Cheap Thrills!

Blogroll Me!

Love ya, Blogger, hate ya, Blogger... (yes, I lost my fabulous post; recover post didn't work; now I have to re-create it)

Everyone has his or her declared cheap thrills. I'm often living vicariously through family or friends who travel, so why not also through objects that travel...?

Amazon.com is my friend. Last December I ordered a birthday/Chanukah gift for a brother of mine who lives in Boston. I was a newbie at ordering online, but once I discovered the track-your-package system, I was hooked. My order wasn't a high priority, needing second-day delivery, so I let the package have a field day, run its course, while I watched from the sidelines.

You'd think a big U.S. city has its own distribution center for books and gift items, but no...o....o. I watched as this package traveled through Tennessee and West Virginia and and about five other points before it finally reached the intended recipient.

All along I was imagining the package as it changed trucks, passed through several hands, perhaps whizzing past tourist attractions while riding along the interstate and city streets.

I recently placed another order with Amazon.com and have been happily watching the package trek through desert country of the West Coast en route to its final destination. I'm thinking of the parcel sweltering in the back of a transport truck as the truck weaves in and out of traffic, in and out of states.

The package should make its way to the recipient any day now...

"Hey, there's a UPS truck parked outside, and the guy is getting out and walking this way... A package for me? Wonder who it could be from..."

Fellow blogger A Simple Jew http://asimplejew.blogspot.com posts today about a new pair of tefillin that he got. He'd ordered them from a sofer in Jerusalem, and anxiously tracked them as the package made its way from Israel, across the ocean and to his house in the States. That truly was a holy and dear package being delivered to him, and to be able to track it was exciting.

I think that Amazon.com will be my friend for a while. Think of all the money I'm saving in airline fares and cross-country bus tickets while just sitting in front of a computer screen and living vicariously through a package's many stops. See how far some $9.00+ in S&H can take me...?

I guess this is what they call being "an armchair traveler"!

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Not that I'll be traveling anywhere, except probably far away from my computer for the next several days -- I'll have to PASSOVER my e-mails and my blog posts.
To all my Jewish friends, Chag Samech. I wish you and yours a very Happy and Healthy Passover -- tell lots of good tales, eat lots of good food and we'll see you next week.
One more thing: "Next Year in Jerusalem!" (wonder how much that'll cost in Amazon.com dollars to get there...)