Familiarity Breeds … Familiarity?

My grandfather Ole Floren's trunk on the voyage from Norway to South Dakota, Cameroonian woman, map of New Zealand, mango from the Philippines, stone from Alaska

We live in a global village, work in a global economy, worry about global warming and try to be worthy of global citizenship. The underpinnings of the present political struggle between the far right/Tea Party and the rest of us is fear of this big new world in its many-colored guises. It is understandable to some degree…I cannot accept that a woman wants to be one of many wives or live her community life in an ugly black shroud, I do not understand the manipulations and shenanigans of New Mexico’s state budgeters much less those of the U.S. or the world and I truly fear the rising waters of global warming.

 There are choices about how to deal with this unease, this fear. One is to pretend these issues do not exist and to try to elect government decision-makers that promise to make it all go away. Bring jobs home to America—except for the people making your cheap Wal-Mart junk, keep those “foreigners” out, speak English only, burn more coal/bomb for oil. The underlying message being “I’m scared of NOW, of doing something different.”

 The other choice is to get out there, explore the village: walk its streets, shop in its stores, meet the neighbors—acquire global citizenship. Whoever you are you can get your passport stamped through books, film, food, travel and meeting the new neighbors. There is no excuse for limiting your experience to your street corner.

 Google ‘global citizenship’ and there is founding father, Thomas Paine, who described his notion of being a global citizen thusly: My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

 Now even though Paine was responsible for much of what was written defining freedom, he was eventually rejected because of the abiding American insistence that no beliefs are valid outside of the precept of an all-powerful god who can give anyone behaving badly a pass if only they repent. We can thank a few people over the centuries like Paine that the global religion, for which fundamentalists of all faiths long  and for which they are willing to kill, has not yet become a reality.

 I am about to reread “The Global Soul” by Pico Iyer because it so profoundly influenced my desire to visit every country in the world. I first read it 10 or so years—or about 60 countries ago. I had not yet started to feel like a global soul. Now I think I do. I know some neighborhoods in this sprawling confusing village well and some hardly at all. But I increasingly understand how a home can be created on any of its streets and it will always be a place that mixes the known with the unknown, the safe with the unsafe, and the familiar with the unfamiliar in surprising and pleasing ways.

 My favorite word is global, I produce a festival called Global DanceFest and I approve this message.

Next to food...on a scale of life's necessities. From a postcard by Soizick Meister

Steven and Brant in the World

The Guys

Coming to Australia was a wonderful break from reality for me. During the months before this trip I have been scrambling to keep up with my requirements to transfer into a university and trying to balance a part time marketing internship. This trip was the reward for staying on top of everything because I have now sent out all of my applications and my next semester will be a bit less challenging. After spending a few days at Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast, I couldn’t help but realize that it was very familiar to the San Diego lifestyle. Between the surf culture and sea breeze I felt right at home and the fact that I could drink legally was a nice addition. The first week of this trip was more about relaxing on the beach and unwinding then sightseeing and learning about another culture.           

Beach @ Surfers Paradise: Photo by Brant Wagner

 After the week in Surfer’s Paradise we headed over to Auckland and, to my surprise, it ended up being my favorite part of the trip. We spent a few days in the city bumming around and eventually met up with a local who took us to some of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever seen. We jumped off of waterfalls and went on hikes to secluded beaches with landscape that could be put on a postcard. Aside from the city and the waterfalls, we also went to the area where the new Lord of the Rings movie, The Hobbit, was being filmed. It was apparent why the director chose to shoot the movie over in New Zealand because the scenery was amazing and everything about the area seemed peaceful. Overall the trip was an amazing experience that I couldn’t imagine spending with anyone other than my grandma and my best friend.  By Steven

 This was my first time out of the Country and I absolutely love it. I Traveled to Australia with my Best Friend and his Grandmother. First we explored to city of Brisbane and then took a train and a bus down to surfer’s Paradise. This is where this picture was taken. I love this picture because of the deep color of the sky and with the moon floating over the life guard tower. One thing that I liked so much about this country is that the drinking age is 18 and I am 19! So you know what that means! Me and Steve have been hitting the local scene and checking out the local bars.

