Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Three
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
—William Shakespeare
T
he loud horn blasted above me on the ship as I stood along its railing, the sea spray
already covering my face. It was time to say, “Adios, America!” because I was heading to
Tarragona, Spain, only sixty miles south of beautiful Barcelona. The journey would take ten
days. My heart was racing with excitement. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am in
love with adventure. The thrill of the unknown, the boyish dream to sail the world and greet
a thousand cultures, the freedom that comes with not knowing where you're going or how
you're going to get there. And now I was about to cross the vast Atlantic Ocean on a con-
tainer ship with no itinerary in front of me other than to one day (sooner rather than later, I
hoped) make it back to Los Angeles.
As the ship headed out of port I saw the Statue of Liberty, reminding me of all the people
who had come to America before me. As the son of two Greek immigrants, I had seen the
fear and confusion of stepping foot on a foreign shore, having to learn a new culture, a new
language, a new life. My transition from London to Los Angeles had really only involved
driving on the other side of the road and exchanging my raincoat for a pair of sunglasses.
After following my dream to America, running from the home I had long fantasized of
escaping, I was now doing that journey in reverse, returning to the world beyond—to the
Europe where I was raised, to the Middle East where so many myths and legends and tales
were born, to India and Asia and wherever else this journey might take me. I would be leav-
ing my language, my culture, my identity, and I would be relying completely on the gentle
kindness of strangers.
The boat passed downtown, where the new Freedom Tower loomed large. Like Miss
Liberty, it also spoke a thousand stories with one shiny spire, a reminder of the two towers
that had once stood there, and the rebirth that had finally begun. It was a new New York
perhaps, one that was scarred in unimaginable ways, but also one that never, ever gave up.
