So I figured that with my forced day of inactivity I would spend some time writing another post of thoughts. Now a lot of these thought posts will have some very obvious connection with the theme of a journey and travel (funny that) but I also have other themes in mind that will hopefully present themselves as I go.
I've generally had a pretty basic sense of spacial awareness; the gift of judging distance has usually lain with other members of the family. I must admit my judgement of distance on a large scale (travel distances) is not much better than that of trying to fit all my books on my bookshelves.
New York City, when presented on a map, to me always seemed very big. In fact the whole of the USA seemed huge compared to what I was used to. But when I looked at comparison maps of the USA and Australia, I was mind blown to see just how large my home is. (Naomi keeps saying that it's because we've got a huge stinking desert in the middle of the country that people avoid living in, which is a fair enough reasoning in my opinion). Anyway, when looking at a map of Manhattan, things seem a little smaller than I originally expected, and now when I'm here walking those mapped streets, 'a couple of blocks' really doesn't seem that far. Until, of course, you do a full day of walking, or two or three.
So I guess what I'm getting at is that the perception of distance and travel varies greatly with your situation.
As I flew away from Australia and the little picture of the plane travelled further and further from home, it didn't really strike me that I was so far away. But now that I'm here, seeing things I only see on TV, home is a very long way away. (Though luckily with the use of technology I'm able to keep in good contact with people at home).
I've also noticed that the same sort of thing applies even when walking through Central Park. When you first look how far you have to go, it's daunting and scary and you'd honestly rather take the quicker way of catching a taxi, but as you walk it's no where near as hard as you thought. Looking around you and seeing what is happening in life is beautiful and really interesting. I've learnt to pause when I need to, but pause minimally as if you stop too much or too often then you're less inclined to keep going.
I've also found that destinations can be incredibly rewarding, not only by what's there when you get there but if you look back it's really impressive to see how far you've come can really just be worth the achievement.
NYC.
Justine
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