Travel with Your Eyes Wide Open!–Part I

WHY DO WE LONG TO TRAVEL?—Somewhere within many of us there resides the urge to travel.  Others have explained quite well our desire to pack our bags and go:

• Travel is a childish delight in being somewhere else. – Sigmund Freud
• One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. – Henry Miller
• The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. – St. Augustine
• People don’t take trips; trips take people. – John Steinbeck
• For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. – Robert Louis Stevenson
• If you come to a fork in the road, take it. – Yogi Berra
• Travel is recess, and we need it. – Rick Steves

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(Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons)

I wholeheartedly believe that these musings are true; that travel is akin to necessity. But because personal finances make it difficult to travel as often as I would like, it is imperative that I do everything possible to make each one of my journeys the very best it can be.  My in-born tendency is to over-plan my excursions, but even that is no guarantee that a trip will be extraordinary.  If I want a trip to be truly memorable, I need to learn how to travel with my eyes wide open.

I can almost hear you saying, “Travel with my eyes wide open?  What an absurd thought!  I always travel with my eyes open.  Well, except perhaps during that endless trip across Nebraska last summer.  My eyes were closed most of the time then.”

Did you miss much of Nebraska because your eyes were closed? (Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons)

You would have to have your eyes open to see all the wonderful sights of the world, like the Roman Coliseum, Eiffel Tower, Shakespeare’s birthplace in England, or the Grand Canyon . . . . . right?

Grand Canyon, Arizona (Photo by Deb Erickson)

Birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, England (Photo by Deb Erickson)

Electronic gear is vital to many travelers today. (Photo courtesy of keepgo.com)

WHAT TRAVEL TODAY HAS BECOME—We seem to thrive on complicating our trips with an abundance of electronic gear and minute-by-minute itineraries.

We have learned how to ask for a toilet in 12 languages and we worry that our pants might get grass-stained if we picnic. We are timid when around people, situations and things we aren’t used to.

For some, travel includes a lengthy check-list. Do you remember Clark Griswold and his family in the movie, National Lampoon’s European Vacation?  They had a list of sights to see in Europe and they stood in front of each one for about two seconds, checked it off, then moved on to the next location.

Travel has become a checklist. (Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons)

Yep, I saw the Coliseum in Rome.  Tossed a coin in the Trevi Fountain.  Saw the sign for London’s Hyde Park on my way to Harrod’s.   Shopped in most of the stores on picturesque Martha’s Vineyard.  Booked my cruise line’s shore excursion to see a glacier in Alaska.  And it’s all posted on Facebook so everyone else can marvel at my wonderful vacation.

But, perhaps in our attempt to see it all, we have actually seen very little.

We like to let people know where we have traveled. (Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons)

Don’t get me wrong . . . . . When you are in New York City you must certainly see the Statue of Liberty.  When you visit London, Big Ben is a priority.  But, a vacation should be something other than just a checklist of sights to see.  More than “Wish you were here” postcards dutifully sent to friends and family.  More than buying a t-shirt that boldly declares where you were.

How can those of us who travel adopt a new way of looking at things that will allow and encourage us to discover rich experiences that will truly enhance the journey?

We need to travel more like Gandhi, “with simple clothes, open eyes, and an uncluttered mind.”  We need to travel with our eyes wide open, so we can look—really look—at what surrounds us.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO RE-THINK HOW WE TRAVEL?— A vacation in England several years ago made me keenly aware of what travel could be—and should be—if I was to gain lasting memories from the considerable time and money invested in this journey.

On this trip, I encouraged myself to look beyond the highly publicized landmarks and venture across the well-marked streets into the arms of the people and the culture that waited for me around every corner.

The story of this photo will be told in a later post! (Photo by Deb Erickson)

Sometimes it involved stepping a bit outside of my quite rigid and deeply ingrained comfort zone, but what a difference it made in that trip.  I learned, first hand, what it meant to travel with my eyes, not just with my guidebook.  I learned to travel both slowly and deliberately.  I allowed myself to be surprised and even awestruck by what I experienced.

This walk in an English pasture was an eyes-wide-open adventure! (Photo by Deb Erickson)

Your guidebook can still guide you, but don’t let it program you. Our guidebooks lead us to the well-known places, but we need to look around at what is happening in the midst—or perhaps on the fringes—of those places.

Take a minute, or perhaps many minutes, to slow down, step back, and experience a place through an entirely different perspective.  Be prepared to collect rich experiences that will become lasting memories, the kind of souvenirs that will endure for a lifetime.  Let your journey change you, not just provide you with t-shirts, postcards, and “I was here” Facebook postings.

Why is the author’s husband eating his lunch on the back of a fire truck? Look for the answer in an upcoming post! (Photo by Deb Erickson)

Opening your eyes will allow your mind’s scrapbook to overflow with a collection of sights, sounds, people and places that you had probably never thought about before.  So travel with your eyes wide open and be ready to discover a whole new world!

Good advice! (Photo by Deb Erickson)

How can you travel with your eyes wide open?  A future post will give you some guidance.  Stay tuned!