When I travel there are two items vital for every one of my adventures: Peanut M&Ms and a book. I cannot go anywhere without them. The peanut M&Ms became part of my standard travel gear after I brought a pack onto a train destined for Florida in 2002. A train ride from Philadelphia to Orlando is a long, excruciatingly uncomfortable trek down the East Coast, and the M&Ms were one of the few comforts I found while sitting in the same seat for more than a day. The other survival instrument I brought with me was a paperback copy of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Its cover was a still from the movie adaptation featuring Elijah Wood’s Frodo holding his sword, Sting.
The movie was very popular in 2002, and that was a major prompt for me to finally read the series. But that wasn’t my sole reason for reading it. As I was only nineteen at the time, any vacation I took was a “big adventure.” Traveling by land for a thousand miles into the netherworld we call Florida excited my imagination. Was a trip to Florida on really par with journeying deep into Mordor? Well, I ask you, have you ever been to Florida?
That particular vacation took me and my family to Disney World. I retuned from this quest mostly unscathed, with only a small touch of the flu and a case of pink eye. At least I didn’t end up like Boromir*.
As I return to this book blog of mine, I’ve sought out new ways to describe living with books. I think I have a few good travel tales about the tales that I’ve traveled with. I invite you to journey with me and I hope you enjoy what comes next.
*Yes, I know, Boromir’s death isn’t discovered until the beginning of The Two Towers. It’s been a while since I’ve read them, but I do remember some of the differences between the movies and the books.
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