Travelling is amazing.

You see grand things. Eat lots. Walk everywhere.

You do some of the things that you had planned, and many more that you never knew you would. You’re frequently challenged, learn to go with the flow, and dig yourself out of interesting situations. Try new foods and grab some sleep when you can or, then again, maybe not. Take time to marvel at the horizon. And generally, gloriously, live in the moment.

When you get home all those adventures can feel like a distant memory, perhaps from a movie you once saw, an experience that you can’t believe you actually lived. But then you open up your photos, or remember a little story together, and think ‘how amazing, we really did all that’.

Chances are there will be some places you didn’t love as much as you thought you would, and others you never wanted to leave. Those places might not be the ones you expect, but that in itself is kind of awesome. Discovering places that resonate with you allows you to learn something about yourself, and remind you what’s really important.

You might feel challenged, but you get there. You find strength when you need it, because sometimes there is no other choice. The pear shaped moments turn into the stories you tell, back in the comfort of your own home, hopefully to laugh about in years to come. A reminder of the sometimes random nature of life, and also of your own resilience.

When you are away, the ordinary moments of daily living feel extraordinary. Going to the supermarket can be inspiring. Travelling on the metro? Inspiring! People walking on the street, and how they dress and talk to each other, what their houses and apartments look like : so inspiring!! It makes you realise the many different ways there are to live; and sometimes makes you want to move your entire life across the world, just for how you imagine living there might be.

It can remind you that how you live is a choice. That the differences in life are pretty wonderful. That the scope of how you live can be changed, if you want.

And sometimes just how lucky you are to live the way you do; somewhere at peace, with a little green space and some fresh air. 

Travelling is like finding yourself in a romance with yourself, and with life.

The vastness of life, the myriad ways of doing the exact same thing, is just so much broader that you ever think about when you’re at home.  And everyone is living in all these different ways at exactly the same time you’re living at your little place, just in another spot in the world.

I think that is my favourite part of travelling, that what is considered ‘normal’ feels incredibly worthy. It allows you to think about how you do live, and dream about how you could.

It reminds us how important it is to dream, that there is a choice in how we see what we have and do what we do. It fills us with ideas, which we can translate and adapt in our normal lives, and gives us a rich bank of memories to draw inspiration from when the tanks are feeling low.

Plus you’re allowed to eat gelato every day. Or pastries. Or both.

At the end of the day, life is all about the moments. Best get busy collecting.