Gravity release me… – TheFledglingPhotographer

“Gravity release me,
And don’t ever hold me down;
Now my feet won’t touch the ground.”
~Coldplay

The purpose of travel is to experience that which you never could have otherwise. No matter what Disney World says, you cannot bring the whole world to you. No television, no internet, no theme park can show you a single street in the Real Italy.

And I love it when people realize this.

But I also love it when I see the “phases” of travel in other people. It takes time, but spend months overseas and you’ll experience it.

Phase One, everything is amazing. Every street, every flower, every doorway is awesome.

Phase Two: things become normal. The natural complacency of a human kicks in and things become normal. All that awesome pasta and coffee and cute little cars are part of the scenery.

Even the spectacular ancient things are commonplace.

Phase Three is unfortunate. Phase Three is homesickness. You get sick of being there. You get sick of being around the people you are stuck with. You get antsy and easily aggravated and want to go home and just have a McDonald’s cheeseburger.

Essentially, you forget.

But then, on the other side of that ugly spot…

Thank goodness for Phase Four: the traveler turns inward. Some by decision, some by accident, travelers not only accept where they are and start seeing their surroundings fresh again…

…but they turn a corner and get deep. They get introspective. They slow down their experience and start to appreciate where they are.

For me, years ago now, it was a large globe in some random museum. I looked at this HUGE globe and saw where I was on the surface of it. I saw how far away I was from home. And I got to thinking how tiny and fragile everything is…