Stand in front of the departures board at Frankfurt International Airport and be inspired.
From here, the world is possible. Within hours you could be on a flight to any corner of the globe, perhaps if you're lucky with a glass of French champagne in your hand. Some of the places are worth visiting for their names alone, others you would be challenged to place on a map, but from this finite list the possibilities are endless.
Sometimes when I'm transiting FRA I'll visit that massive board, watching as the times and places flicker, mumbling the cities softly to myself like the names of past lovers who could tempt me again. Often I'm joined by students who drop enormous red backpacks at their feet, or businessmen with their smart black rollers and briefcases. For a moment we're all captured in this place, knowing twelve hours from now we'll be thousands of miles apart.
More than once I've passed here as that weary traveler heading home, my bag a little dusty and my curly brown hair closer to an afro than is reasonable in public. I glance at the rows of ticket counters before peering up to examine my options. One day I know I'll abandon that homeward-bound ticket. I'll choose a place on this board, one I've never been to before, and I'll march up to the airline agent, snap my credit card down on the counter and purchase a seat. I'll just go, because that would be the best way to start an adventure, wouldn't it?
Until then I have more organized trips planned that still manage to surprise and delight. All the same, if you ever see a girl standing alone under that signboard looking indecisive, do me a favor and tell her to 'just do it!'. It may not be me, but I like to think that none of us would regret making that leap.
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