I’m back home again…from another journey to another country; meeting its nature, architechture and people. I feel I grow with every meeting and every opportunity I get to learn something new. On thinking back, all my life has been dedicated to learning – and sometimes teaching…
Travelling offers a great way to understand other people and other cultures, that we all know. But, do you often reflect on the ”getting to know yourself” more? Do you prepare your journey thoroughly and do you write down what you see, who you meet and what you learn from them? Maybe you are like me: Always preparing everything, sometimes in detail, and then you do not always keep a diary when reality comes along? Does the new knowledge just stay there without you documenting it?
We are all travellers, and we all travel in our own way. I used to be a writer, now I have become more of a memory photographer. Maybe a futile search for the precious moments to stay…a bit longer.
The abilty to reflect and learn is a great gift.
In fact, it is essential.
Leya 
Wonderful capture!
Thank you!
And here you have done just that, reflected, learned and then as an extra you shared with us💕✨
Nice schoolgirl following my own directions…
Such interesting and reflective thoughts Leya. I only kept a daily journal when travelling. Sometimes letting it slip for a few days then struggling to remember what I had done only a few days previous. Only to put them in a cupboard then never looking at them again when I gat back home. Now I do not even keep journals and rely on photographs to trigger my often unreliable memory. As Sue says I think it is an age thing… Maybe in my dotage I will take out those journals
We have a lot in common here…but I still try to note down some things as well. Even if I never look at them again…I guess blogging makes me remember a bit longer.
Blogging does capture memories in an easy to view way.
And the sharing is important as well.
That is one of the best parts about blogging. 🙂
😀
I guess blogging is one of the ways to document one’s travel experiences…
It is. But I never bring a computer on my trips!
Ditto, besides, I can’t write when I’m travelling – the travelling is a distraction hahaha…
I so agree – impossible to more than jot down short thoughts.
I’ll never stop learning, until the day I die … and the urge for learning won’t go away. I haven’t travelled very much in my days. I always think I’ll keep a journal, but it never happens. Too much going on, I guess …
”Too much going on, I guess…” You are so right. I think that is the biggest obstacle for us reflecting and slowing down a bit. I’m working on it constantly…
Also; the first time [2011], I saw myself sitting around at the airports, writing, while waiting and watching people … I used to love that. Nowadays, airports are more stressful than they used to be … post 9/11.
I can understand that. When things happen now – with Daesh and the like…we are worried in Europe as well. Jakarta and Istanbul and Turkey and…But we have to try not to think about it and go about our lives almost as usual. A little more alert.
Här är en länk som berör Island och Skåne, i min ”expat-blog” 😊
http://wp.me/p5uwIH-3R
Exactly, that’s how it is! That’s why I love traveling so much! 🙂
Another thoughtful Thursday Thoughts post, Leya. Traveling is certainly good for the soul. As you said, we get to meet new people and learn new cultures. Then again, sometimes when we travel, we run from something; sometimes we travel to figure ourselves out and who we really stand for – getting lost in each and every adventurous travel moment.
You are still a writer, Leya. I really, really love the photos you put up here. You are certainly every bit the memory photographer. But when you do share words with us, they always make me pause and think 🙂
Sweet Mabel, you are a writer indeed! ”..we run from something” made me think of some friends of ours. Friends I know are running from something – or somebody. I wonder if they are ever happy with their travels, or if they know that they are…trying to escape. Reflection is important. To ask yourself a simple question like, Why? can be very enlightening.
I’m with you on learning and reflecting, Ann-Christine….and certainly have spent more time reflecting as I’ve got older (is it an age thing?). I nearly always start a travel journal during the first few days of a journey (found a few when packing for the move), but alas never persist with it. So my photographs trigger the memories!
Again…we have much in common, Sue. ”is it an age thing?”, you ask. A rethorical question? Because I think in many ways it is. More time, and much time is gone…to reflect upon. I used to tell my students to reflect upon what they were reading, connecting it to things they already had experienced and memorized. I wonder if we do that automatically when we get older? Slowing down a bit and…letting the thoughts wander freely as well…
And I am no longer working, minus the deadlines and the fast paced working, I have time for my mind to wander…..not always a good thing!
I see what you mean – it is not always a good thing…but staying positive is the way.
Agreed!
Very true, Ann Christine. I know I really ought to keep a travel journal, but somehow I find it difficult to write things in a book. I much prefer my computer, and love recording my experiences on my blog.
And you are so good at it! I try to keep up the journaling in a book, but it is so much easier on a computer…My children used to call me ”the Saint of Books”, so I guess I still love the feeling of paper and pencils.
What a lovely nickname, Ann Christine. One to be proud of. 🙂
I always like to jot down a few thoughts on where I have been, things that I saw and even sometimes emotions that are brought into being, in a journal of sorts. Then when I get home I write posts for places I have been and things I saw. I often re read these posts from places I have been and remember exactly how I felt in the moment I was there. Reflection is wonderful, yes. But I also love the feeling of expectation and excitement of the NEXT trip or adventure.
I agree on the expectation and the excitement as well! And, the re reading is really very rewarding to relive the moments. I tend to write down more feelings than facts, which is quite the opposite to what my husband does. ..