wherever you go, there you are

A funny thing about travel, you take yourself with you.  It seems as though a stranger coming into a new situation should have an objective viewpoint from which to make reliable observations.  Not so, because it is all colored by ones's own biases, mood, and even physical surroundings.

Like most humans, I suspect, I am a mixture of things.  While I am independent and value autonomy and time alone, I also value social and intellectual discourse and meaningful human interaction.  The everyday civilities grease the skids of life, and observation of kindness of a stranger to another, often given reflexively and without possible return fills my insides with warmth and gives me hope for humanity.

But I come to these new experiences with pre-formed ideas about what those things look like, and I am either disappointed or surprised as a result when things are not as expected. This stirring of the pot is a good thing, I know, however uncomfortable it may be at the time.  It turns out the heaviest baggage I carry is within.