A Few Thoughts on Travel

Sometimes, I hate travel. I hate it when I miss the train, I hate it when trains cancel on me TWICE, I hate it when I go to a restaurant and realize that it’s overpriced, I hate the exhausting feeling of carrying my stuff on my back while wandering around the city.

But travel has its perks, especially when you solo travel. You read more, think more, walk more, and meet a ton of cool people! You embrace the serendipitous everyday actions, you navigate the city like it’s your playground, you go wherever you wish and do whatever you wish. It is a feeling of total personal freedom with a tint of meditative atmosphere sparkled around your physical surroundings.

I went on a swim in the Danube river in Vienna today. Originally I wanted to go see some palaces, visit some museums, and explore the attractions that had over 10,000 reviews. Because these must be the places worth visiting right? But as I lay lazily in the cool water, letting the river water drown out all worldly sounds from my ears, feeling the seaweed tangling on my legs, embracing the warm hugs from the afternoon sunshine, I know this is what I was looking for. At that moment, I had no where to be, no tasks to do, no worries in my mind, no agenda of any kind. And well it is then that I finally learned the lesson of soaking in the moment and living in the present. Too often our minds wander into the future or the past, maybe the secret of well-being is simply being focused on what’s ahead of you and not thinking about anything else but being in it. Sharing it with others make it even better sometimes.