To Travel Is Not Just To Discover The World, But To Discover The Endless Possibilities Within Yourself
To travel is to write a love letter to the world. To express a curious affection for places you have never been to and for people that you may have just met.
There's a certain kind of magic that is created in the simple act of a departure to another place. Stepping away from the familiar and into the embrace of the unknown. With each journey, you peel back the layers of the world like some vast, living onion, exposing yourself to the raw sensations that can only come from new and foreign destinations. New places, with their unseen skylines and uncharted streets, beckon the traveler like siren calls, promising stories untold and adventures yet to be had.
In the labyrinth of an ancient bazaar or the hush of a misty forest path, there is a palpable excitement, a vibration in the air that beckons us towards discovery. It’s a marker, a whisper, a promise and secret yet to be discovered. It might be a flavor, some odd combination of spices that dance on the tongue and challenge your concept of taste. Or perhaps it's peering through the steam of a street-side stall at an old woman deftly crafting a traditional dish, her hands moving with the grace of long practice, deep love, family tradition and an age old alchemy.
Each new face is a world of discovery and intrigue in itself. It’s a repository of stories, wisdom, experiences, interactions and a life lived in a context so different from the one that you are used to. There is beauty in the lines etched by laughter and sorrow. There is mysticism in the way strangers can become the briefest of friends over a shared meal or a mutual misunderstanding. Every person you meet is a door to a different way of thinking, of being, of seeing the world. That, my friends, is the beauty of humanity's tapestry. It's a long, stunning and complex tale, woven with endless threads, each vibrant and singular in its hue.
The food. The glorious and mysterious, complex medley of flavors and textures that reveal layer upon layer of mystery and love. It's more than sustenance. Its culture, its history, its geography on a plate. It’s a passing down of a way of doing things that is a close held family secret, kept through the ages but shared with joy amongst strangers. Food is the love language of the world, a way for people to say who they are without uttering a single word. In every bite of a new dish, there is a lesson about the people who made it, a history of their struggle, their laughter, their sorrow and their suffering. There is a deep and rich tapestry of recorded time about the sun that shone on the crops and the traditions that shaped its creation. Food binds us in a shared necessity but frees us in its infinite variety. It creates a bond, a conversation, an experience that encircles us and makes us relate to one another in ways that we cannot even comprehend.
Experiences are the currency of the traveler. They are more precious than gold, more lasting than any souvenir and more memorable than any event. To dive into the icy waters of a fjord, to feel the sting of the cold, the shock to the system, the exhilarating reminder that you are present, you are experiencing this magnificent feeling, and yes… you are alive. These are the moments you pocket, these are the slivers in time that you caress, that you hold close, cradle dearly and carry with you for as long as you walk on this earth. These experiences, they are the stories you will tell your friends, your family, and most importantly, your children. The memories that will flicker like a warm hearth in the cool twilight of your later years and ones that are yours to pass down to the next generation that is cradled on your lap, listening intensely and cherishing your every word, your every description.
With each new language you encounter, there comes a new vision of life around you and of a life that you are part of. The struggle to wrap your tongue around unfamiliar sounds is a humbling exercise in patience and openness. But in that struggle, there is a bridge being built. A connection to countless individuals you would never have otherwise known. Language is more than just words that are meanings for objects or actions. It's the syntax of a culture, the rhythm of its heartbeat, the meaning and existence of a people who live, work and eat together. To learn a new language, to speak a new tongue and to struggle to participate in a culture that is so different than your own is to hear the music of another people. To bear witness to their history, their survival, their love, their laughter and their decency.
There is a profound sense of self-discovery that comes from pushing your own boundaries away from the things that are familiar to you. To taking the time to move out of your comfort zone and by placing yourself in contexts where you are no longer the majority, no longer the one who knows, who feels at home and who intimately knows your surroundings. It's in these moments, perhaps sitting in a quiet square as the dusk settles, that you confront the questions that drive your desire to learn more about the world around you. Who am I when I'm stripped of my familiarities? What do I believe when all my usual signposts are gone? How do I feel struggling to speak and communicate? Where do I fit in around the people who came to the same place to experience everything?
Travel is the great leveler. The destroyer of egos. It teaches humility like few other experiences can. To navigate the streets of a city where your status is irrelevant, where your currency of self-importance is devalued in the face of a shared humanity, is to truly see yourself in relation to the vast world around you. You learn the art of listening, but not not just listening to others. You learn the secret to the silent stirrings of your own heart. You begin to understand that being lost isn't a predicament. In reality, it’s actually a path to being found.
There is a deep and intimate connection that happens in the clink of glasses during a toast between those raising a cup of wine or other types of spirits. It’s the exchange of smiles across a language barrier. Its in that spilt second, that moment where the mutual nod of respect between you and someone whose life you can barely understand becomes a moment of connection, laughter and humility. Travel reminds us that despite the staggering diversity of our experiences, we are all bound by common threads of joy, sorrow, love and the simple need to connect with one another. Travel doesn't just broaden our horizons. Travel deepens our understanding of the human condition. It draws us in and makes us see beyond ourselves and perhaps witness the view from the other side.
The beauty of travel is in its power to make you feel so incredibly small. You stand against a plain so vast, that the horizon is invisible to you. You stand in aw, a speck against the backdrop of towering mountains or an endless sea. You stand in a concrete and glass canyon that is rising around you and has been built up for decades, centuries and continues to expand and rise towards the sky. It is there, in that space of towering insignificance, that you are afforded a rare perspective on the grandeur of the world. It is a reminder that while you play a part in the narrative of human history, history itself is but a fleeting moment in the pageant of ages. There is a wisdom in this smallness that overwhelms you, a freedom found in the recognition that you are part of something larger. Something grand. And something that is truly ageless.
In every forgotten corner of any foreign land, in every custom and tradition subtly observed, you collect the essence of what it means to be truly alive. The beauty of travel isn't in the stamping of a passport or the collection of photographs and selfies that you post online. It's in the silent transformations that occurs within you, the subtle shifts in your soul that you may only recognize long after you have returned home. While you are present, while you experience places, people, food and customs that are new, exciting and unlike anything that you have witnessed in your own city or town, you are being subtlety changed and forever shifted in your understanding, your views and your perspectives.
To travel is to write a love letter to the world. To express a curious affection for places you have never been to and for people that you may have just met. It's to offer yourself up to the world. To express your presence and to declare your openness to be taught, changed, to be allowed to take part of this grand, ongoing story that is so far from your own and is something completely unfamiliar to you. The world, you will find, in its infinite grace, always delivers. When you are prepared for it or when you least expect it. The world will give you gifts that you may recognize right away, or perhaps later in life. These gifts may be subtle. They may be harsh. They may be blatant. But they are given with love, culture and a deep respect and humbleness. These are the quiet gifts that are unannounced. Given through the laughter of new friends, the majesty of nature, the thrill of the unknown, the texture and flavor of an unfamiliar bite of a dish, the sip of something new and splendid and the site of something beautiful.
In the end, perhaps the most beautiful aspect of travel is not who are when you leave at the start of your adventure, but the person you become on the journey back. You return a different person than the person who left. You return as someone richer in experiences, someone who has tasted the infinite variety of life and has been nourished by it. You learn that home isn't just a place. Rather, it’s a feeling that you carry deep inside of yourself. Travel is really a mosaic of all the places you have been and the people you have met along the way. Its a medley of the food that you have tasted, the wine you have sampled, the people that you have laughed with and shared a meal with, spoken to and also fallen in love with. And in that realization, you understand that to travel is not just to discover the world, but to discover the endless possibilities within yourself.