Green with Envy...

For 2 consecutive Saturdays, I have opted not to attend my foreign language class. My excuse for last Saturday's was I had some out-of-town work to do but in truth, I was scaling up and down mountain terrains. Today, my usually, agile body prefers to just languish lazily in the house. I had thought about this Friday night and I have been wanting to spend the entire day at home, in front of my books, papers and personal computer. Let us just say, I want to give my mind the time that it needs. What I am saying is that: ideas and thoughts have been running around, tumbling inside my head. Writing them off will spare me the "frustration" to see them get lost for nothing. Besides, the act literally gives space to other significant and pressing ideas.

Anyway, I brought home some work (again) and read through papers, remembering theories, analyzing practicalities and connections. Since my mood was already bordering around monotony, boredom and sleepiness, I decided to read the Lifestyle section of my fave broadsheet. As expected, the articles perked me up and awakened in me the craving to do my own.

Okay, so I was reading this travelogue. The mere mention of Paris, the Louvre; anything associated with France drove me green with envy. Ever since I was in high school, I have developed a passion and a longing to set foot in this very breath-taking part of the earth. It was probably France that drove me to travel alone to places that are stunningly great and challenging to my own advantage. France has stimulated in me the passion to travel and go places. It was travel that introduced me to appreciate beauty. Beauty is there, yes; but to appreciate them is another thing.



I would long to travel to France, armed with cash, a map, a mobile phone, a pocket pc or probably a PDA (for writing every experience, narrating everything) and most of all, a camera [NOT a digital camera but the usual shoot and print style camera. I have my reasons why].

It is always my desire to see the countryside when I travel, rather than the city life. But I know that when I get to France, I would gawk over the cosmopolitan sights of Paris.

I would probably not staying long at the hotel and instead wander around almost everywhere. I would not even complain how dead-tired my feet will be. So long as I shoot, gape and lavish my eyes and heart in the sights, I will be most thankful for being alive.

Another thing, I would not probably choose a travel package deal that will cite a city tour. Why? Most probably, a city tour will mean a bus tour around the city and tour guides telling about the historical and cultural relevance of each tourist attraction in bored monotones. Not my type.

When the time comes, I will probably riding in cabs, shuttles and trains; skirting off streets and pavements to reach the Louvre, th Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Bastille, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Madeleine Church. I am not a Catholic but to see the last 2 religious "towers" is something I want. I am more interested in the architecture - points, lines, etc of these attractions.

I wish I can finish the foreign language lessons I am taking so I can move on and start polishing the basic French words and phrases that I know. It will be very much helpful in the future. Who knows? I may be flying to Paris in a few years' time.

On another note, I was thinking of traveling alone. Traveling as a solitary figure has been such a fulfilling experience for me. I have known myself to do this when I want to escape the rustle and bustle of city life. It gives me the pleasure to rest my physical and mental state. I don't have to think about everyone and anything. It gives me sheer bliss to enjoy the slow pace of a hurried life. I know some people think the way I do. Working your butt off and no time to live the pleasures of life for a while, is something that drives us over the edge.

But traveling with a best bud is something worth of a great experience. If it is a first time to a certain place and you don't have much worries about yourself (reasons why you escape the city and you just want to enjoy}, it will be great to have someone tag along. Based on my experience, too, traveling alone can be very lonely. While you meet families and friends together, you are alone and feeling pity for yourself for being alone. There's nobody to tell how you see things are, how excited you are; no one to share your thoughts and your mixed feelings; no one to blame when you turn in an alley and get lost and most of all, no one to take a photo of yourself. It will be frustrating not to have a single shot of yourself in these awesome attractions. I really do not like to be a subject of pictures being taken but I would probably beckon some stranger to give me a shot in the portico of the Louvre. Hehehe! "Makapal na kung makapal!"

This was written last Saturday @ home.