SO....I'm late on this today but only because I was following the orders of this week's selected mantra: "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us". The quote is "anonymous" but the photographer of the picture I used is from my boyfriend so, I will give credit where credit is due. The photo was taken at the top of a Citadel in Budva, Montenegro.
I have been traveling since last week and you really forget how traveling inspires so many things within you. Yesterday, I was in the Old City of Dubrovnik and it was beyond spectacular (and the fact that certain scenes from GOT are filmed there is not a bad thing either :). This ancient city has more history than so many other places I have ever been. If its walls could talk, they would tell stories from the ancient past and even not so far past with bombings as recent as 20 years ago. After a delicious dinner in Old Town last night, we stopped to watch a band sing some cover songs (all American songs too, its weird how songs from the US are so popular abroad). There was an Asian couple waltzing in the square where the band was playing; then a Western couple began to dance too. Soon enough they all went back to their tables and the Western and Asian couples began to complement each other's dancing with physical gestures as they could not successfully communicate with words due to their distinct languages. Then the Asian man danced with the Western woman and it was beautiful. East met west last night and it was so simple and satisfying to watch. Discovering new places and being away from the prejudices and stigmas that one may be attached to quickly melt away when you are gone. Something special happens when a bunch of people from different lands come together to experience the same thing, a commonality emerges. Even if you are not traveling with all of these other people, you are sharing in this experience together. This communal experience allows so many amazing occurrences like this to take place because in spite of being behind ancient walls last night, it was obvious that many people had let their personal walls down.
My boyfriend and I have been traveling through Montenegro and Croatia and each day we have seen and experienced something so new and stimulating. My eyes welled up last night as I felt so inspired by this ancient city and grateful to be within the confines of its walls. I find that traveling is a sensation so hard to describe, to me it feels like falling in love. You feel really happy, optimistic and invincible. It reminded me to take that same perspective with me home and to try and look at the old with the same optimistic perspective. This old city stands so strong in the midst of new times, why can't I create the same experience back home? I am going to search for new even within "my old". I hope you hold on to life, anything old or unseen that lies ahead. Travel, even if it is locally or within. Don't be afraid to get lost and hold on to each and every moment, don't let life escape you.
xoxo
Kelly