This is a time of year when many folks, particularly in the Northern hemisphere are on the move – traveling to either find the snow or escape the cold, visiting family, revisting established traditions or creating new ones. Getting on planes, trains or buses for work, or pleasure, voluntarily or out of necessity, or often, maybe, a combination of multiple motivations. I’ve been on several, ostensibly quite different, trips in the past couple of months. But I’ve also notice that I have tendencies and preferences and that, as I have sat with them, I have realised these point me to things that are important to me, not only in travel, but also more broadly in life. So I’ve pulled together some questions in case you want to engage with a similar reflection.
Take time to note down responses to these questions:
• When you travel, do you like to base yourself in one place or move around?
• What kinds of places do you like to stay in – what adjectives do you use to describe them?
• Who, if anyone, do you like to travel with? How do you like to interact with them and others you come across with?
• What pacing and cadence most appeals – and why?
When you have your answers, these enquiries may help to drop deeper into your reflection?
• How do these answers mirror or contradict what you are looking for more broadly in life?
• Where do you find dissonance and where resonance between your answers?
• How might you have answered 10 or 20 years ago? What do any changes point to?
• How might these insights impact what you might want to bolster or shift in your non travel life?
Many of my own insights were deeply personal and not all completely coherent to me (yet?!). But to share a couple of things that feel as though they have metaphorical, as well as literal, significance: I realized that I love to stay in places with sweeping views and deep horizons (as opposed to cozy places where I am nestled in) and that I don’t have these where I live. I also realized that, right now, I like to explore new places just as much as returning to familiar landmarks. But I like to have a secure base to explore out from and come back to. And I would prefer to be exploring alongside others rather than out there on my own.
If you stop to ponder these questions, I’d love to know what insights strike you.
Photo is of Gallos at Tintagel in Cornwall, mythical birthplace of King Arthur and actual location of settlements and castles dating back to the iron age. A beautiful place that I got to explore for the first time this year.
