Travel Inspirations

“I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see.” – Carew Papritz

Someone recently asked me about my motivation and passion to travel and it got me thinking of why I travel. Do you wonder what drives you to travel?

I grew up in Kolkata India, an avid reader living vicariously through the pages of the books that I read. I dreamed about ancient civilizations, architectural marvels, historical pageantry, beautiful locales, artists, painters, folk tales never truly believing that one day I might see, touch, taste, or smell any of what I read about.

I’ve seen the seven wonders of the modern world, I’ve seen the Pyramids and the ancient temples in Egypt, I’ve seen the wailing wall and walked the stations of the cross, I’ve seen the footprint of ancient civilizations, I’ve seen the sun rise at the first outpost of the world, I’ve seen koalas, kangaroos, dingoes and other exotic species of animals, I’ve seen a blanket of tulips along the sides of the highway in the Netherlands….

I am so very thankful to be fortunate enough to see and experience places I never dreamt would be a reality and yet passion continues to drive me, someone will post a photo of a place that calls to me, or I’ll read a book and want to see the location live. May God give me the legs to continue to walk and enough money to fund my travels.

My fellow travel aficionados, why do you travel? what makes you wake up and put a pin on a location on a map and say, “I want to go there.”

I traveled from my home in India to the United States of America as a young and timid woman. Much of the romances that I read as a teenager were romances set in London, so London was my first stopover destination. Visiting the tower, Greenwich, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and all that London has to offer. Since this was way before digital photography and cell phones made pictures so easy to capture, I believe I’ll have to go back to chronicle it all in photos.

It was Rome that kicked off my more modern-day travels. I dutifully threw my coin in the Trevi Fountain, and fate has been kind enough to take me back to Italy multiple times to appreciate and enjoy all that the country has to offer. However, it’s the indelible sight of the forum and colosseum, the heart of the Roman empire was my first inspiration.

For a time, I used the gauge of tracking the Roman footprint to choose destinations. The sight of modern-day life in the midst of ancient ruins, and people following traditions that have passed down from father to son, from mother to daughter through civilizations is a thrill that for me can’t compete with bungee jumping, zip lining or other extreme activities.

Sitting in a native tent, enjoying tea brewed over the fire and chatting with the local people, a la shades of Lawrence of Arabia. I let my imagine run wild imagining, Lawrence sitting here in this very spot drinking tea and talking with the forefathers of the people that I now laughed and talked to.

Food is an important dimension of the travel experience. I love to travel local favors and explore local spices though I have to admit that the more exotic foods like ants, or grasshoppers etc. are beyond my ability to stomach. The most adventurous I have been on the food journey is a small tasting morsel of guinea pig in Peru.

I am not an archeologist and am totally sure that I’m not up to the back breaking work of finding ancient civilizations and bringing them to the public's notice, but I can state that I definitely enjoy visiting such sites and learning all I can about them.

Traveling back in time to 3300 BC on a windswept coast on the Orkney Islands to see how people lived and adapted to the weather conditions.

I was educated in a missionary run convent school and so while we did not attend the religious studies that were a part of the curriculum for the Catholic children, we did read the bible in more of a literary fiction perspective and essentially grew up on bible stories. My visit to Israel was a dream come true, and I often felt like I was walking through the pages of history,

All the reading that I had done in my childhood and much of the visits to various churches in Europe did not prepare me for the emotional intensity of walking the stations of the cross in the Jewish quarter and ending at the Holy Sepulcher. Standing here in awe at the very spot where the shrouded body of Jesus was laid to rest and subsequently resurrected still gives me goosebumps.

While I have visited countless beautiful churches in Europe and other parts of the world, there is a special sense of serenity and holiness at the very heart of Christianity in Vatican at St. Peter’s Basilica.

So many castles that brought alive all those medieval historical tales of knights and ladies all around Europe, but it took a special trip and much planning to make it to Neuschwanstein, the model that Walt Disney used as the fairy tale castle in Disneyland.

So many sunsets and sunrises that remind one of all the beauty in the world that we take for granted. This might not be the most spectacular but something about the quiet beauty amongst the silence of M’dina in Malta such strikes a chord within me.

Another dream come true, the treasury in Petra, a wonder of the modern world. While I have not consciously chosen wonders of the world as a destination it came home to me that I have actually visited all seven wonders of the modern world and Petra was my seventh. Definitely one for my personal record books.

Markets, Bazaars, new and different fruits and vegetables. What fun it is when you can taste your way through some of these markets. The trick is to either have a friend who loves to cook and will try out the exotic spice packets and marinades to pick up or not to buy any because in my house they will sit until I find them cleaning out my kitchen cabinets.

Home is where the heart is. I grew up in Calcutta and many ways when nostalgia has me in its grip, I find my memories circling back to my childhood and those symbols that characterized the city where I grew up. I have been fortunate in making my way back to the city of my childhood several times in the last few years.

As I pondered and thought about what to cover in this post, I find that I have so much more to share about why I travel and what I’ve found along the way so please look out for more travel inspirations coming your way.