There’s a Nashville tour bus that passes in front of the building where I work. In the summer months it’s open and people hang out of the windows. I wave at them as they pass by. Some wave back which makes me happy. I want visitors to enjoy themselves and feel welcome and think of this as a friendly place then go home because there’s too much traffic, but that’s another story. Sometimes when the buses pass by me they’re completely empty, and you might wonder why they bother, but people don’t buy just one tour; they buy an all-day ride and can hop on and hop off wherever they want. I’ve been at the Parthenon when the tour bus is there and overheard people say, “We’ll get the next one.” So, unlike most tours, they’re not bound by the schedule can stick around and look spend time at a specific place that interests them.
It’s winter now and the buses that go by have clear plastic windows that hang down like curtains. I can sort of make out people behind them but if they wave back I can’t see it. And the buses have a wreath on front, which is something new, or at least something I’ve never seen before.
One day before a meeting a coworker and I started talking about the tour buses and travel in general, and I said I like small towns and I’m intrigued by islands–that if I could travel as much as I wanted places like New Caledonia, Tuvalu, and Yap are at the top of my list.
“Are you a completist?” she asked. I’d never heard that term before but I loved it. Yeah, I like the idea of a small place because I hate going somewhere and feeling like I’ve missed things. There are places I want to go back to–Chicago, Cleveland, and Los Angeles are high on my list–because there are still things in those places I want to see. And that’s one of the challenges of travel: do you go somewhere you’ve never been or back to someplace you’ve seen for something new? Because everywhere there’s always something new. Every place is always changing, every place has something you’ve never seen before. Even Nashville, where I’ve lived my entire life, has constant surprises.
Maybe one of these days I’ll take that tour to see what the city has to offer that I haven’t seen before, and by taking the bus I won’t add to the traffic.
I used to drive a Bug with eyelashes, and tourists would stop to take my picture if I drove downtown.
That’s brilliant. I’ve seen a few Bugs with eyelashes and they always crack me up. Genuine Wonder Bugs.
I finally went to the Statue of Liberty in June. I have lived within 50 miles of it for all but one year of my life, take the tour. BTW, I tagged you in A Christmas Tag – hope you like homework 🙂 wasthatmyoutloudvoice.com/2018/12/12/a-christmas-tag/
That’s fantastic. Touring the Statue of Liberty must be pretty fun. I’ve been to New York three times but never toured the Statue.
And most of the time homework means working on my home, but this is the kind of homework I’m really happy with. I’ll turn in my assignment shortly.
Your blog makes me happy, Chris.
Your blog, and your comments, always make me happy.