Big Bang! // The universe, which kicked open the closed door and left home, has been wandering for 13.8 billion years without stopping. / So, there is nothing that does not move in this universe. / The sun that orbits the galaxy, / The earth that orbits the sun, / All living things on the earth, / You and I are all traveling. / We are always traveling. / From one species to another, / From birth to death, / Atoms, cells, plants, animals, / Passing through various stages, one day, / The journey came to me.
--- p.5 From the "Prologue"

Besides that day, there were many difficult moments crossing the border.
But during the pandemic, even that was missed.
This is the first time since international travel became commonplace that (the majority) of humanity has been stuck in their own countries, unable to leave their borders.
I had no idea the tunnel would be this long to escape the kingdom ruled by the COVID-19 virus (didn't the word "corona" come from the word "crown").
As we emerged from the long tunnel of the pandemic, humanity embraced each other with all its might.

--- p.25 From “I miss you so much, the times of menstruation”

Looking down at Earth from space, it's not hard to find Lençois Maranensis.
Between the Amazon and the Atlantic Ocean in South America, the 'white sand dotted with lakes' looks like a coral reef full of holes.
From a distance, it looks like the left wing of a white bird or butterfly that has fallen on the shoreline.
Where is the other wing? I mutter to myself, a childish question in my mind.

'It might be sitting on the right side of your spine.'
--- p.28 From "When it rains in the whitest desert on Earth"

It was a landscape that had become so familiar thanks to seeing it in photos and movies.
However, Iguazu Falls is a place that cannot be replaced by indirect experience.
An emotion that could never be felt without seeing it with one's own eyes filled my whole body.
If Iguazu Falls had demanded, "Adore me! Not with love, but with admiration!", I would have said yes a hundred times, no, ten thousand times.

--- p.55 From “Iguazu, Admire the Feast of the Giant Waterfalls”

Christmas Eve has arrived in the salt desert.
On a desert night, when white salt covered the entire world as if it were snowing, we slept on a bed of white salt.
When I walked in the bedroom or down the hallway, the salt grains on the floor made a crunching sound like my feet underfoot.
Could there be such a perfect "White Christmas"? Long ago, director Wong Kar-wai's film adaptation of "Chungking Express" had this tagline: "If love had an expiration date, I want mine to last forever."
If there is a factory on planet Earth that can extend the shelf life of love to ten thousand years, it will be in Uyuni.
Sodium chloride is a crystal that prevents 'corruption', so the memories of love shared in the salt desert will not rot!
--- p.79 From “The shelf life of love shared in the salt desert is ten thousand years”

“You have a thousand pillows!” It was when I was in the first year of middle school.
One day, a friend asked me about my date of birth, and the next day, he told me that he had heard it from his mother, who studies fortune telling.
I was only thirteen years old and had no idea what it meant to have a thousand pillows.
Quite a long time has passed since then.
Countless nights spent sleeping on unfamiliar pillows in roadside lodgings, I suddenly remembered the words of a childhood friend.
'A thousand' does not refer to a specific number, but rather means 'countless', a word used to express wanderlust!
--- p.97 From "The 'Room with a Good View' Encountered in the Golden Valley after Passing the 'Death Road'"

The carnival competition ended with a spectacular fireworks display.
I went down into the stadium where the parade line had all left along with the spectators.
I walked towards the exit with a large crowd.
The sky was blue, and dawn was just beginning to break.
At that moment, all kinds of complicated emotions began to swirl inside me.
I don't know why, but tears suddenly burst out and started flowing down my cheeks.
I don't have the talent to express the emotions and feelings of that time in words.
A single word soared into the sky, its exclamation point like a flame.
mankind!
--- p.113 From “Allow Humanity to Celebrate”

The way to repay the kindness and favors received along the way is to welcome and show kindness to travelers you meet today.
We do not know whether Igor, who left for India, found Shangri-La in the Himalayas.
But I know one thing.
Igor will find out later when he returns home.
That Shangri-La or India was not the destination, but the scenery and people I met along the way.

--- p.222 From “The destination of a journey is the scenery and people you meet along the way”

Those who want to escape from 'something' often choose travel as an escape route, and some of them never get caught again by the 'something' they escaped from.
Because on the journey, you realize your own nature or wildness.
Thelma, her hair disheveled and smoking a cigarette, asked Louise.

“Do I look like a crazy person right now?”
“That was you originally.
“All this time, I haven’t had a chance to show you.”
--- p.236 From "The Dock of the Soul" where everyone becomes a "Thelma and Louise"

Humanity is fundamentally a wanderer.
The history of humankind, which once left Africa and migrated to Europe, Asia, and America, is imprinted on the DNA of all humans living today. (…) In 2021, the US Perseverance and China's Tianwen-1 landed on Mars.
Perhaps before the end of the 21st century, humanity will meet, part ways with, and reunite with wanderers on their journey around the solar system.
What kind of greetings would space wanderers of such an era exchange when they parted ways?

--- pp.300~301 From "There is no eternal separation as long as the road exists"