Daylight Exile

December 9, 2021 #Travel #Spain #Valencia

A few years ago, having just returned from a trip, I was small-talking with a client about Berlin’s gray December skies. I said something about how surreal it was to have come back from a much different environment just 24 hours ago, and she mockingly raised an eyebrow: “Oh, you experienced the magic of air travel?”. The conversation came to mind when I was in Spain last week, squinting at the bright days and walking in aimless circles through Valencia: That magic of air travel? Didn’t feel it in the daylight glow, but instead simply in being in such a different place where the oranges hang from the trees, streets smell like they have recently been washed down with soap, where oranges collect in the street gutter, and time seems to stand just a little bit still.