The Relevant Questions

When I was considering my first expedition to the Everest region in Nepal in 1979, I made a list of questions to answer before deciding to go. It went something like this:

• Can I get in good enough physical shape to enjoy it?
• Can I save enough money to make it responsible?
• Can I get time away from other commitments?
• Is it a reasonable risk?
• Is this the right time?
• Are these the right people?
  
• Is there anything else I'd rather be doing with my time, energy and money?

Basically, I am considering the same questions for this trip. My life is full. I don't in any way feel lacking for entertainment. I enjoy my work and my involvement in Buddhism and the community of practitioners.

But I have loved a good adventure for as long as I can remember. When I was a child, people used to drop off their used National Geographic magazines at the local library. I'd carry an armload to my home, where I cut out the photos and pinned them to the walls in my room.

I always felt I would see those places and those people. It seemed they were mostly like me, bound by fate to live in out-of-the-way localities, yet full of life and an interest in the world. I wanted to meet them. I wanted to hear their stories. I still do. When I lived in Nepal and people came to visit, they'd ask, "What have you been doing this year?" and I'd reply, "Walking around." Sometimes I'd walk for weeks, from village to village, without a map or a destination in mind. It was never a disappointment. Never once.

And now, for some reason I can't quite fathom, Turkey is calling. Until now, it's a word I associated only with towels, coffee and Turkish Delight. Who knows how these seeds get planted? I can trace it back to some logical events, but it seems incomplete, as most explanations do.

I think if I go, I won't know why I went till I get there.