My Travel Style

I think everyone has a distinct travel style. I had a friend who was in utter disbelief that I was in Florence and didn't set foot in a single church or museum. "How could you be surrounded by the world's greatest collection of masterpieces and not want to see them? How could you walk by the greatest architecture of the Renaissance without even peeking inside?" In his eyes I had broken some sacred covenant of travel. But I missed nothing.

I remember sitting at a table just down from the Piazza di Santa Croce as the sun was setting. The white face of the Santa Croce was reflecting the deep, rich orange of the sky. The rest of the piazza had faded into a colorless collage of shadows. I remember the white of her dress catching that same deep orange between its delicate black trim. I remember her smile, the soft warm breeze, the din of traffic on the narrow stone street and the taste of the Multipulciano.

For me, travel is about experiences. It is about leaving the comfort of your routines, your home, your food, your bed and experiencing something by being part of it. You can't schedule experiences.  They just happen, often unexpectedly. We did not plan to visit the Sant Croce. We simply wandered through. We didn't plan to sit and have a glass of wine. We just a heppened to find a little cafe. You can't go looking for experiences. They find you.

I had one last night. I was jetlag-tired and road weary when I finally collapsed into bed. But it was a sleepless night. I was homesick - irrationally, emotionally and obsessively compelled to pack up and find my way back to my comfortable bed in my comfortable home, back in the arms of my sweet girls. But in the depths of my misery I had a revelation, something as powerful and durable as that evening in Florence.

As it always does, the homesickness has faded to a manageable level after getting some sleep and today was much better. But my revelation is still with me. It was an unexpected experience that could only have found me when it did and where it did.

I certainly don't travel to experience sleepless nights filled with irrational homesickness but my travel style is about having experiences. Experiences that touch my soul, that shed light on who I am and ultimately transform me in ways that I would never expect.