Probably for No Good Reason

In just over a week I'll be on my way to London, England. Crossing the Pond. Yup.

So now you know. And you know something else? I'm not sure why I'm going--probably for no good reason. This will be my second trip to England (the first journey is was chronicled a couple years ago: here, e.g.). The first trip was fun, a true adventure to places I've never been. This time I'll be visiting someplace I have been, but I'm throwing in a thematic variation: visiting Brussels, too, for a couple of days. That should be fun, but I wish I knew some French or Dutch or Flemish. I'm hopeful that the people I encounter there will forgive my lack of linguistic abilities. I'll get to ride the Eurostar for a couple of hours, something that will take me beneath the English Channel.

I'll also not only be spending my birthday alone this year, I'll spend it in 2 countries: waking up in England and going to sleep in Belgium. I've not been away from my family on my birthday for several decades, so I figure I'll award myself an extra beer--Belgian--just for living this long and to pretend I'm with someone. I was confused and disoriented for several hours after arriving in England the last time I was there, and I predict I'll be doubly so when I emerge from the train station in Brussels and have to find my way to my hotel.

I do feel guilty about traveling alone yet again, and I'm hopeful that the parallel schedules my wife and I live by will one day go perpendicular and intersect. Then, we'll find someplace new--Italy, maybe.