There is an incredible amount of spectacular wonders everywhere in the world that dazzle and awe the world citizen.
In almost any country in the world; a monument, statue, museum, mountain top, animal, plant, man-made structure, or cultural attraction beckons certain individuals. Indubitably, beautiful or intriguing sites are virtually everywhere — beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or at least that is what we have all been told).
There are some adventurers who vow to never visit the same place twice, and others, who take annual trips to Hawaii and nowhere else. I think this phenomenon is one of the most fascinating yet crucial components to traveling in this world: it is deeply personal. Albeit, sometimes we travel for business or for family, the fact of the matter is that traveling is intensely personal and based off of feeling. Something about the city of Oxford resonated with me whereas Puerto Vallarta did not. Both cities are alluring, for their own reasons, but I left Oxford after a month, wanting to live there, and I left Puerto Vallarta, after six hours, thinking maybe I would visit again. In Paris, Costa Rica, and Saint Thomas, I felt a magical hold on my travel being while in Granada, Vermont, and Puerto Rico, all places where I was less enchanted.
All of these places are exquisite and I was happy as well as extraordinarily lucky to visit them all. My point, however, is that certain places, towns, or cities bewitch us in a way that others simply do not because of who we are. What I love about Oxford and Saint Thomas could be the exact reason why others do not love these places. Likewise, an hour walk along the sun-kissed Malecon boardwalk was enough for me, but someone else could easily spend much a longer time there.
Now, this may all seem obvious, but traveling creates moments that allow us to learn about our own tastes. Why did Paris resonate with me the way it did? Was it because the food was marvelous or the company exuberant? Those were all contributing factors, but because I have questioned why the city resonates with me, I have come to realize it was the art and the Seine. I loved visiting countless museums in the city and walking along the river front as the sun slowly set. I think for this reason, I would love Venice and Rome. Maybe that is why I feel a longing, stronger than other places, to travel to Italy.
At the same time, I cannot pretend that what resonates for me in certain cities is not random or illogical. When I was in Maui, I dove into a navy blue ocean while the sun danced a yellow and orange hue on the oscillating water. As I let the sea waves carry my floating body and looked out over the glowing sunset towards another island, I thought I could stay there for a very long time
My message is that, what we like and do not like about traveling around the world can be illogical or strange, but that is okay. If you can reflect upon why you liked visiting a location or an environment, then you also can learn something about yourself in the process. Maybe the idea of traveling to more cities similar to what you have already liked will become an option. Or maybe you are content exactly where you are because that resonates with you. What I have learned, however, is that a combination of people and sites make places resonate with me.
Mark Twain once said, “nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.” And I certainly will not limit where I go because I want places all over the world to resonate, at least a little, with my traveling soul.
