tourist tuesday and florence

My name is somepinkflowers and I am a travel-slut.

I admit it.

I do not mean to make this sound like I am bragging, or even complaining, but I will go just about anywhere. I have no pride when it comes to travel. As long as I can make my next connection I don't even mind waiting between flights.

Airport food has gotten a touch fresher in the last few years and the trendier airports now feature day-spas where for the price of a small car you can enjoy a quick shoulder massage .

My only enemy at airports these days is the rampant spread of loud cell phone talkers.  There is some information about strangers I plain do not want to know. I personally would like to see cell-free zones at airports. Give me a crying baby any day.

Normally I can entertain myself for hours waiting in an airport. A bottle of water, a good book and I settle in to people-watch.  I watch and listen to those loving older couples shuffle through memories of trips  from long ago.

"Remember that time we got stuck at O'Hare for days? " the  wife goes on and on with every teeny-weeny detail. She has forgotten nothing. The husband just nods and keeps watching CNN.

"Remember eating that cold pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner?" The gentle man nods on and on in agreement while his sweet wife reminisces. He reads the football scores of major universities as they crawl across the bottom of the TV screen. 7-28. 14-0. They both seem content after years and years of travel practice.

I always hope I'll end up sitting next to some naughty boy like Sawyer  on the TV show Lost. I know, I know, he will take all my jewelry but those dimples! Sigh! I do enjoy sitting next to a  sexy scoundrel of a man on a long flight. I love so to hear flattering lies at a high altitude. It goes right to my head.

"No way you are over 35!" my sexy scoundrel with the long eyelashes says as he leans over to breathe in my freshly shampooed hair. "You don't look a day over 32!"

In truth I am old enough to be his  mother older sister.

Who usually ends up sitting next to me on extremely long flights? Why, the nice 5o-ish man from Atlanta, GA, with the sinus problem who sells roofing shingles to Home Depot and wants to explain to me the difference between 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines.

"You see, you have your intake, compression, power, exhaust on your 4-stroke, " he wheezes, gives me a knowledgeable wink, then continues on, "but with a 2-stroke..."

After using my first passport for a much anticipated trip to England, I placed it in the glove compartment of my car. I wanted it nearby. Just in case. You never know.

US passports were valid for only five years at that time and I had used mine only once before I needed a new one. I was actually embarrassed to send it off to be renewed with so many blank pages. I LONGED to have it stamped with exotic locations .

When I moved through my second passport with the blurry stamp marks from France and Scotland, I was beyond ready for Extensive World Travel.

The passport, when not in use, was still housed in the back of my car's glove compartment but by this time I was keeping American Express traveler's checks tucked inside the pages. I would be available to go anywhere at the drop of an invitation. I was so hopeless, really. Like people were throwing international travel invitations my way on a daily basis.

"Hi, there, somepinkflowers! We can tell by looking at your worn-out flip-flops and faded T-shirt that you are on your way over to the beach," armies of friendly but safe international travelers would say to me as I stopped mere blocks from my home to add gas in my car. Don't even ask me the price per gallon at the time.

"Why don't you just grab that passport you have snuggled away in your glove compartment and pop off to the Mediterranean with us for the weekend?" they would plead. "Do. Come!"

Even though this spontaneous  invitation to the Mediterranean never came, I began keeping a small overnight bag tucked inside the trunk of my car. Toothbrush, clean underwear and a fresh T-shirt. That type of thing. Looking back now, I see I was reading way too much James Bond, watching way too many action films. I did not actually want to save the world. I simply wanted to see it.

Plus, I was born with the I'm-ever-so-hopeful spoon in my mouth. Good things happen to those who are prepared.

No, I am not a jet setter. Never have been and never will be BUT you never know. Things happen. Not to you? Well, they happen to me. Things happen all the time around here.

Before you think I am too loopy or that drugs were involved here, please let me explain. I  had friends with small airplanes, those 4-seater ones, and this IS Florida. I have popped over to the Bahamas at the last minute a few times. It isn't a big deal, really. 

