Trains, Planes, and Zoning Out

I think part of what's freeing about travel is the lack of to-dos. Sure, there are the preparatory tasks of booking the trip, ensuring that your boarding passes are printed and the luggage properly stowed, but the time of travel itself-- waiting for the plane or train, then sitting on it-- has already been budgeted for travel. Simply sitting in your seat marks an accomplishment-- check! You're traveling!

I feel most fulfilled during travel when I set my mind to what the trip has freed me to pursue: Nothing. A blank stare, soaking in new surroundings, letting my mind lapse into its own subconscious. . . In non-travel times, I too often only welcome this passive meditation on life during long runs or bike rides. Travel is their equivalent, the calm exception to my constantly swirling thoughts.

Yet, it's in these times of stillness that my mind moves the most, leapfrogging problems and exposing the fluidity of obstacles I'd always assumed solid. Travel's waiting periods are for the impatient a time of forced meditation. Makes you wonder, what's so bad about waiting after all?