Travel Anticipation

April 22, 2012

One of my favourite authors W. Somerset Maugham tells the tale of an old French Savoyard who believed that a wise traveller travels only in imagination and those are the best journeys for then you lose none of your illusions.

For me the anticipation of travel to an unknown place fills me with excitement and I imagine what things will be like. From my armchair, with a morning cup of tea, I think of the journey I shall soon be making to Suleymaniyeh, Kurdish Iraq with a team of archaeologists from the University College London. I’m told that I shall be sleeping in the Museum of Antiquities and that I must not forget my slippers because the loos are at the opposite end of a quadrangle adjacent to the Souk and I can already hear the beautiful, melodic but haunting early morning call from the Muezzin atop the nearby Mosque. I feel the hot dry heat and I visualise the beauty of the green Wadis and the sweet scent of the spices which will be sold on the street markets.

Aside from a few phone conversations I know nothing about my fellow travellers or our hosts there. I do know that our sampling equipment has arrived but remains uncleared at the customs depot. I just hope it will be released on time.

As for shattered illusions? I doubt it. For me reality has always been better than anticipation and I can’t wait to set foot on the Royal Jordanian flight which will take me to this exciting destination.

Vincent van Walt