“Why do you plan so many things in advance?” I asked my partner over the kitchen bench. We had finished our dinner and I was stacking the dishes while thinking about the thesis I had to submit in a few days. This was back in early May, and my partner was planning her holiday away in Indonesia.
“Because you get to look forward to something,” she said, “especially if you’re closing a chapter.”
A bit of context. You’d call my partner a permanent host of that insidious parasite: the travel bug. She travels at least once a year and structures her projects around being in different cities worldwide. But for me? I’d call a visit to a distant GP a pilgrimage, and the majority of my travels over the last 5 years consisted of tram and train rides to and from campus. So, when she uttered that phrase I’ve loathed for a long time: “CLOSING A CHAPTER”, it sent me into an existential spin that’s usually reserved for folks 20 years my senior.
She noticed: “You’re oddly quiet.”
“You’re right about that closing-a-chapter thing,” I said, then explained that closing a project was scary for me. “It’s like I have to find another mountain to climb after this thesis. Another map, so to speak.” Weirdly enough, though my honours year nearly gave me grey hair, I was content and preferred what my friend Hano called: “that ole ticking clock in ya”. But when I was about to lose the hard structure, that’s when the dreaded voice started haunting me: what are you putting on hold in the name of academic success?
“You’ve never stopped working, have you?” She shook her head, “Tell me, when was the last time you did something for yourself? Purely for the sake of it?”
“Well, I want to read that…”
“No! You read all the damn time. Something you genuinely love.”
“Anything?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Anything.” She circled the kitchen bench and held my hands…
Two days later, I was shuffling through websites looking for the cheapest tickets to Dublin, Ireland. Reason? I asked myself: what is the wildest thing you can think of that can be achieved in the next month? My mind bypassed all rational thinking and landed on a ludicrous goal: I will spend Bloomsday in Dublin on the 16th of June, 2024. Exactly 120 years from the day when the story of Ulysses was set.
A week later, I now have two packed bags, ready to board my first flight.
All aboard!
If you’re a regular reader, this might strike you as a strange letter. Normally I prefer to write well-researched and structured pieces with satisfying endings, but in this case, I don’t know the ending yet. The best I can do is to document everything without sparing a single beat. I am currently writing this at the charging station in front of Gate 10, about to board a flight to London to start this ludicrous journey. As expected, my heart’s jumping out of my chest and my itinerary will roughly follow this progression:
1: Land in London and re-unite with my crazy street writer brother in crime: Jaytheauthor.
2: Board a plane to Dublin on the 14th and get there on the 15th in preparation for Bloomsday
3: Make a YouTube video about Bloomsday
4: Fly to the South of France and meet up with an old friend
5: Then end it with five days in Paris
This is a lot to cram into three weeks, but it’s too late to turn back now.
If you want to follow along this crazy journey, subscribe (paid subscriptions will allow me to produce more writing during this trip!) to this newsletter and I will update you guys every other day with pictures and reflections.
In the meantime, this is the end of the first letter from this series. Take care, and goodbye!
Robin
Actually this is my favorite letter from you ever. My English is bad and therefore it’s the first time I’m able to understand most of what you write. I also feel closer to you since this letter shows that you are also a “normal” person with moments of doing a bit crazy things and feeling nervous too. Wish you a wonderful trip!!!
The quote "What are you putting on hold in the name of academic success?" kind of reminds me of some advice I received when I applied for grad school. Simply put, I was told grad school was not meant for people who want to delay entering the real world after graduating with an undergrad degree. Grad school was, instead, meant for people who have experienced the real world (i.e. having a job, traveling the world, etc.) and want to further their knowledge and expertise.