Natural New Zealand: Photo by Brant Wagner

 When someone asks you what a waterfall should look like this is what I would show them.  This Waterfall was tucked away in a rainforest that is about 30 minutes out of Auckland, New Zealand. I would have never known about this picturesque place if it was not for our local friend Jordan who took use to this waterfall and two other. We went off the main trail to find this place or as Jordan called we went Bushwhacking. Seeing things like this natural waterfall makes me want to never leave New Zealand.  By Brant

Just Another (Perfect) City by the Bay

 

That old 'city by the bay' vibe

Auckland, New Zealand feels like a world neighborhood to which you would gravitate if you wanted peace, quiet, natural beauty, funky charm and really nice wine. Like San Francisco’s quiet little sister.

 History from a barely remembered book, Wikipedia and two weeks down under! I am curious. Why does New Zealand have such a different vibe than Australia? Of course the question is silly for me to hazard an answer since Surfers Paradise is my only Australian experience and Auckland the only NZ sampling. I read “Fatal Shore” some years ago so there is a vague history of Australia in my mind. The aboriginal people (whom Wikipedia says may be descended from a long-ago migration from the African mainland before the Europeans and Asians were even differentiated as distinct races), the convicts, the harsh land, the British colonial heritage.

 I am still more curious. Somehow NZ had appeared in my mind’s eye as Australia’s pretty islands and that is not necessarily true. It turns out their history is quite different. New Zealand is a Pacific Island in the way the Philippines or Tahiti or Hawaii are Pacific Islands. Settled by Austronesians (later split into divergent groups such as the Polynesians and Melanesians) who came out of pre-Chinese Taiwan and populated the South Seas.

 Here in New Zealand, the Austronesians/Polynesians became the Maoris and it seems their influence on these beautiful islands is profound. Although NZ was also a British colony it feels like the British cowboys set the mood in Australian while the New Zealand colonizers let themselves be influenced by the Pacific people already here.

 Easy Peasy Auckland: Auckland has been to rest and recuperate and enjoy my delightful travel companions. If I win power ball I will invite Steven and Brant to travel the world with me for the next year and then foot all of their education bills through however many doctorates they choose to pursue.

 What interesting adventurous lively guys they are. The two of them have made me feel better about the world—if they are indeed the future then I think we are okay. They are ambitious but not to the exclusion of the idea of ‘doing good.’ They are open but skeptical of all dogma. Nice nice guys and so much fun to be around.

Auckland City Hotel

 We moved hotels after the first three days because our first one was already booked for the weekend and came here to the Auckland City Hotel which has an appealing Malaysian restaurant called “The Mustard Seed” that we may sample tonight. Steven and Brant picked it on Expedia—it was lovely to have them take the responsibility since that is one of those imponderables of travel. No matter how thoroughly you peruse the hotel listings and read Trip Advisor about a quarter of the time you come up wrong-footed.

 The guys have promised to write the blog tomorrow about their adventures so I will simply regale you with mine. Consisting of eating and shopping! Not bad holiday pastimes.

 Started my recovery a few days ago with the best—and only—lamb salad I have ever had accompanied by a fruity crisp white wine even I could detect was very fine. First wine of the trip. A sad sad thing if one is traveling to major wine regions.

 Since then the major meals have included a very pricey harbor lunch that was unfortunately quite ordinary although Brant swears his $15 hot dog was truly gourmet.

World's best $15 hot dog

 Our next best meal was breakfast on the bench in front of (drum roll) Dunkin Donuts! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enough to make a NON-foodie heart sing!

But tonight Malaysian and tomorrow back to the lamb salad place for a…lamb salad, lamb kabobs and more of the delectable wine. I am purposely blocking out the images of those wooly little lambs we kept around the kitchen stove on blizzardy spring days, the enthusiasm which they drank their bottles of milk, their little baby baa baa baa’s. It has taken me this long but now I’m ready to eat the little buggers. There are Starbucks and MUFFIN stores here as well. A global neighborhood almost too familiar—but nice anyway!

 Buildings with some personality remain.

 They’re scattered among the awful ones, just as in most cities.

 We discovered Kathmandu, New Zealand’s REI. Probably they have them in the U.S. but not in my neighborhood and not with everything on sale. Also an imposing book store on a prominent corner of Queen Street. Bought a stash of regional books of course. And am happily into one by a western Australian writer Tim Winton. The book, Dirt Music, is brilliant. The truth is—Kindles and their other reader friends are awful things, only acceptable on long journeys if one is traveling alone. I may get rid of mine altogether. THE THING IS NOT A BOOK.

