“For the first time, it seemed clear to me that travel is not about finding something: It’s about getting lost — that is, it is about losing yourself in a place and a moment. The little things that tether you to what’s familiar are gone, and you become a conduit through which the sensation of the place is felt. It’s nice to see the significant centers of civilization, the important buildings, the monumental landscapes, but what seems most extraordinary is feeling yourself lifted out of your ordinary life into something new.”
–Susan Orlean, “A Lonely Heart in Bhutan,” Best American Travel Writing 2007
May 19th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Brilliant concept and equally well written.
Not just travel, but life and the essence of being.
The present, not weighed against one’s own measure of the world or one’s past experiences, or even one’s ideas of how things should, could or will be. Just experienced in the pure, unedited present.
Clearly, I can’t put it as well as her, but I admire the mind behind the thought and writing.