Each New Year’s Eve my husband and I get together with a
group of friends for a civilized dinner, heartfelt toasts, and predictions for
the next year. We also post our “bucket
lists,” ten things we want to do before we die.
High on my list is to visit Nepal.
It’s been on my bucket list since we started making them, but I have yet
to travel there. Recently, my husband
asked if I still wanted to go to Nepal, since I hadn’t been talking about it
much. We’ve traveled to other parts of
the world over the past several years, and soon plan to go on safari in Africa.
I thought about his question. Why have I not been seriously making plans to
travel to my number one travel destination?
Perhaps because subconsciously I believe that it cannot possibly live up
to my high expectations. I envision an
exotic, beautiful, spiritual place, AND I know that pollution is terrible in
Kathmandu, and that there is extreme poverty there. I also worry that the food will not be to my
liking, and that I might have difficulty with the high altitude.
Similarly, when we were planning to live in Italy for three
months three years ago, I was worried that we might not like living there. I knew that we both loved visiting that most
beautiful of countries, but living there would be an entirely different
experience. Long story short, we took the leap and lived at a lovely
agriturismo near Florence for 2 ½ months of that time. I can honestly say that those months were some of the best of my
life.
No place is perfect, but virtually all countries lend
themselves to extraordinary experiences via landscape, history and people, when
we open ourselves to them. In that way, Nepal is no different from any other
place. Perhaps Nepal will not be all
that I fantasize about, but if I allow the reality of the place to wash over
me, I know I will be forever changed.
No comments:
Post a Comment