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Showing posts with label inspirations. Show all posts

Travel quotes and the power of words to inspire us to move

So what is it that's so inspiring about travel quotes? About reading profound snippets of writing plucked from novels, memoirs and diaries that have already been repeated countless times? And taken out of context too. Picture this: a tired travel editor, half listening to the banalities of backpacker conversation, and wishing he was down the beach surfing instead of reading copy submitted by his writers, is suddenly engaged and inspired to travel again - by reading great travel quotes! Like these: "People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home." (Dagobert D. Runes) and “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” (Freya Stark); “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.”(Paul Theroux); “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” and “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” (both by Robert Louis Stevenson). And this one from the comments following the post from one of the readers, Cedric Pieterse: "When you get back from your travels, and tell your friends of all the interesting people you have met in obscure bars and hostels. Only to realise after years of travel, you are the guy they talk about." Somehow I don't think Cedric was the first person to say that, but anyway... now, I didn't go trawling through Brave New World's archives this morning to find these '50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes of All Time', compiled by travel writer Lola Akinmade, rather they found me... a link to the story was forwarded to me by a friend who obviously things I need to get inspired. But the fact that these tidbits did get me thinking has indeed got me thinking... about the ability of words to inspire us. And in this case, to inspire us to travel. I've been noticing a lot of travel quotes being tweeped on Twitter too. And Twitter's 140-character requirement is the perfect vehicle for sharing quotes, right? So how is it that 12, 14 or 16 words or so, taken out of their original context, can have such power and work such magic? What do you think? Do quotes work to inspire you? Or do you just read them, shrug them off and think "not bloody Robert Louis Stevenson again!" I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Pictured? More people sitting around a fountain, like they have nothing better to do... this time in Krakov, Poland. See my last post.

Travelling: inspirations #3

So just what inspires you to travel? I must admit I was surprised by the results of my recent poll where I asked what motivated your travels. Almost half of you (46%) said 'your own trips and travel memories' inspired you to travel, while 23% said 'the very idea of travel' motivated you to move; 15% said travel photography books inspired you, while only 7% said your family and friends' travel tales motivated you to pack your bags. Surprisingly, nobody said movies about places, TV travel shows, travel literature, or guide books inspired you, yet 7% said travel blogs motivated them. I've been excited about two recent travel blog discoveries (thanks Anne!), including primitive culture, an ethnographer's take on Thailand, South Africa and other places, and placesihaveneverbeen , a beautiful design blog inspired by 'imaginary vacations to far off places'. Both have got me thinking about travel in different ways: how we can think about travel from an ethnographers perspective (or is that already how those addicted to travel think?); what travel inspires (rather than what inspires us to travel); and virtual travel. I'm going to sleep on it. Let's see where my dreams take me. Where do your dreams take you?

Maps: their inspirational power

I seem to be more inspired to travel, and to think about travel, by the travel blogs I'm reading than by anything else these days. Anne at prêtàvoyager is a lover of maps like myself. On a recent post called You are Here she writes about a festival of mapping and a blog that collects maps among other things: "...maps that make you want to travel to a time and place that was well designed." The power of words to inspire! It struck me that in my quest to explore what inspires us to travel, I'd completely forgotten about maps. And yet maps are inspirational, aren't they? They're so much more than just a travel tool. I was surprised at how many intriguing blogs there are out there by people beguiled by maps, such as The Map Room, maphead and strange maps. As Anne suggests, the very design of a map inspires us to draw pictures of places we're yet to visit in our heads and evokes images of places we've been to in our memories. I recently spent a couple of hours with a map of Amsterdam for a guide I was working on. I was putting dots on the map to indicate points of interest and as I was doing so I was seeing the city's lovely leafy squares, cobblestone streets and tranquil canals in my mind. When I finished the task I felt as if I'd been to Amsterdam and that time spent with the map made me want to go again. As a child, during the five years we travelled around Australia in a caravan, I spent hours with my Jacaranda Junior World Atlas plotting out our journeys by torchlight from my top bunk. Maps inspired me to travel and to become a travel writer, yet I'd forgotten about the inspirational power of maps. Do maps inspire you to move?

Aspirational travel: wanderlust and wish lists

What is it about wish lists? Don't you love them? And no more so than when they're travel wish lists. Inspired by Decorno's What's Next for Travel blog which asked "What's on your list? Where does everyone want to go?", Franki Durban at LifeInAVentiCup wrote on Wanderlust: "I found myself unable to complete a list. I simply have too many places I hope to experience, and I won't stop until I've seen them all. Seriously, if it's on the list, I'm going, and I don't intend to leave this marble until I've completed my journey." I'm with Franki. And I enjoyed creating my own: Yemen, Iran, Libya, the Ukraine, Guatemala, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Malta, Serbia, and Montenegro. I could go on. Why is that? Why do we enjoy list-making so much? Lonely Planet do well from their Blue List book and its companion website where you create your own 'bluelist' to recommend a travel experience. The glossy travel magazines publish lists all the time: top ten destinations, world's best beaches, top 100 hotels, etc. National Geographic Traveler has just released its 'Places of a Lifetime' list and guides to those cities - you can read our Dubai guide there soon! What we're really doing when we create our travel wish list is defining our dream destinations and travel aspirations. Our lists - and those of others - inspire us to move.

Travelling: inspirations #2

So what really inspires you to travel? For me, it's any number of things. Take this picture. It's a favorite of mine. To me, it says 'paradise'. As clichéd as it may be - tranquil fishing cove, creamy sand beach, crystal clear aquamarine sea, and tropical palm trees - it makes me yearn to return to Thailand.

Just what inspires you to travel is something I think about every day, every time my fingers hit the keys and I start to type, whether it's a new guidebook or magazine article or one of my little blogs. When I write, I not only want to share information, insider secrets and hidden gems so that you have the best time you're ever going to have. I also want to be the one to inspire you to buy that plane ticket and pack your bags. So what really inspires you to travel? I've added a new poll on the topic, so do let me know.

Travelling: inspirations #1

Octopus hanging out to dry. There aren't many images that scream summer more than this for me. While I'm most reminded of Greece, I took my picture in southern Thailand late one steamy midsummer afternoon before it rained. I was admiring some summer images taken in my favorite Moroccan seaside town when I stumbled across a blog I've now become smitten with, an especially inspiring journal about a young woman's journey as she builds a magical guesthouse in Marrakesh that is as much about 'place' as it is about 'travel'. The author is Maryam who seems lovely but her blog is irresistible. She's a kindred spirit who loves Essaouira as much as I do and I adore her enchanting writing about everyday moments and her poetry about places. Read her 'rickshaw reveries' in Dhaka:

Give me the open air!
Give me the wind in my hair!
Give me the color, give me the kitsch,
give me the one-of-a-kind!

But what I most love are her musings about her dying summer holiday in Essaouira.

Our Summer in Essaouira. It came and then it was a-snap-of-the-fingers over.
Did we spend it as we should have? Did we rest enough? Did we play enough?
The picnics - should there have been more?
Did we skip enough stones?
Did we collect enough shells?
Did we jump enough waves?

Don't we ask ourselves if we did enough at the end of every summer vacation? Did we dry enough octopus? Does she inspire you to go to Dhaka or Essaouira? Don't you just want to pack your bags right now?