Maxwell's Lost Again

I tried to switch to substack. I thought it was time for a new chapter, a fresh start, something more streamlined, to move on from what I’ve had for so long and used so little.

I hated substack’s app the website. I felt as if I had betrayed something essential. It was not a new journey, but a rehash of what I did so long ago, with new bits and pieces to add on top of the bits and pieces here. Still only bits. I posted and backdated the stuff from that failed experiment and added them back to here. I’ll make plenty of new mistakes, but not that one again.

I have been home for a few months now and my memories of the trip already have a dreamlike haze spreading over them, the color of poorly developed film. I have slipped back into my life, older, wiser, and a bit more tired. I realized I do not have the energy for two months of go go go. I was wiped out for much of Japan and all of Korea. I am still in awe of Japan and plan to go and do it again, focused and proper. to see all I missed. I also promised my friend Jong Won I would return to Korea whenever he decides to marry his girlfriend. I loved Hong Kong and would go back to see the people I met there and Macau. As for Thailand and Vietnam, I don’t think I will have reason to return when there is still so much of the world I haven’t seen. I think my quest for the perfect beach will lead me back to Central America yet again, and the next great journey will be the entire length of Argentina, though I do not know if that will be in 2 years or 10.

I have much ahead and much behind and plan to continue to drop little morsels of my life through the lens of my travels here. I’m going to Europe this summer, a bit of a rehash of Paris alone and then travels with family to Italy and Germany. If my count is correct, Germany will be my 30th country traveled to. Sadly it took me 31 years to get there. Perhaps I can do 5o by 50. I have an ache for Iceland and Portugal.