I was lucky to have parents who loved to travel. I was on my first international flight when I was only a few months old. School holidays were always spent someplace else—I didn’t eat Thanksgiving dinner in the United States until I was in college.
Our trips usually centered around the well-known “must sees”—Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid, Big Ben, Sydney Opera House. It’s amazing to see these places with your own eyes, especially as a young person. It was also the start of my lifelong love of travel.
In recent years, my trips have alternated between exploring new destinations and revisiting favorites. When you’re discovering a new place, it can be a bit intense—so much new to see and do! Once you’ve been someplace, loved it, and gotten a sense of it, returning allows a deeper and more relaxed appreciation. There are only so many times I need to see the Eiffel Tower, yet so many millions of reasons to come back to the Paris that surrounds it.
While I haven’t been “everywhere,” at 82 countries I’ve ticked off most regions of the world, excluding the poles (but not the Poles). As I started to think about my next international trips, I found myself asking not only Where to? but also Why?
I decided to go more deep than wide: that is, revisiting places that have made me happy in a way no other places do. (Australia, India, certain countries in Europe, here’s looking at you!) I plan on staying in neighborhoods I can imagine living in, and being there long enough that while I won’t be a resident, I won’t feel like a tourist either. There’s nothing quite like the moment—or, if you’re lucky, days—when you feel like a local, even in a city where you don’t speak the language, know the food, or understand the customs.
While I still appreciate famous landmarks and sunsets from iconic spots, I’ll probably be staying far from bucket-list attractions, instead looking for accommodations close to locals-favorite restaurants and markets, one-off housewares and clothing boutiques. I’m aiming for stays of weeks, perhaps longer, in accommodations where I can live as though I were home—writing, working out, cooking (badly).
I hope this experience will not only be an escapist thrill, but also a way to get a deeper sense of who I am. Distance really does help you see your own life more clearly.
To other would-be travelers (especially the younger ones): Go to as many places as soon as you can, so you can return to your favorites and enjoy a more prolonged stay at the places that made your mind and/or heart happy. Like a fine wine, travel only gets better with time. But also like a fine wine, you don’t want to wait too long to open it.