To Travel of Not to Travel?
Around our house these days, that really is the question. My wife is about ready to cancel a week-long trip to visit our daughter in Vancouver, B.C. because of what appears to be a resurgence of COVID. She’s fretting over whether or not to make what would be a difficult decision either way. Right now today, if I had to guess, I’d say she ’s going to cancel.
Meanwhile, I’m scheduled to leave on a trip of my own about a week after she would be getting back. I’ll be away for about three weeks on a more complicated itinerary involving eight different trains (a total of seven nights on board. I, too, am planning to see my daughter at a family reunion or sorts in Seattle. From there, I will be heading east, to see a total of six Boston Red Sox games—two games each in Minneapolis, Boston and Baltimore.
And yes, thank you, I am painfully aware that the Red Sox have been playing poorly in recent weeks, but if you think that’s a reason for cancelling this trip, you do not understand what it means to be a Red Sox fan. Any real Sox fan can tell you in detail about the first game he ever saw at Fenway Park.*
And, by the way, it is impossible to wear a Red Sox cap anywhere in there world with being approached by another Red Sox fan (It’s really almost a plain cap—Navy blue except for a red “B” above the bill—but I’ve been approached by fellow Sox fans in St. Petersburg (Russia), Sienna (Italy), Berlin (Germany), Ulan Bator (Mongolia) and several other places around the world.
Probably the most interesting potential encounter was in the town of Pecs in southern Hungary. My wife and I were headed for a market in the town square when I spotted a battered Skoda (the eastern bloc’s equivalent to a VW bug) with a huge decal almost filling the rear window. In huge red and blue letters, it said:
BOSTON RED SOX
1989 American League Champions
You have to be a real Sox fan to understand why I was almost desperate to meet the owner of that car. I hung around it for probably 20 minutes, but he never showed up.
*(May 25, 1946—Sox 7, Yankees 4—Boo Ferris was the winning pitcher, Ted Williams doubled in three at bats.)
There’s always some kind of risk during travel, and despite all the press, for the most part the Covid risk is quickly becoming just another on the list. Right now there is a bigger risk of flight delays and cancellations. Next week or month it will be something else. Life’s too short to sit at home waiting on the next boogeyman!
And that’s exactly my philosophy. One never knows when the realization hits that you have taken your last trip. So twice a year (and sometimes more) off I go!
And that’s exactly my philosophy. One never knows when the realization hits that you have taken your last trip. So twice a year (and sometimes more) off I go!
Those Sox games line up nicely with the Minnesota State Fair. You might want to check it out!
Thanks for that!! Great idea!