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Aug. 19th, 2012 | 12:30 am
“I guess you travel all the time, eh?”
“Sure do!” I say to the kind audience man footing the leg of the rig, keeping it from sliding while we take it down after the show.
“So where’s home?”
And the shortest answer is, “I have a house in Kalamazoo, Michigan.” Sometimes followed by, “I’m there about three weeks a year. Not all at the same time.”
And most of the time, that’s home. I keep my stuff there. I email my roommates to water the cactus and put out the recycling, I pay the housekeeper to avoid fights about who cleaned what when I get home. Three hours away, I text “Incoming!” to make sure I have a place to park and the furniture’s where I left it.
I’m there about three weeks a year. Not all at the same time.
There are ways to feel at home on the road. If you’re anywhere longer than four days, unpack, fill the hotel drawers. Longer than a week means scented candles and the same coffee shop every morning. Sometimes you’re lucky and there’s a kitchen, it’s worth it to tote along a canvas grocery bag of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and spices and a good paring knife. Sometimes it’s carry-on only and I learn the vagaries of the local grocery, an American-style hypermarket (say it “ee-pair-market” and the locals can actually help you) or the best fruit seller on the subway steps, the meat market with head-on carcasses hanging like fatty curtains.
I always bring: pillow, blanket, laptop, paper, pen. That and contact lens solution and a bank card, set me down in any city in the world and I’ll be fine. Deal with the jungle on your own; this is my self-sufficiency.
I always find: at least two coffee shops or cafes, free internet (the joke in Eastern Europe as we moved from place to place, “follow Allison, she’ll know where the net is before sunset,” as I roved the streets with my laptop open, seeking the unsecured network and not ashamed to sit on the curb to use it), good fruit and the book store with an English shelf.
Home then is the barista remembering my order. The fruit seller saving some good cherries. A new cheese to try from the clerk at de Kaaskamer, Runstraat 7. Sitting in the morning, or whatever my inner time zone says is morning, turning out words that turn into pages, the voice from the road calling home.
Today is Edmonton. Today is Second Cup in the morning for internet and Vietnamese Subs in the evening for beef salad rolls, yes, extra sriracha please, like always. Today is the guy at Italian Sandwiches trading all my coins for bills, lightening my load. Today is three shows, making small talk with three sets of audience helpers while we take down the rig, “I live on the road. Where are you from?”
I have my blanket. I have my pillow. I have my laptop and paper and pen. I am in the world. I am home.
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Location: Second Cup, Whyte Avenue, Edmonton AB Canada
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from:
kathrynrose
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 05:25 am (UTC)
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from:
whipchick
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 05:51 pm (UTC)
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from:
tamaraland
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 08:24 am (UTC)
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from:
whipchick
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 05:51 pm (UTC)
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from:
roina_arwen
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 07:21 pm (UTC)
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from:
p_m_cryan
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 11:33 am (UTC)
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from:
whipchick
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 05:51 pm (UTC)
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from:
roina_arwen
date: Aug. 19th, 2012 07:21 pm (UTC)
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I never take my own pillow or blanket on the road when we go places - can't imagine the weight a blanket would add to either packed luggage or carry-on, but if you're fussy or sensitive to certain fabrics I could certainly understand it. There have definitely been times I've wished for my own pillow in a hotel, when theirs were too squishy! I always bring my laptop and a few novels, though.
How long will you be in Edmonton?
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from:
whipchick
date: Aug. 20th, 2012 01:16 am (UTC)
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It's not a big blanket, more of a throw size - the kind of furry throw one might put on a couch, just big enough to sleep under if I have to! I stuff it in my carry on and it reminds me not to bring one-too-many pairs of shoes :)
I'm in Edmonton through next weekend. Nice to be settled for a bit!
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from:
halfshellvenus
date: Aug. 20th, 2012 06:50 pm (UTC)
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I wonder how you can keep your pillow and blanket, though? That would be an entire suitcase for me, and I like to go carry-on if I can. Or do you hope to drive, whenever possible?
You have city-to-city adventure, and make your own stability. But I would find it very hard, if I were dancing in your shoes!
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from:
whipchick
date: Aug. 21st, 2012 09:03 pm (UTC)
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I love it, but it is tough - I tell people all the time, you have to love it or it's too hard to do it :)
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