We’ve just returned from a trip and are collectively wondering aloud how travel has affected us. Because it has. In more ways than one.
And in more ways than we will know today, tomorrow and the next. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page,” St. Augustine of Hippo is attributed with saying.
Contemplating this declaration evokes reflections upon the riches provided by travel: the adventures, the surprises and frustrations, the destinations and the people, and the transformative nature of travel. And it doesn’t matter where that travel has taken us: a weekend jaunt to a friend or relatives, to a state park, to an amusement park, to the beach, to the mountains, to another state, or to another country. Adventures, surprises and even frustrations, all lend themselves to memorable moments when it comes to traveling.
Intentions going according to plan: smoothless acts of navigation, I won’t lie, are preferable. But detours and canceled flights, at the very least, provide trials in patience. And while we may not appreciate them at the moment, they have the potential to lead to something even better than originally orchestrated.
Our chosen destinations, and the people we meet along the way, all contribute to additional notable experiences. We are traveling, perhaps, to places previously unfamiliar to us. The same is true for the people we meet.
There’s a vulnerability that comes with travel that can be simultaneously intimidating yet brutally .