Eager Anticipation

Just over a week until the plane to Helsinki, and my brain has already wandered across the Atlantic.  I revel in the anticipation of travel: from the initial planning, when a literal world of possibilities emerges from the the atlas (and the kayak.com window), to the days before departure, when the imagined stage of the Kirov dances before my eyes and the speculative wind of the Curonian Spit stings my cheeks.  All the necessary pre-trip packing, charging, tidying, shopping, tying-up of loose office ends - they feel far far away at the moment, as unknown streets and shores, palaces and mountains, and cozy brick walls of Eastern Europe's basement bars draw near.