MAP LIFE STARTS WITH FOLLOWING A PLAN

A map life starts with an idea, then a list.

The idea is to see more than the usual, the every day, the mundane.

A list compiles those magical places. You should have a list.

If you have a travel partner and they make a list, make one anyway.

Show some interest even if you think you know the outcome.

Every travel picture shows at least a little enthusiasm for being in the magical place map life takes you.

The best part are the other people in that place, the locals.

Your magical place is their everyday reality.

Use map life to a sunny resort and celebrate. Just know that everyone living there saw the same sunny day yesterday, the day before, the year before you showed up with an extra dose of amazement.

The fruity drink in your hand on a white sand beach isn’t the first one there. It’s not one small sip for man, one giant chug for mankind even if it feels that way.

Make Paris A Part Of Map Life

If you avoid foreign travel because you don’t speak another language and your English speaking skills sound like that’s your second language, have no fear.

According to travel experts the rest of the world has learned English, and they speak it better than you.

Keep that in mind when you get off the plane in France and everything is in French. Weird, right?

Luckily the tiny old woman in the window seat for the flight over had it figured out. She was a retired French professor from the University of Iowa who took us under her wing, but no further.

We found and shared a cab with her from the airport to the first hotel, which wasn’t her’s.

Our overflow of gratitude included making plans to meet with her later.

Hanging out with Americans wasn’t part of her plan. It was her first time back in twenty years and all she wanted to do was wander around Paris and get lost in daydreams.

She had a good plan and wasn’t afraid to share it. She didn’t tell us to get lost, but that was the idea, a good idea.

Besides, I was already lost in a jet lag haze that first morning. All I wanted to do was dive into bed and sleep, which is not a good idea on the first day in a new time zone. Why? Because it prolongs the lag.

The City Of Light Brightens Up For New Comers

I was in town with my wife. We wanted to set a Paris foundation for future visits so we booked a Rick Steves tour.

One stop was the Louvre. Our guide was a seasoned pro who said, “The Mona Lisa is upstairs and you may see it after our tour.”

I’d never seen it and heard it was disappointing because it was so small and displayed in a way that kept patrons at some distance.

The jostling crowds lined up in a winding queue like they were arriving for a first covid shot at the Portland Convention Center.

I imagined the custodian who dusted the frame after hours wasn’t as excited as the museum fans.

Leonardo’s chiaroscuro and sfumato would have no dust to blur the lines if he had anything to do with art. Neither would any of the other frames he dusted.

Somehow my camera was not set properly and I screwed up the shot of a lifetime. Fortunately a vender outside had a nice rendition on a tea towel. And a flag.

Map Life Shows The Known, We Find The Unknown

Like reading between the lines of a story for the true meaning, a map is a general guide.

So is a guided tour.

The true value of travel is the people you meet.

The young woman who checked us into the hotel had seen people like me before.

“Your room will be ready in a few hours. I suggest you take a walk in the meantime.”

Walking around Paris was part of the original plan, so we did. When we got back the room wasn’t quite ready. Should I have bribed her? Maybe.

Instead I found the couch in the small, elegant, lobby and passed out comfortably.

“Wake me up when it’s ready, please.”

Having a big slug featured in the lobby did miracles. The room was ready sooner than later.

We saw each other over the next eleven days. I saw her interact with people showing up and crashing on the same couch I claimed when I was a rookie.

She was my Joan of Arc when I lost my phone in the Paris Metro on the way out of town. Like the pro she was she checked every possibility for finding it.

No plan or map life accounts for the kindness of strangers, but when they step up they are no longer strangers but unexpected heroines.

And you can’t draw that.