Reasons to experience different destinations

Allow me to flip back to a 2008 post that ruminates on the benefits of travel.

Travel, as we know, is a change of place, an alternative experience, a break from the daily routine.

There are some good reasons for moving around:

1. See things from a different perspective. We humans share one planet. Travel helps us view the world through the eyes of other people. We learn quickly that we're not all that different from one another. Sometimes we find that others have already solved problems we've been pondering with no success for some time.

2. Going someplace new also stimulates the mind. We suspend our routine thought patterns and freshen up the mind. ( We touched on this in How to foster creativity some time ago)

3. Travel is a great way to recharge energy levels. Everyone has different needs. Some of us need quiet time in solitary pursuits, others feel the need to socialize with new people and maybe even speak a new language. Travel gives you the opportunity to re-energize based on your preferences.

The New York Times offers an interesting initiative in its travel section: the paper has a regularly updated photo project appropriately called, "Why we travel" that captures personal reflections and images showing people in many corners of the world as they're experiencing life on the road. It offers great insight into our interactions with one another and with the environment, whether the location be urban or rural. See Why we travel.

If you're looking for more reasons to leave your home for a few days, you can look over Larry Bleiberg's Seven Reasons to Travel published in the Dallas Morning News.

And since this is October, another quick reference to Fall: a friend of mine in Vancouver told me recently she missed autumn in Ontario because in British Columbia many trees are evergreen and you just don't see the variety of colour you do in the central and eastern part of the continent.  As a reminder of the richness of nature, here are some  inspiring photos to celebrate the season.

The photos above are by Duilio Zane. Many thanks.

An ode to the season

As we head into the second half of November, autumn plays out its last hand before the arrival of winter in the northern hemisphere.

So let's enjoy the last burst of colour before the cold winds undress the trees and the first snows gird them in white.

Naturalist Richard Mabey has written a lyrical examination of the season in the on-line edition of The Guardian. The headline reads, "A Season of Splendour. Some people find autumn a sad time of year. They couldn't possibly be more wrong."

His essay moves easily from literature to science and is a joy to read.

You can read Mabey's reflection on autumn here.

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Photo courtesy: http://www.sxc.hu/

Driving to Boston

It's autumn at it's best: we're driving along the I-90 in upstate New York on a warm October day. Skirting the Finger Lakes, continuing east along the Mohawk River, across the Hudson at Albany and onto the Massachusetts Turnpike, through the Berkshire Hills and then gradually downhill to Boston and the ocean.

The mantle of tree cover seems to go on forever. To the north in the Adirondacks; to the south, the Catskills. A perfect fall day. October 20 and the sun in the northeastern United States is warmer than usual for this time of year. The trees show their many colours: reds, yellows, gold and still much green. The land rises and falls; we climb hills and dip into valleys; cross rivers and pass sloping farmland; and everywhere the trees frame the landscape in a gigantic quilt. It almost looks like this blanket was placed over the country by an invisible hand, to protect the land, or maybe to dress it for presentation.

Our destination is Cambridge and we arrive in mid-afternoon. Hundreds of people strolling; it's Harvard on regatta day on the Charles River. Parks full of people of all ages. Harvard's football team is playing at home vs Princeton; the college spirit is alive and well.

Later the Boston Red Sox lift the city's spirits as they beat the Cleveland Indians in a do-or-die playoff game, and the cheers from the bars spill onto the streets under a clear moon.

Enjoying the raking

When I started raking the leaves under dark skies this morning, my natural inclination was to complain to myself about the chore. So many other more pleasant things I could be doing, I thought. The mall, the TV, books, the sofa.

But then I suddenly realized how ridiculous that notion was. I woke up. How fortunate, how absolutely friggin' lucky I am to be out here doing these things, my conscience reminded me.

I remembered how it felt to come out of the hospital after even a short stay, or how it was to step outside the door after a bad flu or some other ailment had kept me bedridden or just indoors. When you move around again, you feel joy in being alive and in being able to do things. Life is for living. This freedom is special.

How difficult it is, in comparison, for those recovering in hospital from a heart attack, a round of chemotherapy, a debilitating disease; how frustrating it must be to be confined to a bed or be forced indoors by some form of disability. What some people would give to be out here just raking leaves, for God's sake.

As I said, I woke up.

I quickly realized how fortunate I was to feel the cool wind on my face, to smell the wonderful odour of autumn, to feel the fresh dew on the grass, to hold leaves in my hand, to live in safety, to live in Canada.