Canuck

  Friday, 9 July 2004

Europe: It's Closer Than We Think < 11:55:59 PM>.

But for some reason we still think of Vancouver as "close" and Europe as "very, very far away." To the extent that many think of traveling to Europe as being in the "once or twice in a lifetime" category.

And this isn't something unique to travel: the thought of picking up the phone and actually calling someone in, say, Rome or Madrid would be something that I, even with all my voice-over-IP and "man of the world" posturing, would treat as a special event. [snip]

Even the thought of mailing something "overseas" seems exotic, and something that would deserve a special trip to the post office.

This concerns me on several levels.

Personally, I'd like to be able to get over my "far far away" hang-ups about Europe because I think I would go there more often, have more fun, be a better person.

[snip]

And I think if we all treated European (and for that matter worldwide) travel less like a 50th wedding anniversary and more like a trip to the corner store, we would get a heck of a lot more out of the travel experience.

The thing is, I'm not sure how to make this happen, personally or otherwise. Maybe it just takes more traveling, calling and mailing. [Reinvented News]

Of course part of the reason Europe seems so far away is that it is in terms of our societies. And that is the allure of the place. But I'm past the idea of it being physically different. I live in Toronto (aka centre of the universe) and I think of England as being about the same distance away as Vancouver. I'm also very lucky to have a childhood friend and many newer friends living in Europe. Make friends with Europeans! The barriers to visiting there (cost of accommodations) begin to drop.

< 12:56:13 AM>.

"The victims of your callous misbehaviour were from one of our staunch allies in Operation Enduring Freedom and were your comrades-in-arms," he wrote.

This cowboy really has not shame. It think we should celebrate his decision to sue by repeating as often as possible the quotes which violated his privacy. This guy dropped a bomb against orders that killed four people and he is worried about his privacy.