Travel and life

Just back from a vacation and feeling happy and energized. Exploring new places is invigorating. Getting used to a new lifestyle (albeit temporary), getting around, attitude of locals, eating joints, fitting the best in your itinerary and such, drill my mind. There is always much more to do than I could manage when am visiting a new place. The art of being able to relax and handle the excitement of loads to do all at once is - well, an art.

This yearly event is exciting right from preparation till much after I return. Once I am back, I talk, talk and talk about it as if the person that I am sharing with, is on a journey with me to the place and living my experience. After a few days I don’t talk about it as much, not so much out of my choice but people around me have had an overdose.

For a long time, memories keep coming and going bringing a smile or frown as I mull over my latest sojourn. My struggle with language, a foolish act, that one breathtaking place, the sunset, seashore, steep mountain walk or just a few hours of being myself – these thoughts live with me. As reality and my daily routine take over, these memories seem to tuck themselves away somewhere at the bottom of my memory pile. When I think of a trip that I took in the not-so-recent past, it feels like it was in another life and I was another person.

These getaways teach me deeper meaning of life. Get high with excitement one week and switching back to routine the next - shows the temporariness of most things in life. Ambition, passion, likes, priorities and favorites are constantly changing as I move on in life. I live life every minute yet don’t realize when the process of metamorphosis happens.

During my recent vacation, I visited a friend who has travelled widely. She has put up a world map in her study and stuck tiny round stickers on the places that she has visited. Isn’t it just that - spots? People, places and memories of our lives remain spots – some bright, some fading and a few painful. They are a part of our lives, making us who we are!

Travel is transition but so is life!