Pumpkin Spice Musings

• I'm currently at Starbucks, trying to find a way to get all my stuff to Australia.  And I just found out that I can store my luggage at the airport in Bangkok for $3.25 a day!  Hurrah!

• I spent the day book shopping.   Proof of my nerdiness, and a reminder of how much I love my life right now.  I revisited old libraries in Burbank I hadn't been to in years, and ventured out into LA to find another library I'd never been to.  I feel like no one knows how amazing used bookstores and library book sales are.  Hardcover books for a $1?  Why the hell did I ever go to Barnes and Noble.

• I've been reading "The Art of Travel," a philosophy book by Alain de Botton.  And within the first few pages, I'm already in love.  Can I be in love with a book?

     "If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest - in all its ardour and paradoxes - than our travels.  They express, however inarticulately, an understanding of what life might be about, outside the constraints of work and the struggle for survival."

So perfectly written.  And it made me realize that this year, the way that I've been living and the way that I travel have become almost identical.  When I'm home in LA, I'm usually getting lost in the city looking for a little coffee shop, a used bookstore, or just a cool new spot to take pictures.  And what do I do when I travel?  The exact same thing.  

I mean, of course I love to see the touristy things, museums, famous buildings and such.  But what I really love to do most when I travel is to find the hidden local spots, the secret alleyways that you need to know about to find, the hole in the wall restaurants that only a local could know about.  I love to get a real feel for the culture, and to see beyond what I can see on a postcard in the gift shop.

• I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that I'm leaving so soon.  3 weeks.  3 weeks!   I'm excited because this will be a real test for me in terms of materialism.  I've been a huge shopper all my life, and admittedly, I'm incredibly attached to all my hard earned clothing and crap I've accumulated over the years.  I'll have to leave most of it behind.  Which will be hard, but I can already taste how good it's going to feel.  I've learned to not base my happiness on material possessions, and living the life of a gypsy and wanderlusting around the world will force me to live minimally.  I can't wait.