28, Feb 2015

“I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again”.  This tune is on my mind, though I do have a return flight scheduled.  “My bags are packed, I’m ready to go”. When I got out my suitcase to begin packing a couple days ago, Timbre, one of my cats, walked over and peed on it. Now that’s a clear message. I’ll miss him, and friends and family, while eagerly off exploring our world.

“There is no past or future, all time is now-time”. I’m paraphrasing one of the sentences in the book I read on my flight to Sydney, en route to New Zealand (Potiki by Patricia Grace, a Maori descendent). It resonates with how I feel when I travel, living in the moment, the past and future both distant, like an ancient story that informs the present but no longer exists.

This is only my second trip south of the equator, Peru was the first, and the second furthest I’ve been from home. As planes fly, India was further, though it took me longer to get here, 33 hours total from the time Tara picked me up to give me a ride to the airport to when Trish brought me to her home in Wellingon. (Thank you both for transportation). Fortunately I had two empty seats next to me on the longest leg of my trip so I was able to lie down and sleep, a bit, and my planned trip to Oceania is more than long enough to justify the time.

With all this plane travel, and time to kill on my long layover at Sydney airport (while listening to a loud, annoying announcement system), I searched the web to determine how much carbon my travel is contributing to global warming. Based on scanty research, hampered by slow WiFi, my round-trip flight will contribute two tons of carbon to the atmosphere! On average, one tree will absorb one ton of carbon in its lifetime, so I need to plant a bunch of trees. Looks like Friends of the Urban Forest will be getting a donation when I get home.

Today I’m off to explore Wellington. It looks like a gorgeous day.