On travel

I only told two of my coworkers that I was going to Greece. It feels very awkward and distancing to talk about traveling with them. I am uncomfortable discussing my ease of movement and financial ability to do so with people who do not share it.

I only talk about traveling with the older generations in my office, people who traveled back when it was easy for Yugoslavs to do so. These women tell me that, while I’m in this part of the world, I must go to Athens or Florence or Rome or Vienna. They tell me stories of their visits there 20 years ago or tell me that they wish they still had their summer house on the Croatian coast because they would love to invite me there.

When I mention traveling to the younger people, they say, “I wish I could travel,” and I don’t know how to respond. One coworker keeps telling me to take the trips that she dreams about – most of which involve visiting Iran or Russia’s Pacific ports. Again, I don’t know how to respond.

I discussed this Friday night with B and K, the peace corps volunteers I stayed with in Bulgaria who spent a day in Belgrade as part of a Bosnia-Croatia-Serbia spring break tour. Before they left, they emphasized to coworkers that they were visiting people that they knew, as they have found that that goes over better and is less awkward. That’s probably a better tactic than saying nothing.