“Travel is a fools paradise” , and what a beautiful paradise it is indeed ! To set out of home in search of paradise time and again is like an utopian chase in many ways . A world within our world and yet so different from our self created boundaries of routine, work, and comfort. To travel is to subject oneself to constant change. Every minute something new can happen and our body and mind has to be in tune to adapt to that change easily. And then the rewards flow in. All our senses get consumed soaking in the unknown myriad of experiences. The unknown slowly turns to familiar, it teaches us, enriches us and never fails to fill up the album of life with more beautiful pages.

In preparation to our travel, four suitcases ( two big and two small ) were brought down from the loft of our house a week before travel began. Chalk and Cheese popped out of the suitcases and grinned widely at me. What else did I expect, whenever and wherever I travel with the husband, Chalk and Cheese has to follow. I started the game and now I have to play along. With age our distinguishing personalities of being Chalk ( the husband) and Cheese ( the wife ) is mellowing down a bit. We are at last ( albeit , very late in life ) learning to give in to each other’s ways and choices, nonetheless Chalk and Cheese travel stories continues. We travel with Chalk and Cheese in toe, for they do not need a visa or passport to travel, they simply come and go in my imagination as they please.

Taking a summer vacation to sway in the breeze with the Tulips of Amsterdam, to drive through the meadows of Scotland and finally to set sail on the Thames and see the iconic Tower Bridge of London; this was my simple plan! There is always so much to see, but one has to choose from this bounty of travel box and see what suits the time, mood and most importantly, expenses of the individual. Chalk never says no to a good idea, and ( bless his enthusiasm) he promptly started making the flow chart of the journey on his black board !

Strangely enough as the day of our journey came closer, I started feeling a sense of anxiety and tension. A reluctance or fear to leave the comforts of home and venture outdoors. Though the worries were baseless and quite ridiculous but in my mind they were real. I shared my insecurities with my children, telling them about my endless ‘What ifs’. “What if we missed the connecting flights” ; “What if all my plants die in my absence?”; “What if I don’t have enough stamina to cope with the demands of travel?” ; “What if I do not understand the British accent ?” these endless questions went on and on in my mind. To my utter dismay my daughter instead of showing any empathy to my anxiousness, told me in a cold voice, ” Ma don’t behave like you are about to board a space ship and travel to outer space to meet aliens. You will be very much on this planet itself, please gather yourself.” The son had a more gentle approach to my worries. He was like ” Ma if you have your passport and money in place , all else will be automatically taken care of. Relax and start enjoying. ” Quite a practical advice by the young man. I promptly packed all the euros and pounds I could lay my hands on in my wallet. I double checked the passport and tickets, and told myself : ” Go Cheese, go, all is well”. Chalk of course was absolutely oblivious of my Cheesy state, his full focus was on the plan sheet, hotel vouchers, bus vouchers, etc etc.

We travel to run away from the routine and yet it is the same routine and monotony of everydays’ predictable life which binds us to a comforting cushion around us. And then to step out of this cushioned walls sometime feels quite an insurmountable task. No wonder, I call myself Cheese, I am always spreading myself in the warm arms of comfort ! Thankfully I have an absolutely dependable Chalk as a partner. He is a trained soldier to the core. Chalk knows not much about the softer feelings and cushions of life. Even if he feels anxious, ever, he doesn’t show it outwardly. I try to throw all my questions and anxieties into a box and shut it with a TSA approved lock ( in case I feel like worrying in a foreign land, later. ) and forget the combination number for a few days.

I am a meticulous packer. I carry all small and big items which I feel I may need during my travel period. I have this uncanny feeling that if I forget something I will surely end up needing it desperately. I know that it is easier buying stuff than carrying them around. But I am a very choosy cheesy person, I pack the way I like. I carry safety- pins to band-aid. I carry medicines that can suffice to run a mini pharmacy ! I never forget chargers, different socket points, umbrellas, plastic bags, pen, paper, books, kindle, iPad, sanitary pad, wet tissue, dry tissue….whew. In short, I travel with a mini home which I manage to fit in my share of one and a half suitcase.

Chalk on the other hand is a last minute packer. My tension multiplies as his shopping bags from Decathlon keep piling up one on top of the other. He remains calm, he can pack in an hour or less time. Whereas I need an hour just to pack my toiletries.

Chalk and Cheese are different in every possible way, and so are we, the husband and wife. Chalk with full good intentions goes ahead and pre books our seats on the flights to and fro from home. I am in total shock ! He has not booked even one window seat in any of the flights. Who spends money to sit in the middle and aisle seats, I wonder. Chalk has a simple argument, there is nothing to see from thirty five thousand feet above the ground , the sky looks more or less the same. Spoken like a true pilot, yes Chalk is also a pilot, besides being a firm chalky soldier. But Cheese is an artist at heart, mind, and soul. I stare at him in disbelief. He doesn’t know that the sky changes colour, from deep magenta pink to scarlet orange , from crispy blue to darkening gray. He doesn’t know the land below looks amazing during take off and landing. That the fluffy clouds floating besides the airplane always invite me to float with them into the far horizon, all this is unknown to Chalk. Chalk has robbed me from the only joy of air travel, gazing out of that tiny oval window. Now all I have to gaze at is at a screen in front of me , seeing one movie after the other. With a long sigh Cheese becomes cold and a little sad ; Chalk may call it ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ but Cheese knows better. She will certainly create her own paradise no matter wherever you make her sit.

Our day of departure finally arrives. We set out for the airport in the middle of the night, Chalk and Cheese and their four suitcases. After long hours of waiting at the airport, when our flight took off , my City Of Joy was dimming the night lights, preparing for another dawn. And we flew westward in search of new places, to make more beautiful memories.

To be continued…