Reflections on travel

Halfway through this journey (holy crap!, it’s halfway over.. don’t freak out), I suppose maybe some reflection is warranted.  Let’s start with some thoughts on travel:

Perusing old landmarks up North several weeks ago, I was struck by the change in my perspective on travel. 

Standing among centuries old architecture, I remembered how I felt in Rome during my first trip abroad when I was 14.  I remember the feeling of awe and of feeling small in an ancient, historic, storied place among the ruins.  Rome remains my ‘favorite city’ because of that feeling. 

I wonder if I would respond the same if I went today.   

Probably not.

I’ve moved on to a place of appreciation.  Beauty and amazement, yes, I see it – but with much more surrounding it.  It’s less overwhelming and inspiring.  It’s meaningful, but with fewer emotions attached.  I wonder if this change comes with being ‘well-traveled’ or with age or with my personal journey to becoming the skeptic (stoic?) that I am.

The experience isn’t less; in many ways, it may be more.  I see more of the story.  I care more about the people (and the food) beyond the monument – the now, how the past still mingles with it, and where it may be going next.  Perspective has changed – mostly for good.

But that innocence that was there when I was 14, standing among crumbling pillars imagining Cesar and Cleopatra in my mind’s eye, is enviable.  That emotion and wonder is coveted. 

I want my nieces and nephews to experience that.  I want them to have the sense that the world is bigger (in so many dimensions!) than their purview.  Travel almost necessitates discarding one’s boundaries.

More thoughts on travel:

• The best travel advice I ever received was to take pictures of people (including you) in front of monuments, scenery, etc.  You’ll look at these for memories more often; you can’t capture the in-the-moment-beauty of a thing in a snapshot anyway.  (I don’t always follow this rule, but I should.)
• The thing I’ve learned most from travel is to look out windows and over ledges, always – the perspective is different, and often exquisite.  Look through things, past them, deeper, closer and you’ll be amazed…most of the time.
• Sometimes being surrounded by beauty and antiquity makes me sad.  I can’t pinpoint the reason why, but I think it’s to do with the pensiveness that 'old' requires.
• Travel can very easily be substituted for exercise.  Two forts in two days = best workout ever.

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