On Digestion

Am I the only one who cannot write about a trip right after it’s happened? Looking back on this blog, I average something like two or three months between the moment I take a trip and the first time I write about it, sometimes taking much, much longer, and others a few mere weeks.

For me, being able to speak about something is many times akin to a digestion process. I’ve visited places and had a reaction that was viscerally positive (Prague, for example, or Iceland), others that took a little while to settle in (Porto), and others yet that didn’t garner a strong reaction, were simply pleasant, and so I made quick work of them (Toulouse). I don’t just do this with travel, either, I do this with books, and films (have you seen The Lighthouse, by the way?), sometimes without even thinking about it. A week passes, and then two, and then a couple of months go by, and then I think of the thing in question and suddenly I can finally talk about it — but only after it’s been properly digested.

I loved Edinburgh, and I knew it while I was there. I knew it as I left, and I’ve known it every day since I came back home from my trip back in November. So then, why did it take me so long to post about it? Why does this take me two months if I already know how I feel about the place? Then again, just because you really like a meal doesn’t mean your body can take what it needs from it without processing it first.