My favorite parts of traveling are being on things that move, writing letters, and looking at people on the sly. I like traveling very much, but I think I am far too timid to be a really good traveler. Although I am interested in people, I don't usually like to talk to strangers. I mostly like to walk around and look at things, without learning any facts. I try to avoid facts at all cost.
Some of the essays in this book were full of facts, and I was eager to read them. I have hopes that one day I will be less mentally abstract. In the end I didn't enjoy the essays that included the most facts, though. I ditched them in favor of ones with lighter, funnier sentences, like this one from George Saunders's essay New Mecca:
You can tell they're Navy because they're huge and tattooed and innocently happy and keep bellowing things like, "Dude, fuck that, I am all about dancing!" while punching each other lovingly in the tattoos and shooting what I recognize as Rural Smiles of Shyness and Apprehension at all the people staring at them because they're so freaking loud.
Experiencing things, thinking things, telling things, and having a good sense of humor: those make a good journey. Sometimes the writers would not give me enough information, or would leave out just that one part of their experience I most wanted them to tell. Mark Jenkins does that. He refuses to tell what a sheep testicle tastes like. Maybe he's trying to tease me--trying to get me to go get one for myself. I'll pack my bag.
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