Classic Sesame Street

Pretending to Travel Abroad

My husband and I have a new tradition that helps keep the itchy travel bug at bay. The reality is that we need to be here, in one place, for a time. And even though the urge to move and shake and live in a hut in the Sahara drives me mad somedays, I need to find a way to be content HERE. Right?

So, here's our secret. We live in a city that connects with the metropolis of Vancouver by an express commuter train. For daily commuters, our new plan is not exciting in the least. But for non-commuters, it's downright exhilerating.

We live in the valley. And everyone around here knows that the city and valley folk are on different timeframes and wavelengths. Sometimes stepping out of one and into the other is like traveling abroad.

So, this is what we do. We buy a 19 dollar round trip ticket to Downtown Vancouver and we "commute" first thing in the morning. Except we don't go to work! We "travel" all day. The ticket covers our skytrain and bus fares and we are footloose and fancy free. We take a list of favorite bookstores, coffeeshops, music stores, thrift stores. And we explore the city until the last commuter train heads home in the evening.

So far, I have done it alone, and Bry has done it alone. I am scheming about a family excursion this summer when the beaches heat up.

It has taught us to look around for ways to make our current situation feel exciting and exotic, without going into debt for it. We have traveling gypsy blood, with a capital "T" and an urge to soar and fly like the eagle in the picture above.

This desire to explore surges on and on. We want to move into distant lands and onto furthermost shores. But, we also love to be here. So, our days in the big city take the edge off the wanderlust as we learn to create beauty in the everyday.