Tomorrow we will go somewhere we’ve never been.

I always get a peculiar feeling when I’m preparing to go somewhere new. I’ve seen more of the world than most … but far less than I want to … or that I eventually will. A little excitement. A bit of fear. A curiosity about how it will be and when adventures we will have.

When going to a new place, I always skate between preparing and just receiving it fresh. I read a little, check the weather, make sure it’s safe. Then I let it go. I prefer to find a place once I get there. Let it come to me. Free space and open time.

We won’t go to the usual places. Ruby, a spectacular traveling companion, and I will find a breakfast place the first day, walk a bit, find a place that serves a late dinner. We’ll work to be alone and yet be open to meeting people.

We’ll probably find a museum but we won’t stay there more than an hour. It’s an affliction we both share. We couldn’t stay in the Louvre for more than an hour. It’s just how we are. But, we don’t count the time we spend in the little courtyard of the museum having a glass of wine and talking about what we’ve just seen.

We’ll find a church or a temple or a mosque to visit. A coffee shop. A wine store. We don’t stay in those places more than an hour either.

We’re not about checking the boxes when we go somewhere new. We let the place find us.