Traveling Animals - Jammed together on the subway

Tightly packed in a subway car at rush hour, probably the Boston Red Line, but the lines of many cities blur together in my feelings.

Traveling Animals - Passing through Heathrow

Passing through one of the many intricate passages lacing through the Terminals of Heathrow airport here somewhere inside of Terminal 5. Connecting there is always a long maze down and up and through, and usually with a bus-ride in between two terminals as well.

Traveling Animals - Cold and rainy departure in Luxembourg

A cold rainy departure from Luxembourg, already four or five hours into an early morning and only the first of three flights back to home.

Traveling Animals - Shooting pool at Dagstuhl

 Pool table in a building at the Dagstuhl computer science research center.

Traveling Animals - On the beach in St. John

 Exploring a quiet pebbled beach.

Traveling Animals - Breakfast meeting

Today, I am in airports, returning from my first air travel since March of 2020. This trip, in fact, serves as a bookend of sorts with that previous one, as I am just attended the same standards meeting that I did on that last, so fateful journey. In celebration of the return of travel, and in mourning for the same, I am going to spend the next while posting the Traveling Animals" collection that I have been building since 2014.

Back then, my then two-year-old daughter brought her stuffed elephant to me as I was heading out the door and declared that it would travel with me. I sent back pictures as I went, and ever since an animal has travelled with me on every trip that I have taken away from my family. 

When I send back the pictures, I often feel connected, but also melancholy, connected and distant all at once. These pictures form a curious slice into my professional life, the mixture of joy, fulfillment, and exhaustion that comes with frequent travel. I hope that you get to have at least a little of that experience as you look at this collation over time.

Pemigewasset Wilderness

 Another view into the Pemigewasset Wilderness, looking more Northward this time.