Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Travel, oh how I hate it :)

You know, as a kid I moved 13 times in 18 years, as an adult, I joined the Navy and had 9 duty stations in 10 years (yes some of my stays were very short) When I became a civilian again I traveled 3 weeks out of 4. Somewhere along the way, the joy and excitement of travel sort of slipped away, I'm not sure if it is the long security lines in airports, or if the trips started being more hectic and work filled with less down time, but I have come to loathe travel. At least I loathe travel for business at any rate, and I am tired of moving. I have seen more of this planet than most regular people and I have reached the point where I don't care to experience any more "Culture"
that comes with visiting lands that I don't understand the native language.

A lady I know blogged about the feel of being "Home" and it really struck a chord with me. For at least the next 6 years and perhaps up to 10 I need to stay where I am to complete the requirements of early retirement with my present employer. This kind of sits well since I will need about 6 years to complete my B.S. But living in suburbia near the Nations Capital one does not get that sense of home and community. We have decent relationships with 3 of our 10 closest neighbors, and by that I mean we wave hello if we happen to spot each other out an about, but the DC grind is such that you almost never see each other.

M and I have discussed where we want to live after we decide not to maintain full time employment. We established a few ground rules... She needs to have neighbors close by and a fair sized city within half a days drive (I don't know why this is a requirement she just says it is, though she doesn't spend any time in the city). My must have is a high speed Internet connection and decent UPS/FedEx/Mail service. I do most of my non-food shopping on line these days so I would like to have a good delivery turn around time. I thought about Colorado but it is getting to be a bit on the political "Blue" side. PA has fair to middling gun laws at present but is still leaning a bit much to the blue as well. I think We will have to look hard to find the "perfect" place. If anyone wants to make suggestions feel free :)

All that brings me back tot he fact that I have one of my now infrequent trips to Southern California coming up, I will leave on Sunday and return Saturday on the red eye.

5 comments:

machinehead1956 said...

I hate to travel too. I got home Sunday after spending a week in Virginia and there is no place like home. I like living in small town America, quiet with almost no real crime and no need to be armed to the teeth. ;) We made the last payment on our house this month and will be here for the long haul. :)

Home on the Range said...

I travel too much, sometimes lecturing, sometimes work. I am always so happy to get home.

I have some family in Colorado and it's pretty but it's almost become like "L.A. - East".

When I do retire, will be somewhere even further out, on a lake perhaps, or nestled in some hills, with no neighbors I can see or hear, but close enough I could get to if I got hurt. Delivery by UPS, high speed and enough land to be completely self sufficient.

Oh and a cabana boy that knows how to do reloads maybe. It might get cold.

Carteach said...

Might want to recheck PA.

Most of the state is solidly red, with a serious leaning towards old time values.

There are a dozen blue counties, and Brilliantly blue mob backed governor. but most of the state is Ok.

MagiK said...

Carteach0:
I will keep that in mind, PA is the old Home Town of of my Youth, and there are still places where you can get enough land so that you don't have to stare at the neighbors.

Brigid: LoL at your cabana boy reloader ;)

MagiK said...

MH nice to see ya :)