The secret of travel is to approximate the life of a local

“When I started traveling professionally, I was surprised and delighted to find that I could still make emotional connections to places. I discovered this for the first time in Portugal, where — after having schlepped around Spain — I met a young Dutch woman who introduced me to a her friend, a colorful poet, who invited me to dinner (this after weeks of solitary meals) and then took me to a dive to hear men singing fado. It was in Lisbon that I discovered the secret of travel writing, which is also the secret of memorable travel: You approximate, as best you can, in the short time allotted you, the life of a local. Once back home and writing, I stumbled upon another secret: The best trips make the best stories. Though I had known this in theory from books like Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water, which are nearly as crammed with friends as they are with learning.”
–Thomas Swick, A Moving Experience, The Morning News, December 3, 2013

Posted by | Comments Off on The secret of travel is to approximate the life of a local  | March 16, 2015
Category: Travel Quote of the Day

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