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.

How a woman survived a 75-floor elevator fall after a plane crashed into the Empire State Building

The September 11, 2001, tragedy of the Twin Towers in New York City was not the first time a plane crashed into a New York skyscraper: a previous incident in 1945 was tragic and miraculous at the same time.

On July 28th of that year, William F. Smith, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Air Forces, was trying to land his B-25 bomber at Newark airport when he became disoriented in low cloud. He narrowly missed hitting the Chrysler building, but unfortunately slammed into the seventy-ninth floor of the Empire State Building. Fourteen people were killed in the accident and ensuing fireball. However, the crash is also remembered for an unusual tale of survival. It's the story of an elevator operator who fell seventy-five floors and lived to tell about it.

The story was recounted by another bomber pilot, Col. Robert Morgan (ret.), in his 2001 autobiography ("The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot"):

"Just as in war, the crash produced its surreal acts of fate. A badly burned woman named Betty Lou Oliver was given first aid and placed in an elevator car to descend to street level. The weakened cable snapped and the woman plunged seventy-five floors... The rapidly falling car created an air cushion that slowed its descent as it neared bottom, and the steel cable underneath the car piled up, turning into a giant coiled spring that further absorbed the impact."

Five months later, the woman felt well enough to return to the scene of the accident and courageously took a ride back up in one of the elevators.

Not the kind of story one reads every day.

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For more information, read the full account of the accident here.

Details about the elevator crash and repairs are found in this article from an industry trade magazine.

Fall colours: it's all about glucose

For some, autumn is the best time of the year.   When you look at pictures like these, it's clear why people enjoy October walks amidst nature's annual fashion show.

According to Science Made Simple, the reds, oranges and yellows of maple trees come from glucose that's left in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. When the hours of sunlight diminish and the nights turn cool, the chlorophyll that gives the leaves their green colour fades away and the trapped glucose, essentially a sugar, turns the leaves into fall's multi-hued display.

Photos by Duilio Zane. 

Related post, from another October:

Enjoying the raking

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Scenes of the season

For as long as I can remember, September in Toronto has been one of the best months of the year.  Along the waterfront, people enjoy the sunny days and slightly fresher air. It seems cleaner, too; less pollution and less humidity. Gone are the crowds of August. The charter boats on Lake Ontario still do a brisk business before the colder winds of October blow in.

In September and into early October the wealthy make their last rounds on the Great Lakes before the yachts and power boats are either dry-docked or sent on their way with crews to winter havens in the tropical seas of Florida or the Caribbean.

The end of the month signals the beginning of fall foliage displays in the country. Life always seems to move at a different pace in the wide-open spaces of rural central Ontario. When the forecast signals good weather for the weekend, this is the best time of the year for a drive in the country. Animals seem to welcome urban visitors.  A few more weeks and apple picking will be at its peak and, before we know it, it will be time to celebrate Halloween.

Thanks to Duilio Zane for these great photographs.

Locations:  Toronto Harbour and a ranch just north of Bowmanville.

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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.