Words, pictures, videos don't do it justice. I drove across the country for the one in 2017 and it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Sacrificing people on top of a pyramid isn't my preference but i kinda understand where the aztecs/mel gibson were coming from. For real though totality is like a divine searing hole opening in the sky that connects you to cosmic ancient human experience even if just for a few moments. The moon is an actual giant thing falling toward us in perpetuity and never is it more tangibly understandable as such than when it falls literally perfectly in front of the fucking sun. Streamers of plasma millions of miles long whipping out around the black disc of the moon. Undulating liquid-like shadow ripples called shadow bands appear on the actual ground, it's like standing on the beach looking down as a wave washes back out to sea but the beach is the planet on which all life lives and dies and the wave is the infinity of outer space, and you barely even hear about them because the eclipse itself is just that much more spectacular. ~~For most people in the united states, this is the last chance they'll have to see it in their lifetimes.~~ my bad actually there's another couple chances in 2044/2045, but still.
Lived in Japan on the path of totality back in '09, there was a lot of buzz around it. And then it was a cloudy day and we couldn't see shit. It became a darker cloudy day and then went back. Most of the region was clear, it was just the city and a bit outside it that were covered in clouds. At this point I believe I'm cursed by the universe and will not seek it out solely to not ruin it for others.