In Out of Africa, after listening to a beautifully spun story, Denys Finch Hatton asks Baroness Karen von Blixen if she has traveled to the places in her tale. Regretfully, she admits that until her purchase of a farm in the Ngong Hills of Africa, she had been only an armchair traveler.

Wandering exploration and travel by armchair are two very different things. But we cannot label one as better than the other for science proves that escape within something enjoyed, especially books, brings a great relief of stress, moving one beyond the day-to-day components of life.

But oh, the joy of real travel! There is something glorious in the discovery of a new place –and there is the knowledge that when one returns home, they are somehow changed for the better. Just as a student’s growth is visible to the knowing eye of the teacher when they return from summer vacation, others notice the change in a friend who returns from sabbatical.

Travel gives birth to new thoughts, and reflections on memories perhaps otherwise forgotten; moreover it fosters creativity. In seeing more, we become more; in experiencing another culture, our souls stretch and grow. Moving beyond the steadfastness of our present lives, we once again recognize that we are more than our profession, more than a parent, someone’s child, or sibling.

The images we retain from a meaningful trip are colored by the emotions we experience when traveling. While we cannot possibly recollect it all in great detail, we bring back with us snippets, souvenirs of sorts –be it an appreciated object, purchased or found; notes on a napkin or postcard; photographs.

Then when the time between travels grows too long, we seek out the objects that they might transplant us to that special place again.

Go~ make plans, fill the heart with anticipation!

*****

ELIZABETH MOZLEY

@ElizabethMozley  &  @CentipedeYAread

And on Facebook – We Share the Same Sky, author Elizabeth Mozley

We Share the Same Sky, a memoir

https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Mozley/e/B00J7KJWIU