 Oh oh. The old curiosity gene that was lying almost dormant about this part of the world is stirring. That is a good thing or not. It almost always happens through books, usually novels. It is like getting the flu when you feel that first prickle of something not being right. With curiosity, the prickle is—I want to go to Perth…or drive down to the tip of South Island…or hop around this whole region to Papua and East Timor and back to Darwin and make myself eat a piece of bread with vegemite on it—it starts small and then pretty soon you are frustrated and depressed because there is no time and money in life to do all of that everywhere in the world. But frustrated and depressed in a good way.

California dudes out in the world

 

And then there’s a boy and his grandmother

 

Travel. And Why.

Same Old Moon

Most blogs are promo or diary/journal it seems. What did I want Time and Space to be? Journal. Opinion. Discovery. Well written with enough travel insights so that it can be enjoyed the way you enjoy reading your favorite newspaper columns on a regular basis.

 Time and Space IS of course intended to be personal…but with a little outsider perspective so it is not all about ME. It feels like it started out with the right idea but that it is sliding off the rails right now.

Same Old Minibar

 IT HAPPENS!

Possibly this is because for the third time (once in Bergen, Norway—bad bad flu; once in Windhoek, Namibia—RA flare-up) in my years of travel I am quite ill, this time with some disease that hampers breathing. Now that the scary part is over I am just listless and bored…and wondering why I want to travel all of the time when many places in the world are fine for their own inhabitants but not so enticing for the casual visitor. And it is so much better to be home when sick. My fluffy comforter, my dulce de leche ice cream, my books and channels and friends with whom to kvetch about the unfairness of it all.

Same Old Ocean

 IT IS A BIG WORLD AFTER ALL MR. DISNEY

So what is it? I keep pondering this apparent travel addiction as the countries add up. As I realize there aren’t so many places that still send the old travel bug galloping up my spine when their exotic names appear.

 Big swaths of the world—Russia and the Stan countries, Southeast Asia, India/Nepal/Bangladesh, much of West Africa—lie ahead of me on this every-country quest. Tens of countries—scattered on many continents—are still to grace my passport. The work goes on. Find affordable plane tickets, hotels. Don’t get sick. Enjoy something!  Go to every country in the world. Really?

Same Old Neighborhood--Sort of

NEIGHBORHOODS

To go to every country in the world is like going to every neighborhood in your town. The poor but interesting or sad or threatening; the boring but pleasant and/or safe; the funky but historic; or the rich and tacky/rich and luxurious/rich and perfect. You go there for dinner, here for groceries, there for a party, here to the cleaners, there because it’s on the way to another there. Here because you live here. That is how I think of my travels—just familiarizing myself with all the neighborhoods of my whole world.

 My ennui makes sense though. As more and more of the ‘neighborhoods’ are checked off my list the thrill of discovery is replaced with an acknowledgement of the familiar –which we all know can have its monotonous side.

 Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia is in the ‘boring but pleasant’ neighborhood category. Not bad for a family trip. The purpose is for my grandson to have a good time. And for me to get yet one more passport stamp. New Zealand next; same mission. But with rain and lamb chops. So ‘boring but pleasant’ is perfectly appropriate destination sometimes. BUT STILL…

There is always anticipating the next new thing--however disgusting!

Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport…

Me Kangaroo

There are adventures and travels and journeys and holidays—all will get you to other lands but how you act when you get there will be quite different depending on your mode of choice. On a holiday you have fun dammit!

Holidays are FUN!

 This is a holiday. At a family beach town. In Queensland, Australia. Steven and his friend Brant are relaxing and do appear to be having fun…and I have my 82nd passport stamp so the basic goals have been achieved.  Now what? Bird watching.

 My intent was to write but getting quite ill put a damper on that worthy plan.  I haven’t given up especially since I’ve finished the three detective novels in my bag and must switch to slightly more serious literature before I get to Auckland bookstores. But bird watching is good.

