"My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon"

I was not going to bring my iPod. One of my goals on this trip is to bring the bare minimum of possessions to maximize my freedom of travel. Although not physically heavy, my iPod is mentally burdensome. It is just one more thing to worry about losing while at a café in Vienna or a market in Jerusalem. But then yesterday a friend reminded me of the fact that I would actually be going five weeks without music.

For those of you old folks out there who are not a part of the “iPod generation,” this is called Acute Musical Addiction. AMA affects over 75 million young people in the US alone. People with this disorder will suffer severe withdrawal symptoms if away from their particular musical source (such as iTunes, an iPod, or some other direct connection to their favorite artists with the scroll of a click wheel) for an extended period of time.

Although the risk of accidentally gifting my iPod to the crack between seats on a German train is dangerously high, because of my disorder, I am physically unable to leave it at home.

More importantly, who could resist the opportunity to hear Plant’s screams echo off the dunes as Zeppelin blasts “Kashmir” across the desert.