Urgent Cafe

So here it is, the moment I've been waiting for since my trip to Vietnam in 2018. My world journey is starting. I'm sitting on a bus to Brno. It follows my commute between the train station and my apartment to Listplatz, then deviates onto my jogging route up to Brandenburg Bridge, past Mariannenpark - I once worked for a year in that office building. My playlist is playing 'Run' by Snowpatrol as the bus continues towards Volksgartenstraße, past Jörgens Dance School - that’s where I learned Cha Cha Cha with Lisa in 2008. The road widens, the exit sign for Leipzig and the entrance sign for Taucha appear, and I feel... well, what exactly? Anticipation? Euphoria? Not quite... I’ve been puzzled in the days and weeks before that there was nothing, not in Taucha which was expected, but emotionally within me. But while I'm sinking disheartened into my seat, the realization dawns that I couldn’t really feel anything other than somewhat underwhelmed. I've been dreaming for seven years of traveling for longer than the usual two weeks vacation. The concept has shifted from a year of work and travel in a Vietnamese rice field to a comparatively luxurious sabbatical with occasional hotel stays. But there was always that unconscious yearning for the usual stuff of 'finding oneself', 'having experiences', etc. And then there are the many well-intentioned questions and reassurances from friends and colleagues: 'And, are you excited yet?', 'Oh, I’m so envious, it’s going to be great!'. I’m truly grateful for that, don’t get me wrong, but it certainly adds extra weight to my already full backpack of expectations. And if there’s one thing I can’t do, it’s anticipation and expectation management. I enjoy things as they happen or, ideally, surprise me. And with this realization, the metaphorical backpack feels lighter again. Have I 'found myself' with this? Can I turn back now? No, I’m seeing this through.
I initially wanted to leave the planner in me behind, but the first accommodations and trips are already booked. Like the big three stations of my life: Eutritzsch Center - Wilhelminenstraße - Chausseehaus - Wilhelm-Liebknecht-Platz - Main Station, Kleve - Bedburg-Hau - Goch - Kevelaer - Geldern and Wittenberg - Südkreuz - Börlin Säntrl Stäschn, I can now recite: Brno - Budapest - Bucharest - Sofia - Istanbul. For all the cities, no more than two to three days are planned, for starters just making mileage. Often, it’s said that two or three days are 'enough' or 'all you need' for this or that city. What is a useful guideline for *the traveler* (always a good phrasing in a travel blog, right?) might be an affront to the local residents. I would surely feel offended if I overheard someone say that a weekend is sufficient for Leipzig. I have lived there most of my life. Have I perhaps stayed there too long? By the way, another interesting observation about that cringe-worthy travel vocabulary from Roger Willemsen: making a country. We did Siberia and then the Caucasus. After that, we did Patagonia..
Amidst all these thoughts during my night journey in the far too cold air-conditioned bus, occasionally interrupted by brief seconds of sleep, I am ejected in Brno just before 6 o'clock.
A shop on Google precisely encapsulates my innermost longing: Urgent Cafe. Well then, off we go...