A friend recently went with a group on a cruise around Southeast Asia. On his return, he told me that he found most of the other passengers much better company than the people in his group, who, on the whole, had done almost no reading about the countries that the ship visited. In fact, he said, they showed very little interest in the destinations. This would not be noteworthy except for the fact that my friend was on a press trip with fellow travel writers.
Many everyday interactions in Myanmar - a ride in a cab, a purchase in a store - end with the question: "Where you from?" After the first few queries I couldn't get "USA" out fast enough for I knew it would produce an approving thumbs up, a ferocious betel-stained smile, a devout incantation of "Obama." (He was there the week before I was.) If the questioners spoke English they would sometimes add the commentary, "Great country." And looking around at the shabby buildings, the garbage-strewn streets, the exhaust-spewing buses, I wholeheartedly agreed with them.
Last week I wondered what they thought when they heard about Sandy Hook.
Seen yesterday on Facebook:
"If Romney wins, I'm leaving the country. If Obama wins, I'm leaving the country. It has nothing to do with politics. I just want to travel."
And so this blog's Election 2012 coverage comes to an end.
While up in New York, I took the subway to Brooklyn to meet the founder of the new online travel magazine Carry On. Josh lives in Greenpoint, the Polish neighborhood which has become popular with young New Yorkers because it's cheaper than nearby Williamsburg (and nowhere near as relentlessly hip).
After a lunch at Krolewskie Jadlo (pierogies for Josh, potato pancakes for me) we took a stroll up Manhattan Avenue. At one intersection Josh pointed down the side street where, he said, an elderly Polish woman has a little watch repair business. He took a watch to her once - an old Soviet watch he had bought on ebay - and she refused to fix it. "She didn't look like she could afford to turn down business," Josh said, still amazed. "She said, 'Take it to the Russians on 42nd Street.'"
Monday I took the bus into New York and stopped by the public library on 5th Avenue. It was a warm day, so a number of people sat outside - on the steps and in the chairs off to the side - almost all of them concentrated on their smartphones. It was like walking into a New Yorker cartoon. Then, adding to the sensation, I spotted a man sitting expectantly behind a table displaying a dozen books and a sign that read: "Meet the Author."
I'm off to Pennsylvania tomorrow - flying into Philadelphia and then driving one of America's most beautiful and unheralded roads: Route 32 hugging the Delaware from Yardley to Easton. I'm expecting falling leaves, roadside pumpkins and at least one stop for apple cider.
Be back here on the 25th.