And this week.

For someone like me, who keeps the passport in a little box by my bed for hasty international getaways or emergency travel exits, relinquishing possession is terrifying. For a whole ten days, I felt naked and vulnerable without my passport. There is nothing though, like the joy of that self-addressed registered envelope returning to my hands, sender stamped: Embassy of Brazil.

Visas are wonderful things. Powerful and strangely beautiful papers glued into the most important document one could ever possess in the free world. Unflattering photos, unfamiliar inscriptions and shiny security details reflect a glimmer of new countries and cultures and experiences to come. My passport is my most prized possession, both a physical document and abstract symbol of freedom. A brag book of places been; a blank slate for unwritten journeys.

This week, I have my passport back. I am free. 

Where it came from.

This photograph summarises the who and why of my own wanderlust:

My mum and dad, who took me and my little sister to Europe when we were children, instilled in us a great spirit of adventure and courage and freedom. This photograph, taken just last week, is my most favourite photograph of my parents. Beautiful people in a beautiful place, in front of the Taj Mahal, Agra, India. A place once described as  a teardrop on the cheek of time, an incredible mausoleum and one of the world's greatest architectural icons. 

This photograph symbolises everything I live for - my family and my freedom.

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Thought for the week.

[I am not sure if it is passe to post a weekly quote. It seems a little reminiscent of my standard-issue office flip calendar (or perhaps even Jerry Springer's post-program closing statement). Nonetheless, I will continue].

Patagonia.

Sometimes a name and a place seem imagined, like Zanzibar or Timbuktu or Transylvania. To me, Patagonia always existed in another world, somewhere between Pandora and Atlantis. But now I am unequivocally drawn to the ethereal landscapes of southern Chile.

http://www.celebratebig.com/chile/index.htm

http://okool.deviantart.com/art/Andes-Mountains-Patagonia-Arge-114201898

http://sedats.deviantart.com/art/Patagonia-VI-166613556

I think I will go to Patagonia.