My favourite things – a) Travelling

Saying that I LOVE to travel will be quite an understatement. In a way, an obstinate bug has bitten me and, thankfully, V has not been able to find an antidote for it, just yet. I can only hope that it’s an incurable thing because I want to be infected with it for the rest of my life! I feel as if there is a whole world out there waiting for me, flaunting its beauty, offering to mesmerise me with its charm and inviting me to be a part of its adventure.

My perception of travelling has totally changed in the last few years. Initially, when we went for holidays we behaved like pukka tourist – having our own ‘to-see-do-list’ and ticking things off as we went about following our well-planned and ever so precise itinerary. But then I realised that that’s not what travelling should be about.

Now I want my travels to be about what I SEE rather than what I had planned to see! As I think about my past trips, it’s not the must-see wonders that I remember, instead it’s the accidental things, events that were not expected and experiences that could not have been planned.

Like walking the rain-soaked streets of a historic city in heavy downpour, like the touch of warm sunlight way above the snow-covered peaks, like sipping mint tea while seeing the world's biggest open air festival unfold, like being lost -at night with luggage- in a non-English speaking city, like driving around an island and deciding on our retirement home, like having a DDLJ kind of moment at a train station,  like falling in love with the same person all over again, like seeing the same sky and the same sun and still feel completely different, like being far away from home and still feel a sense of belonging.

But do I really need to get away from everything familiar? Can I not have these experiences in the very city that I live? Probably not. Because it is important to go away in order to come back – I am then more appreciative of what I have. And the new found reverence for the pillow is just magical. The mundane things - the all too familiar roads, landmarks, people, home, bed, dal-chaawal - they all look, sound, feel, smell and taste different. As if I always come back with all my senses rejuvenated.

I know that I will always come back to the same place from where I start – like a circle - but it’s not the same thing as never leaving, is it? Therefore I want to keep travelling and keep creating new memories as I go round and round. The memories that will bring a smile to my face when I am down in the dumps, the memories that will teach me to be strong in difficult times, the memories that will remind me of how happy I can be and the memories that will allow me to time-travel to relive all the beautiful moments again and again.