The Haggis Bus
'You've never even heard of the Haggis Bus!' The American looked at me in amazement, as if I had not grasped some self-evident truth. I confessed I hadn't, apologising for being so ignorant. I imagined a bus shaped like a sheep's intestines full of bland people with checklists of tourist sites on some cultural orienteering course. It occured to me that many here indulged in the usual pitfalls and cliches of modern travel; comparing Edinburgh to Venice, Loch Lomond to Lake Geneva, the Highlands to the Alps, exchange rates, prices, places to stay. It was 'comparative' travel, hackneyed territory dredged up from standard guides and superficial visits. An overdose of countries and cultures, it leaves us dulled, like an over-long visit to an art gallery, and undermines our capacity to be moved and slightly changed by the places we visit and the people we encounter. I turned in thinking that perhaps real journeys only really exist in the imagination.
From Mike Cawthorne's 'Hell of a Journey'.
— Filed under Inspiration