Is it me or do you feel like going somewhere, too?
For months now I’ve been longing to experience the poetry of being in a different place, someplace foreign that absorbs my senses—and frankly, I’m not sure it matters how I get there or where I go.
As spring slowly unfurls in this part of the world, nature seems to be in on it, too. With the appearance of grackles at the bird feeder, colorful crocuses breaching ground and buds emerging on branches, the universe is signaling its approval for us to break through and get out in the world.
Beauty is a most trustworthy sherpa in life, guiding us to the outer limits of our possibility, expanding our hearts and thinking.
Turns out the eye isn’t the only thing that must travel. Our bodies and minds long for the rigors of being situated in a foreign place, where our unknowings are revealed.
We need adventures that take us beyond the confines of our immediate surroundings, and travel is the perfect conduit for us to better understand, appreciate and know each other.
As problematic as it sounds, it’s important for us to indulge our ignorance of how to get from point A to B, to learn to speak and understand a language different from our mother tongue, and most importantly, to simply get lost with abandon.
What starts initially as innate curiosity ends with us answering beauty’s call to experience it in all of its manifestations—of which travel is one.
You might say travel connects us to parts of ourselves we otherwise neglect, and I say it is through the body that these connections are made.
I believe our ideas about travel—like beauty—are shaped early on by the people around us, who cared for us. Even having a parent who traveled for work helps us to open our perspectives to see its benefits.
So if you think that travel is not for you, think again.
I was fortunate to be surrounded by multiple traveler types—like my globe-trotting Aunt Eugenia for whom eu2be was named, an adventurous, ready-at-the-drop-of-a-hat maternal grandmother, and a cautious but curious dad who thoroughly enjoyed new and different experiences.
What’s more, when we venture into the world to discover new places and cultures, we end up learning just as much from the journey we take within ourselves.
Travel whirls you around, turns you upside down and stands everything you took for granted on its head."
— Pico Iyer
Rediscovery and Place
Travel stretches us in the best ways, and we return home with an expanded appreciation and sense of gratitude for our humanity and the bodies that allowed us to explore.
This expansion might feel risky sometimes, but it's a risk that comes with great rewards: a broader perspective, deeper empathy, a richer appreciation for the world’s diversity and the experience of beauty in the world.
Do tell, what kind of traveler are you? Some of us adventure without any plan at all, letting the day take us where it may—but I’m someone who needs a plan.
I like to map out or frame my days when I travel so I don’t waste precious time trying to figure out basic things.
We are shaped by the journeys we dare to take. So let’s all make the pinky promise that we’ll entertain the possibility of travel before the end of the year.
May you dare to take journeys that enrich and expand you—and may you travel to your depths to find beauty’s endeavor revealed.