 Our vacation spot, Surfers Paradise, packed with inlanders/outbackers, is San Diego with the landlubbing Zonies everywhere putting their wet suits on backwards and turning a dangerous crimson. Even though this place has nothing on San Diego, Steven and Brant seem okay because here they have total freedom from school and work and parental expectations and they can legally drink beer! Actually they are far too smart to take full advantage of these wild possibilities.

 

Party boys planning another decadent adventure

 

 I am bored and just realized I will come and go from Australia without ever seeing a KANGAROO. But…we’re off to souvenir shop. Surely that will yield one.

Taking self-portraits in the Uggs window

 Oh yeah…and a sun/heat wave here. Blah…

 However I will go buy a new shirt or two so I don’t have to wash anything in the sink. That’s fun.

 And I am sleeping with the big sliding doors wide open every moment.… (however…if sea air cures why am I not okay by now?)  Actually this part is really better than fun.

 And there is ZERO news about American politics on TV. Should I check in on line just in case it all turned rational overnight and intelligent discussion is ensuing? Nah…what are the odds. Fun.

 And Steven just came back from the store with a stash of doughnuts. Serious fun.

 Still I WANT TO SEE A LIVE KANGAROO. Won’t. Oh well, shall I eat my lemon doughnut or my chocolate doughnut?

The Lost Day

The 3 musketeers head ‘down under’

By land or by sea, they will have fun

waiting…Virgin Australia Flight 008

Down and out down under or sick day in Brisbane

Jet lag night

And the night goes on…

And on……

W

Way to Surfers’ Paradise

Made it

Night in Surfers’ Paradise

A boy and his surfboard search

Steven Klotzback, Brant Wagner and Marjorie Neset did not have a January 5 ^th this year. How is that possible? I understand about the International Date Line and all that. And that somehow the missing hours aren’t actually missing. But, I am telling you, we did not experience that day!  How can you not have a day of your life? ‘What did you do on January 5^th ?’ ‘Well, I didn’t have January 5^th this year!’ So all of the good we intended to do on that day will be shifted to January 18^th when we travel for 15 hours and still arrive at about the same time we departed and haven’t wasted any time being selfish or cranky.

Are not date lines and time zones and meridians and latitudes and longitudes—imaginary lines and missing days and Atlantis and black holes fantastic inventions?

 Steven and Brant, my grandson and his best friend, delightful, smart, witty, kind and handsome young men—and my companions on this trip down under (Steven’s 16^th birthday and high school graduation present a couple of years late) are in love with their first big semi-independent (I am here for the occasional check-in only) trip to foreign lands. Brant has only been to Mexico and, while Steven has been to the Philippines twice, it was as a young kid with mom and dad only steps away so this is a big deal. This trip to Australia and New Zealand is all planned and programmed by them and since they’re both friendly and laid-back it is an easy going adventure.

 Into Brisbane yesterday morning with only one small hitch between LAX and our Australian hotel. We had to throw away our stash of uneaten Costco cinnamon rolls before going through border control. Now honestly, what ingredient among all that dough and frosting and cinnamon and sugar could have infected their crops?

 I am apparently having an attack of something like pleurisy (as in I can’t really breathe!) so did not see much of Brisbane. What I did see reminded me of what a small placid Houston might be like more than a California coast town. This morning we took the Gold Coast train down here to SURFERS’ PARADISE.  

 SP is a high-rise beach town, a slightly dowdy Miami Beach with a little of that lovely beach town tackiness of Pacific Beach thrown in. Steven and Brant tell me the water is warm and the waves are high but they are having some trouble figuring out how to rent a decent board for at least a day of surfing. The available rentals are not up to fussy California surfer dude standards and the price to purchase one second hand and sell it back is beyond poor California surfer dude budgets so I am not sure what they will finally do.

 Our rooms at the VIBE Hotel are pleasant…overlooking the ocean…supposed to be rainy and stormy tomorrow which the guys seem okay with because there is roaming about town and skate boarding and swimming and movies and games and each other’s company and life is good. Of course I would be more than thrilled with a day of rain in which I can write and read and overlook crashing waves and drink coffee and contemplate my naval. As long as the guys remain happy which they show no sign of stopping all is well.

Tomorrow I will search out and find Vegemite no matter the weather or the state of my health.

 Now we are going to have a room picnic while the guys get on line to search for surfboard rentals. $66 to have internet while here so needless to say we only have it in one room.  G ‘day then Mates.