The Accidental Tourist

The business traveller should bring

only what fits in a carryon bag.

Checking your luggage

is asking for trouble.

Add several travel-size packets

of detergent...

...so you won't fall into the hands

of unfamiliar laundries.

There are very few necessities

in this world...

...which do not come

in travel-size packets.

One suit is plenty...

...if you take along travel-size packets

of spot remover.

The suit should be medium gray.

Gray not only hides the dirt

but is handy for sudden funerals.

Always bring a book

as protection against strangers.

Magazines don't last...

...and newspapers from elsewhere

remind you you don't belong.

But don't take more than one book.

It is a common mistake to overestimate

one's potential free time...

...and consequently over-pack.

In travel, as in most of life,

less is invariably more.

And most importantly, never take

along anything on your journey...

...so valuable or dear...

...that its loss would devastate you.

- Sir, would you like a snack?

- Just some peanuts.

I'm sorry I'm so fat.

Name's Lucas Loomis.

Macon Leary.

You a Baltimore man?

- Yes.

- Me too.

Greatest city on the Earth.

One of these seats

is not really enough for me.

The stupid thing is,

I travel for a living.

I demonstrate software

to computer stores.

What do you do, Mr. Leary?

I write travel guidebooks.

Is that so? What kind?

Well, guides for businessmen...

...people just like you, I guess.

Accidental Tourist.

- Why, yes.

- Really? Am I right?

Well, what do you know?

Look at this:

Gray suit. Just what you recommend.

Appropriate for all occasions.

See my luggage?

Carryon. Change of underwear,

clean shirt, packet of detergent powder.

- Oh, good.

- You're my hero.

You've improved my trips 100 percent.

I tell my wife, Going with the Accidental

Tourist is like going in a cocoon.

Well, this is very nice to hear.

Times I've flown clear to Oregon

and hardly knew I left Baltimore.

Excellent.

I see you have your book

for protection there.

Didn't work with me, though, did it?

Edward, how you doing, boy?

- Hello, Sarah.

- Hello, Macon.

- You made good time from the airport.

- We landed early...

...even with the storm.

- I made you some tea.

- Well, that's very nice of you, Sarah.

So how was Atlanta?

About the same.

Peachtree Road, Peachtree Centre,

Peachtree Fire Hydrant.

Come on. Come on, Edward.

Hello, Edward.

He's a boy.

How's your ears?

Okay.

I think he still expects Ethan

to come home, even after a year.

Macon?

Macon.

You know I love you.

But I can't live with you anymore.

What?

What did you say?

I want a divorce, Macon.

I rented an apartment downtown.

Honey, listen, it's been a hard year.

We've had a hard time.

People who lose a child

often feeI this way.

It puts a terrible strain

on a marriage...

...but it doesn't have to tear us apart.

Listen, I've been thinking...

...have you considered

having another baby?

- Oh, Macon.

- I know we can't replace Ethan, but-

No, I'm sorry. It would never work.

All right, forget that.

It was a crazy idea, right?

Crazy notion, but...

AII I'm saying is, we can start over.

Macon, ever since Ethan died, I've had

to admit that people are basically bad.

EviI, Macon.

They're so eviI they'd take

our 12-year-old boy...

...and shoot him through the skull

for no reason.

There have been times

I haven't been sure I-

Haven't been sure I could live

in this kind of world anymore.

It's true what you say

about human beings.

I'm not trying to argue.

Tell me, Sarah, why would

that cause you to leave me?

Because I knew you wouldn't

try and argue.

You believed all along they were eviI.

This whole past year I've felt myself

withdrawing from people...

...just like you do, Macon.

I've felt myself becoming a Leary.

Well, there are worse disasters

than that, I guess.

Not for me.

Macon, I know you loved Ethan.

And I know you mourn him,

but there's something so...

What do you call it?

Muffled about the way

you experience things.

It's like you're trying to slip

through life unchanged.

Sarah, I'm not muffled.

I endure. I'm holding steady.

I know you think that,

but I think you're fooling yourself.

It's not by chance you write books telling

people how to make trips without a jolt...

...so they can travel to wonderfuI, exotic

places and never be touched by them.

Never feeI they've left home.

That travelling armchair isn't

just your logo. It's you.

No, it's not. It's not.

When Ethan was in this house with us,

we were all right.

If there was a distance between us, it

didn't matter. We had Ethan in common.

But when we lost him, I needed you.

I needed you to comfort me.

I needed you to be the kind of person

you've never been...

...and that isn't even fair to ask of you.

That's why I have to go.

- Sarah-

- Don't fight this, Macon.

I don't know

how much strength I've got.

I'm never gonna recover from

Ethan's death. I don't expect it.

But there's a chance that I could

make a life anyway.

But my only hope

is to get out of here...

...away from you.

Let me go.

In the Southeast they say

that if you want to go to heaven...

...you have to change planes

in Atlanta.

The airport in Atlanta must have

Come or go, Edward.

Oh, make up your mind.

I could stop by and pick up the rug

on Saturday, if that's convenient.

Well, I leave for England

tomorrow afternoon.

Maybe I could bring the rug over.

Or I could let myself in on Saturday.

I should have agreed to teach

summer schooI or something.

Open my eyes in the morning and I think,

Why bother getting up?

Why bother eating?

Why bother breathing?

Me too, sweetheart.

Mr. Leary, come with me, please,

to identify the body.

Yes, that is my son.

So I guess I'll come by

while you're gone, if that's all right.

Oh, sorry.

Come on, Edward.

There's nothing to worry about.

- Hi there.

- Do you board dogs?

- Sure.

- I'd like to board Edward here.

- Do you have a reservation?

- A reservation? No.

- Most people reserve.

- Could you make an exception?

I've just come from the place

we've used before.

Suddenly they tell me they can't take

him, that he bit someone last time.

Edward, do you bite?

How could you do such a thing?

I'm catching a plane.

I'm leaving for a week...

...and I don't have a souI to look

after him. I'm desperate, I tell you.

- Can't you leave home with your wife?

- No.

- You're not married?

- I am, but she's living elsewhere.

They don't allow pets.

I'm a divorcee myself.

I know what you're going through.

So will you keep him?

I guess, if you're desperate.

Fill this out. Your name and address

and when you'll be back.

Don't forget to put when you'll be back.

I'll most likely see you again

when you pick him up...

...if you put the time of day

to expect you.

My name is MurieI.

Is this place open evenings?

- Every evening but Sundays, till 8.

- Oh, good.

MurieI Pritchett.

In London, England, I recommend

the Underground...

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