THE BEST TRAVEL MOMENTS ARE WHEN YOU'RE STILL

Stillness and a view of Lake Titicaca at 12,500 feet. It looks so unreal!

There's an article that has been going around the internet about how busy isn't respectable anymore (read here). Tyler Ward is also the same writer behind "Routinely do Nothing" - another one of his works that struck a chord in me. Both these articles are in a way, right about how we humans are wired to always do something and to always be productive; and how it can sometimes trap us into a cycle of purpose-less overachievement, exhausting routines and hyper-yield activities.

As it applies to life in general, it also applies to travel. I know a lot of people obsessed about ticking bucket lists, travel must-do's, landmark checklists, etc. that sometimes I feel as though they cherish more the crossing out of an item on the list than the actual experience itself. I used to have a goal of visiting at least 100 countries in this lifetime, but rethought that. I didn't want to travel just for the sake of counting countries and passport stamps. Quality over quantity.

When we travel, we always feel the urge to do more, take more photos, see more, etc. Sometimes, travel has been reduced to who went to more countries, who snapped more pictures, or who partied harder. While I do understand that often, we only have a limited amount of time in a particular place that we want to maximize every single second we're there, there is also merit in allocating moments of stillness when on the road.

Some of my best memories on my trips were when I stopped and smelled the flowers and didn't take any photos to capture them, but everything is as vivid to me today as they happened on the day itself.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. Hanging out at the back of the Sydney Opera House for a couple of hours, just watching the birds fly across the harbour bridge, the ships slowly treading water, the breeze flipping my hair around, and the afternoon sun radiating flecks of gold on the harbour .

PARIS, FRANCE. Having a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower, just staring at it with a couple of friends while drinking wine and eating cheese, observing locals and travelers alike, waiting for the famous tower to dazzle us when the lights finally sparkled on at night.

MACHU PICCHU, PERU. Quietly sitting on one of the rocks at Machu Picchu, just marveling at the awe-inspiring archaeological wonder for a couple of hours, thinking "how the hell did a provincial lass like me ever get the privilege to hike here and see this??" and being grateful for this dream come true, till our guide told us it was time to go home. I mean, I went halfway around the world for it, I just didn't want to snap a photo and leave. I had to drink in all that grandeur, and that meant enjoying it in silence.

NUWARA ELIYA, SRI LANKA. Sitting on a playground swing at the Heritance Tea garden in Nuwara Eliya, watching the locals go about their daily lives below the hill and looking up at the clouds changing patterns, while slowly being enveloped by the white mist permeating the mountainside just before sunset.

IPANEMA, RIO DE JANEIRO. Sitting on a bench at one of Ipanema's beachside stalls, drinking my last caipirinha for the day, musing about how beaches in Brazil are great equalizers where the rich and poor alike cavort everyday, observing locals packing up their beach gear as the sun slowly started to set fire to the horizon. It was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I've ever seen in my entire life!

BAGAN, MYANMAR. Waiting in hushed silence on top of a historic, thousands-year old stupa in Bagan, for the sunrise that would trump a lot of the sunrises I've so far seen in all my years on this earth. Sprinkling the horizon were dozens of hot air balloons floating lazily in the cool, crisp morning air. It was simply, a spiritual experience.

AMAZON RIVER. Floating in a kayak along the Amazon River, taking in the ebb and flow of the water, listening to the raindrops pelleting us and the river, marveling at the 55 million-year old rainforest flanking us on both sides, and thinking that nature is truly awesome, bugs and all. :)

PUNO, PERU. Sipping a cup of hot coca tea (and Inca Kola!) alone at the Taypila Hotel Lago's dining room after all the guests have left for their day activities, and gazing at the highest navigable body of water and birthplace of the Incas, the Lake Titiqaqa, which was framed by a strategically-placed window. I cancelled a morning tour just to do this and the dining attendant quietly excused himself to leave me "en paz" (in peace).

There's nothing wrong with hitting key sights on a trip, but don't reduce your travel experiences to just one landmark after another, that you realize at the end of the trip that everything was just one, big blur. Don't be too busy taking selfies and trying to record every single thing on your gadgets that you forget to revel in the experience. Be still. Catch your breath. Put down that camera or smartphone. Sit quietly. And just take it all in. Be an active observer of life and just be fully present in the moment. :)

HAPPY TRAVELS! x

#selfdiscovery