Viajando con un libro: Traveling with a book (Friday January 14--Day 66)

Books can be a distraction. Reading can be a way to escape your surroundings. You can be transformed to a different place, to a different time, to a different experience. So why then would I intentionally bring a book with me on a journey to find reality? Why waste time in words when I should be paying attention to what is around me and learning from real people in that moment? These are valid questions, and their concerns hold merit. But I believe that the benefit of traveling with a book can far outweight the potential costs.
First of all, a book can provide a comfortable, recognizable feeling of home. If the book is one of your favorites, it can help you to return to a place you know. If you´re lucky, it can help you to renew that ´known´ place through a fresh set of eyes.
Second of all, depending on the book itself, it can allow your mind the chance to function at a different pace. If you are on vacation and your mind has checker-out, a book can keep your brain thinking and moving. If you are traveling in an intense environment and you are over-analyzing everything around you, a book can give your brain the opportunity to turn inward and reflect internally at its own speed.
Third of all, traveling with a book is a great way to meet people. If someone sparks a conversation with me based on the book I am carrying in my hands, the odds are high that this interaction will be interesting and that this person is someone with whom I would like to speak.
Lastly, and this is a trick I learned while living in a city, traveling with a book means you are never alone and never without purpose. I can be in public by myself, without a book, and rarely will I feel self-conscious or lonely. However, there are those moments when I do feel overwhelmed, lost, and alone. And it is in those moments when the safety of a book can rescue me from these feelings. Like a security blanket for a child, I grip the book and I am not overwhelmed, I am calm. I am not lost, my presense and my stillness has purpose. I am not alone, I have the company of a new world.
Of course, depending on the book you bring and the purpose for your travels, these reasons can vary. For this trip, I opted to carry along The Unbearable Lightness of Being, one of my all-time favorites. It may not be the longest of books, but I can read it again and again at varying speeds and I will enjoy it each time. The last time I read this book, during my trip to London during Christmas of last year, I was in a very different mental place and I had a different set of prioritees and concerns. This time around, I was curious to see how my reading of this classic piece of literature would vary. Also, I knew that this companion would be a source of insight  on a journey that, essencially a six month vacation, I have assigned the heavy task o finding reality and learning life´s secret. Talk about a light holiday turned heavy. Lastly, I thought that this particular book would provide a much different filter from the book I chose for my previous world travel, Ayn Rand´s Atlas Shrugged. Although, much to my surprise my readings of both books are producing rather similar insights. But that´s for another blog.
Then, once here in Argentina, I also fell victim to my used-book addiction and picked up a collection of short stories. Cuentas para regalar a personas inteligentes, or Stories to Give as Gifts to Intelligent People, by Enrique Mariscol has helped expand my spanish vocabulary and has given me tiny hidden tidbits of advice to meditate upon during long busrides. All in all, a great purchase. Well worth the few extra pesos and the few extra pounds.
So there it is. All you backpackers and traveleres out there--bring a book. I know you have to pack light, but this is a priority that can really impact your experience for the better. But choose wisely.