Off to Europe

I learn once more how hard it is to stay focused when preparing for a long journey. Ellie and I leave for Europe tomorrow, and my mind refuses to let go of its entanglement with the preparations. What to pack, and what to pack it in. What I need to do to leave everything in order here at home. Whether or not to take my little laptop...

I have decided to take it. As readers of The Bush Diaries may remember--the earlier blog from which The Buddha Diaries sprang--I have managed to keep blogging even while traveling. It simply morphs, for the duration of the trip, into something more approaching a travel log. In Egypt last year, armed with my little Vaio, I made time almost every day to write down something about the ancient sites we were visiting, the cruise down the Nile, the encounter with the Pyramids, the mosques, the constantly fascinating experience of a culture I had only heard and read about... It all seemed quite exotic and adventurous. And I was usually able to find an internet cafe where I was able to get online for the few minutes it took to post my entries. It wasn't quite as regular as at home, for sure, but it felt good to end up with a sixty-page memoir of a memorable journey.

So that's my plan this time. Don't hold me to it. I may yet decide to take a vacation from The Buddha Diaries. But I doubt it. I'm pretty much wedded to this thing. It will in all probability be less regular. It may look and sound a little different from the other side of the Pond, but at least our (normally) twice weekly "conversations" will continue, under the supervision of my able assistant, Cardozo.

So I trust that readers will stay tuned, and check in at least once in a while to keep in touch. I, meantime, must get back to all that distracting stuff to prepare for tomorrow's departure. Wish me luck.