dead Sea or as we watch children begging for food along the highways of Africa.
Travel is our passport to another personality, another 'you' that promises to forgive all trespasses, especially those on the current reality you may be living in your stable job or off-white four walls and when travel comes knocking, even for only a weekend, that passport becomes the most valuable possession we own.
There are two things that suprise people about Wellington if they've never been there before. Number one: it's the capital of New Zealand. Yes, it is. Really. It's not Auckland.
Number two: it's windy. I mean, not just some of the time, it's windy all the time and when you walk down Willis Street, that beautiful wind tunnel, you will remember how everyone who has been before warned you and you will finally understand. Yes. Wind.
I used to fight with it. Or, my hair used to fight with it and the wind is the reason why I had my hair in a tight plait for the first 18 years of my life. In a fight, the wind will always win, so I decided to live with it and put my mane away. Even now, years after leaving Wellington, my childhood home, when people ask me if I miss Wellington, I am honest and say yes but the wind...
Anyway, back on point.
Wellington is a special place because a traveller is allowed to put their arms around it and in a suprisingly short space of time, you can feel what it means to be a local and that's not easy to find. The harbour is the spot to spend the weekends and here I'm deviating from my normal advice to stay away from crowds by saying this but Oriental Parade holds a few choice cafe's and Restaurants (the White House is very fancy, very good, no holes in the jeans kind of place) and the 'new' beach means you can sit and watch people. Oriental Parade is also a good stretch along which to ride or run but be mindful that when you get to Evans Bay Parade, especially those unsheltered spots, you'll need to hold on tight to your wig or it'll be lost forever.
Travel is our passport to another personality, another 'you' that promises to forgive all trespasses, especially those on the current reality you may be living in your stable job or off-white four walls and when travel comes knocking, even for only a weekend, that passport becomes the most valuable possession we own.
There are two things that suprise people about Wellington if they've never been there before. Number one: it's the capital of New Zealand. Yes, it is. Really. It's not Auckland.
Number two: it's windy. I mean, not just some of the time, it's windy all the time and when you walk down Willis Street, that beautiful wind tunnel, you will remember how everyone who has been before warned you and you will finally understand. Yes. Wind.
I used to fight with it. Or, my hair used to fight with it and the wind is the reason why I had my hair in a tight plait for the first 18 years of my life. In a fight, the wind will always win, so I decided to live with it and put my mane away. Even now, years after leaving Wellington, my childhood home, when people ask me if I miss Wellington, I am honest and say yes but the wind...
Anyway, back on point.
Wellington is a special place because a traveller is allowed to put their arms around it and in a suprisingly short space of time, you can feel what it means to be a local and that's not easy to find. The harbour is the spot to spend the weekends and here I'm deviating from my normal advice to stay away from crowds by saying this but Oriental Parade holds a few choice cafe's and Restaurants (the White House is very fancy, very good, no holes in the jeans kind of place) and the 'new' beach means you can sit and watch people. Oriental Parade is also a good stretch along which to ride or run but be mindful that when you get to Evans Bay Parade, especially those unsheltered spots, you'll need to hold on tight to your wig or it'll be lost forever.
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