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| Around the world in a lot of days! |
In January I will embark on “a trip around
the world”. It is not my first, and I have no intention
of stopping. But this journey is different from the others, perhaps
because trips are like love affairs: the last one is the most important.
It is the only one that counts.
This allegedly unique aspect is what has allowed me to overcome
a natural reluctance arising my overwhelming fear of being “commonplace”
and even recounting it “online”.
In Around the World in Eighty Days Julius Verne moved his heroes
about with every means of transport, in a race against time. I,
on the other hand, have no intention of hurrying. I will try to
move about with whatever means most of the residents of that specific
area use to get from place to place. I don’t want to be consumed
by the anxiety of getting there, but solely by the calmness of seeing,
seeking and understanding. I will use trains, planes, ships, ferries,
icebreakers, buses, cars and, if necessary, even sleds.
I am watching this world change so fast that we don’t even
have enough time to take notes. I am watching this world hurry past
along with its inhabitants, who have lost their taste for walking
and may even have forgotten how to head slowly into dawns and sunsets.
For practical reasons, I will wear a watch, but my time will be
measured by sand falling through an hourglass. And so it will simply
be “Around the world in… a lot of days”.
How many? I don’t know and, quite honestly, I don’t
care.
Francesco de Marzio
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