Look on a map and you can see the Bahamas are only THAT far away. From my house you can fly over to the islands after work on Friday, have umbrella drinks until you are mildly sloshed on Saturday, pick up a bit of a sunburn on Sunday and still make it in to work on Monday with sugar sand still hiding inside your ear creases.

In the Bahamas I have flashed my passport when all I really needed to do at that time was show an American driver's license. OK, showing a passport might seem like overkill but where is the fun in flashing a driver's license? Where?

Oh, there was that one time we landed in a Small Nearby Island Country where we were not suppose to be. But that was an accident, mostly.

And there was that one little time in Belize...

I seldom actually used my passport for last minute trips [2 times, total] but it made me feel so prepared to know that I COULD do it if I wanted to. When I did use my passport for trips to Europe the edges were frayed in a friendly Hey! I get around sort of way.

From a distance the poor thing was rather impressively tattered. Up close it smelled of suntan lotion.

The passport in the glove compartment gave me the same feeling I get when I know I have on sexy underwear under my favorite Rolling Stones T-shirt and honestly torn jeans. I walk differently because I have a secret. By the time I moved on to my third passport, I was walking differently all the time. I had the ever-ready passport secret. Maybe I could SAVE the world while I was seeing it.

I still walk differently. I travel. I fly. I have frequent-flier points from Delta, USAir, Alaska Air and few that have gone belly-up. I have used my passport many times and I am not putting it away yet. When this one expires I want another and another until the end of time. Amen.

There is a confidence that comes from knowing where toilets are located in major cities around the world. There is a confidence that comes from feeling secure even when surrounded by a language I cannot fully understand. There is confidence that comes from pulling my wheeled carry-on through foreign airports as I shop duty-free.

I cannot even remember a time when I complained about the lack off ice-cubes in a tall glass drink or the presence of waxy toilet paper in a difficult to locate ladies room, either here in the states or elsewhere. Thank God for any drink, for any paper. Thank God for my passport.

I no longer house my passport in my car. I need a bit more notice these days. My friends no longer fly willy-nilly to the Bahamas, gas priced beyond reason. My passport, my flat ticket to the world, waits patiently in my bedroom tucked away with the odd bits of leftover foreign currency inside my Rick Steves' money belt. You never know.

My name is somepinkflowers and I am a travel-slut.

And I might be coming to your town.

Comments

[rochambeau]

Yes, you do entertain me. You have whit and a fun sense of humor. You make me smile and smirk. I know you'll still make it to Greece because you have wanderlust in your heart, and your passport in you glove box.
Did you have a good time with your son??

[sognatrice]

This is so wonderful; the way it's written, it really felt like I was flitting and jet-setting...PLUS you reminded me that I have to get my US passport renewed! Eek! Almost forgot!

And I completely agree--you never know.

PS I answered your question today over at my place :)

[Karen Cole]

OMG....WHAT A GREAT POST!!!!

I am a travel slut, too! Tough to stay put. Love the airport. Love to be the public toilet expert. Is there an international association we can belong to? That way none of us have to stay put. We can just do a round robin tour of everyplace that all of the travel sluts live......or lived.

[Asia Jacyna]

Hi Pink Flowers!
How did you ever get your name or did I miss that on your blog?! I love your post today- I must admit I love to travel- especially alone as my Hubby is a very home-bound creature. Works for me as I like to explore. Are you a Lost freak, too? I think Sawyer would be a blast of a companion- unforgettable person to sit next to on one of those long flights to India or Australia.
Thanks for stopping by at my blog! Have a great travel day.

[qualcosa di bello]

Girlfriend, you are **killing** me!!!!!! Thank you soooooo much for a gorgeous stroll through one of this Italophile's favorite cities in the world. My name is Qualcosa di Bello & I need to be in your therapy group!! Ciao bella!

[Martin]

'Travel Slut' Ha! Love it! That made me spill my cup of tea!

Thanks for popping by my blog! I must say that you have some sooper dooper photos on your blog, I am so envious and would love to visit some of these places.

Have a good day or evening depending upon what time of day it is there