travel anxiety

i'm so lucky to have been able to go a few places this past year including NYC twice, Mexico City, San Diego twice, New Orleans and upcoming to Detroit. Paradoxically all this meandering makes me want to go away more, got my sights set on Netherlands, Iceland, Japan and San Francisco.
I just saw this post on a favourite blog:
http://jeremyandkathleen.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-truth-about-travel.html
....and can totally relate.

We went to Mexico City in April, it was amazing. I thought I had enough rudimentary Spanish to get along, alas, no. The irony of the phrase book as I discovered, is that if you need it, basically it means you are f*cked. If you are relying on it to communicate, the likliehood is that you aren't able to interpret any of the responses you get from Mexicans.
I found the same thing in every non-English place I've visited: communicating basic needs is actually super stressful. Which also means that getting those needs met is super satisfying--ie; getting a cup of coffee the way you want it in Berlin, riding the subway in Mexico City, getting lost--and finding your way back--in Athens.

 MC: Basilica de Guadalupe: Here we learned about how the native Aztec supplicants sought refuge in the Catholic church! Hair raising colonialist revisionist history.  

Kind of makes you appreciate North American travel, where the only real concern is not getting killed on the SoCal freeway and not maxing out your credit card at Target.

San Diego: this is the view near La Jolla cove, just beautiful everywhere. 

The best thing about travelling is how it rewires your brain. I guess foreign language type travel just rewires it more quickly and painfully. The net effect is still great.