The Way of Slow Travel Articles, tips, and stories about Slow Travel
Well, here we are, Helene and I. Back in hang time.
“Hang time” refers to the moment, in many types of sports, when the athlete seems to be hanging in the air, in a perfect moment of weightlessness. The weightlessness is a lie, in a way: it’s not absence of weight, it’s merely the tipping point between kinetic energy propelling them upwards, and the pull of gravity about to reassert itself.
When Helene and I flew to Shanghai in 2003, it seemed a perfect metaphor to describe that moment of calm between the madness of leaving Montreal, and the dizzying experience awaiting us in Shanghai. And 4 years later, it strikes me: I’m back in hang time.
I’ve been gone from Ubisoft for 20 days now, basically doing nothing, and a whole lot of it. But as the days have been passing by, it slowly dawned on me that I was just about to move to Edmonton. It’s a striking reality now: in less than a week, Helene and I board a plane to Alberta. It’s real.
Tomorrow, movers come to pick up our stuff, and we will be left without a home, and without jobs, with only a few suitcases and our favorite travel companion, our cat Xishi. I’ll be spending a few days at my parents’ home with the cat, while Helene spends time with her best friend.
It will all feel so… weightless. But it’s a lie; gravity is just around the corner. And when we fall on our feet again, we’ll be standing in Edmonton.
