They say visiting places broadens your horizons, and it’s true. I’ve just been on a lightning trip of Europe and Asia, and I can say that my friend- who said that visiting a place is exactly the same as looking at a picture- is totally wrong. Maybe if you just went and looked at some buildings, a museum or two and stayed cooped up in your hotel room, it would be so. But until you’ve sat in a café in rural China and just drunk in everything around you, it’s impossible to understand the joy of travel.
It’s also expensive, hence why that’ll be my last bit of travel for a while. Still I learned so much that I don’t mind. Like…okay, so here in Melbourne, emergency plumbers are everywhere. If you wake up in the night and you see your bath floating down the stairs on a gentle wave started by some leak in the wall, there’s always someone to call. They don’t teleport there, but the plumber will be there pretty quickly. 24 hour plumbers, just something we’ve come to expect.
But I’ve travelled places where everyone just sorts things out themselves, and that’s normal. They couldn’t afford extra services like that, but they don’t have to. The plumbing is more rudimentary that what we’ve got set up in Melbourne, so if there’s a problem, you just strap in the gloves and fix it without a fuss.
Now, I’m not gonna be one of THOSE people. You know, the temporarily zen types who come back from a long trip overseas and think that their greatest souvenir has been foreign answers to all of their native culture’s problems. I’m just fine with us having complex plumbing services in Melbourne, and having to call in plumbers to fix their problems. There’s the simpler life with its own complexities, and the complex life (that’s ours) with its simplicities. Both are good. Though if I had to choose…having an emergency plumber on call is great.
-Alex