I’ve always enjoyed maps. Sometimes I’ve spent hours poring over an atlas, developing extensive geographic knowledge. Name a country, city, or geographical feature, and I can most likely point to it on a map. I’ve read about many of these places, but I’ve only ever been to a precious few of them. Apart from a couple of day trips down to Washington, and a week-long tour of England and Wales (which was far too compressed for my liking), I’ve spent my entire life in B.C. I wonder how that affects the way I see the world. I know a great deal about the world, yet I’ve never experienced most of it, and I probably never will. There are many things that books, documentaries, and travellers’ tales can’t tell you. Despite all of my book learning, do people who can’t name every country in the world, but have been to many, know more than I do? Even if the sum total of their knowledge is less, they still have unique experiences that can’t be replicated. I’m envious. They travel the world, and experience its wonders, while I must content myself with retellings, and a bird’s eye view.
A world both big and small
This article was published on November 15, 2017 and may be out of date. To maintain our historical record, The Cascade does not update or remove outdated articles.
