I had a dream, many years ago, about the first time I would visit London. In my dream, I touched down in an airplane that looked oddly like a Boeing 677 Stratocruiser painted in a dark green, worn to a dull luster by time. As I stepped off the flight and unto the mossy cobblestoned runway in the center of London (wha?), I dropped to my knees, brought my face low to the ground and kissed the earth of England.
As an Anglophile, I’ve dreamed for years about visiting the United Kingdom. This was the land of Chaucer, of Shakespeare, and of Colin Firth, after all. The land of afternoon tea, and Queen Victoria, and Jane Austen. Subconsciously, I assumed the sheer euphoria of being in England would simply ferry me about in a state of bliss, and that all would be right in my world.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Well, the reality of London looked nothing like my dream. You’re not surprised, are you?
Not that my introduction to London was bad of itself. Sure, I was over twelve hours late after one of the worst travel experiences I’ve had to date, but I wasn’t expecting that the airline would lose my luggage, that I’d miss the train to Glasgow, and that I’d end up dropping almost $150 to spend four hours in a hotel room in London near Euston Station because I couldn’t leave for Scotland until the following morning. I’ve traveled enough to know that sometimes things don’t go exactly as planned and that you should never bank on your expectations.
But one of the best parts of traveling is the expectation. Having something to look forward to. Knowing that you’re going to be confronted by an environment that’s different from your own, however subtly. On the flipside of expectation, however, is the danger of prejudging a place you’re visiting without having seen or experienced it yet and placing unrealistic expectations on the experience you hope to have there. When we expect travel destinations to fulfill some fantasy we’ve drummed up in our minds, it’s easy to feel let down when the fantasy just simply doesn’t prepare you for the reality.
But here’s the reality: travel isn’t always easy or comfortable. Sometimes, you don’t get your own way and sometimes you do. You’ve just got to learn to roll with the punches and stay flexible so you can adjust your perspective to each new and different situation.
So although it’s sometimes difficult to balance travel expectations, I think I’m getting better at it. I’m learning to wipe my mental slate clean and to approach each travel experience like a blank journal, ready to record each moment as it comes.
I’ve made the same mistake, Marsha. It’s a good learning experience to go through, though. Now, I try to be a bit more realistic with my expectations of a place, “lower the bar” so to speak. It’s better to be pleasantly surprised than unpleasantly disappointed.
Good attitude. I totally hear you about false expectations. I can share a story on expecting something when I got to Germany that didn’t happen due to…expectations. My funk almost ruined my experience there but after a few days and talking to a stern friend, I decided I had to make myself happy and let go of these expectations. After that, shockingly, the rest of my adventure was pretty amazing. I am pleased this trip did not sour you on travel. Keep moving and going. I am sure your next trip will be amazing!
Colin Firth….and that guy who played Mr. Darcy with Knightley in the adaptation of Pride and Pejudice. I have been to London three times and I’ve always loved it, but then again, I’m a sucker for big, busy and multicultural cities. My trips were all in the middle of winter, but still I was charmed!