This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Friday, April 10, 2020

Imaginary Road Trip ( #AtoZChallenge )

  I stare at a map tracing my finger along the road--a road which I have traveled before. Now, that journey is in my mind, in the depths of imagination and memory.  In my dreams I travel roads of my memory; in my memory I dream of my travels.



Imaginary Road Trip

           Imaginary road trips make for some of the most economical of traveling experiences.  You don't have to worry about gas or wear and tear on a vehicle.  You never have to leave the comfort of your own home.  It's a lazy way to travel.  You don't get the same impact either.  But when it's what you have at the moment and enjoy putting your mind to work then imagination can take you wherever you want to go.

         Not only where but when as well.  The mind is the only real time travel device that I know of.  Slip inside and you can relive travels of your past.  Look at the map.  Do you remember that place?  Or that place?

        The road has been my addiction.  If I'm not on it, rolling down some expanse of roadway, I start to feel that lure--that attraction that draws me to travel.  Or to dream of travel.  Or to escape on an imaginary road trip.

        I'm not sure where that road might be going in the more immediate sense.  But I'm in this life for the long run.  Or at least the longest run that this life will let me have.

       In the meantime, it's up to me to make the most of the journey. 

 
        Do you ever take an imaginary road trip?  What stirs your thoughts to dreams of travel?   Do you keep photo albums or scrapbooks of past travel experiences?   











17 comments:

  1. I create my own scrapbooks of my travel experiences. I enjoy doing them. I take many imaginary journeys from my past but also I do a bit of Walter Mitty and imagIne where I might be or would like to be

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    1. Birgit, someday I've got to do a scrapbook. I've been collecting stuff for one for over 50 years.

      Lee

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  2. We used to travel a lot with our sailboat, and I was running a travel blog to record where we were, and special tips about the place. Great memories. I just have to close the eyes to jump right there, at some places I enjoyed the most.
    I is for Improv

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    1. Frederique, imagination and memory can take us anywhere we want to go.

      Lee

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  3. I get on Google Maps occasionally and visit places I've traveled to on business to see what they're like now. So many places are so different now. One day, I decided to visit my old house in Indianapolis (i.e. the place we lived while we were there). I remembered there was a metal porch outside my room that I can remember my grandmother and my aunt (who was about 11 at the time) sat with me one afternoon. The porch is still there...

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    1. John H, I love taking Google map trips using the street view. Sometimes I've gone for miles to places I've never been as well as those where I have been. I've "gone back" to virtually visit most of the places where I lived where I could remember the address.

      Lee

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  4. I think writers make those imaginary road trips all the time.

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    1. L.Diane, definitely if the story involves going anywhere.

      Lee

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  5. Ha.
    So. Cooped. Up. I even miss commuting!
    I'm stitching travels right now!
    https://repeatsamb.blogspot.com/2020/04/atozchallenge-2020-stitching-world-i.html

    For 2024, I'm imagining the possibility of circumnavigating Canada.

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    1. Anne, a circumnavigation of Canada sounds like a wonderful trip. My wife and I took a week to drive from Vancouver to Vermont in 2015. Such a fantastic trip!

      Lee

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  6. I have dreamed of taking a road trip across the country, visiting all the major league baseball parks. That kind of died when my husband injured his back at work and now, although he is okay, long driving like that is out of the question. Now I think about taking a train trip across the country.

    Janet’s Smiles

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    1. Janet, a trip with a mission sounds like a good one. A train trip might also be nice if it's like I've seen in some movies or better.

      Lee

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  7. I travel to many places via blogs being stuck it home it helps

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    1. Jo-Anne, there are some good blogs about travel. Some do the A to Z.

      Lee

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  8. Well, I am a traveler but it sucks staying at home these days due to the lock down. My last road trip was from NC to NY and it was fun. Totally loved it.

    9 Ways to Greet People in the age of Corona Virus COVID19

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    1. Solitary, I'm going to be pretty bummed if we can't take our annual summer trip to see kids and grandkids. That's about the only time we get to see them.

      Lee

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