為什麼我的世界始終沒有變小 - Tony Wheeler

... 今天我們生活的這個星球看起來像是陷入了一個永無休止的怪圈：衝突，誤解還有悲傷和心碎。但與此同時旅行也一直在不斷地提醒我們：我們生存的這個世界是如此美好而這個美好的世界是屬於我們大家的。對於一些國家來說，旅遊業對他們的經濟十分重要，而對於無數旅行者來說，旅行則會給他們帶來巨大的滿足和喜悅。但更為重要的是旅行能夠以最積極的方式去幫助人與人相互結識，去讓我們認識到我們有著同樣的希望和渴求，去證明我們可以擁有一個更美好的世界。

不管經歷過多少陽光與風雨，也不管在這些年裡Lonely Planet 帶著我走過多少徬徨，對我而言，旅行一直都讓我充滿熱情，我也願意為之付出一切。塞給我一張機票，告訴我出發的方向，我馬上就可以動身上路。這些旅程不斷提醒我為什麼我的熱情始終未曾退卻，為什麼我的世界始終沒有變小，以及為什麼我的旅行癮似乎，令人幸福地，永遠也不能治癒。

Tony Wheeler

Lonely Planet 創始人

Lonely Planet China Blog

Women - Charles Bukowski

A young guy - at least 6 feet 6 inch tall - walked up to me. "Look, Chinaski, I don't believe all that shit about you living on skidrow and knowing all the dope dealers, pimps, whores, junkies, horse players, fighters and drunks...."

"it's partly true."

"Bullshit," he said and walked off. A literary critic.

Then this blonde, about 19, with rimless glasses and a smile walked up. The smile never left. "I want to fuck you," she said. "it's your face."

"What about my face?"

"It's magnificent. I want to destroy your face with my cunt."

"It might be the other way around."

"Don't bet on it."

"You're right. Cunts are indestructible."

I took my bottle and went to my bedroom.  I undressed down to my shorts and went to bed.  Nothing was ever in tune.  people just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods, zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel, withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga, copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Bach, Buddha, Christ, TM, H, carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart.  People had to find things to do while waiting to die.  I guess it was nice to have a choice.
I took my choice.  I raised the fifth of vodka and drank it straight.  the russians knew something.

人間失格 - 太宰治

只要將錢包交給崛木﹐與他同行﹐崛木便會大肆殺價。可能因為他很懂得玩樂﹐所以他總是能發揮厲害的花錢本事﹐以少許的花費換取最大的效果。他不坐昂貴的計程車﹐而是善用電車﹐巴士﹐蒸汽船﹐以最短時間抵達目的地﹐展現他厲害的本事。早上從娼樓返家的路上﹐他會順道繞往某家餐館泡熱水澡﹐再點個湯豆腐配小酒﹐價格便宜﹐感覺卻很奢華﹐以此對我實地上了堂課。此外他還告訴我﹐攤販賣的牛丼飯和烤雞肉串既便宜又營養﹐還向我拍胸脯保證﹐最快讓人喝醉的酒﹐非電器白蘭地莫屬﹐總之﹐有他買單﹐我從不會感到不安和惶恐。

和崛木交往的另一個好處﹐是他完全不理會對方的想法﹐一味任憑自己的熱情發散(也許所謂的熱情﹐就是無視對方的立場) ﹐一天二十四小時總是言不及義﹐完全不必擔心我們兩人走累了﹐會陷入尷尬的沉默中。

美麗的她

她從樓梯上直挺挺地走來。米色貼身西裝裙上面是同色內裡，外面套著薄薄灰色毛衣，兩片荷葉邊柔軟地吹拂。皮帶剪出鬆緊段落，高跟鞋、黑色的介於皮包和公事包之間的袋子，細細地背在單肩上。啊我喜歡那銀釦子怎樣輕輕地鎖住皮革，像門上那小手形狀的舖首抓住的門環。染過色的長髮高高的托在後腦，端正又凌亂。臉上撲了極其完整的妝，那是白日所不可親近的，靠過去都能沾在大衣上。

她戴著眼鏡緊閉雙唇走向地底的電車，托著全副精神向著世界站著。曾經有誰令她幾乎錯覺她卸下一切以後能夠不用再做坚强。最後給了她“你不會當真吧”的微笑。她像幼鹿一樣靠自己的力量雙腿發軟地站起來；她顯然錯認幼鹿會是天真的無比殘忍的他，她以為自己是保護他遠離現實世界的母鹿，他隨即一槍打進她身體。

她把那眼睛永遠閉上。張開時是另外一雙。

衣服一件件穿上。面具一張張套上。他買的這些假皮，以便剃下她真正的尊嚴。她微笑。


她緊抿著嘴角走在早晨，比任何人都還要高直。那冷風呼呼地襲在每個人身上。她直挺挺地走進地上開出來的洞穴，裡面有部車，帶她去所有地方。任何地方。但她已哪裡也不想去。她直直地看著前方，義無反顧地走下去。

A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary - Alain de Botton

I was reminded of the Roman philosopher Seneca's treatise On Anger, written for the benefit of the Emperor Nero, and in particular of its thesis that the root cause of anger is hope. We are angry because we are overly optimistic, insufficiently prepared for the frustrations endemic to existence. A man who scream every time he loses his key or is turned away at an airport is evincing a touching but recklessly naive belief in a world in which keys never go astray and our travel plans are invariably assured.

I know, at least in theory, that Norcock could not always, in every circumstance, be a model of authoritative and patriarchal behaviiour. He, too, must be capable of petulance, of vanity, of acting foolishly, of making casually cruel remarks to his spouse or neglecting to understand his children. There are no directional charts for daily life. But at the same time, I was reluctant to either accept or exploit the implications of this knowledge. I wanted to believe in the capacity of certain professions to enable us to escape the ordinary run of our frailties and to accede, if only for a moment, to a more impressive sort of existence than most of us will ever know.

Another man explained that he had been visiting his wife and children in London, but that he had a second family in Los Angeles who knew nothing about the first. He had five children in all, and two mothers-in-law, yet his face bore none of the strains of his situation.

'For what purpose is all the toil and bustle of this world? What is the end of the pursuit of wealth, power and pre-eminence? To be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation.' Adam Smith, The Theoryy of Moral Sentiments (1759)

We may ask our destinations, 'Help me to feel more generous, less afraid, always curious.  put a gap between me and my confusion; the whole of the Atlantic between me and my shame.'  Travel agents would be wiser to ask us what we hope to change about our lives rather than simply where we wish to go.