How Do You Experience
travel musings on Athens, New Orleans, East Iceland, Lombok, Rio de Janeiro, Old San Juan + Pahokee.
When traveling to a new city I want to take in every ounce of its beauty and imperfections. If the alternative is complaining, I don’t want to do that. This feeling extends beyond travel and transcends to experiences in life. If being in the moment means not contemplating over what something has to offer and letting it unfold naturally and meaningfully, even better.
Someone once remarked to me that Athens is a dirty city. To me it is The Acropolis and Nescafe Frappes and the Theatre of Dionysus and tangy hunks of real feta cheese and a stunning way to experience our history. But this jamoke at the water cooler wants to call out that it is dirty? That’s all you’ve got for Athens?
Bourbon Street, New Orleans after a day of partying, anyone? With obvious flaws, you might remark that it smells. More than that, it is worn in Fleur-de-Lis’, juicy sweet rum-soaked hurricanes, char broiled oysters on the half shell, jazz musicians on parade and beignets coated viciously in powdered sugar. Beyond Bourbon, New Orleans is trendy apartments in the Warehouse District overlooking Dixie Mill Supply and it is the shotgun houses still surviving Katrina in The Lower 9th Ward.
You do not remember the slices of soppressata on that pizza. How did I remember it? Well, I guess because I took a picture of it. But I also committed it to memory because I knew I wanted to write about it later. I love a good punch of salty, spicy soppressata!
You are offended by the glass of golden, oaky, buttery chardonnay at the open bar at this wedding. Well, I thought it was delicious. Especially since it was free to me, and the brides Dad spent a fortune on it. Oh, you like unoaked chardonnay? Yes, mmhmm me too. Sure.
You think I am letting him off too easy. He just admitted he’s been snorting cocaine and chasing Moose through the woods of New Hampshire. How am I not disturbed by this?
You are fully allowed to share your truths — that Athens is dirty, that Bourbon Street smells, that the soppressata pizza was unremarkable. These things can be true despite my experience feeling different. I am loving the oaky chardonnay and I am accepting of the fact that you think it sucks. I was in my first semester at college, unperturbed by an admission of drug use, but I am glad someone was alarmed by it.
Food, décor, people, places, stories — I can appreciate something for what it is to a fault. In retrospect, I might glamorize an experience simply because it happened.
I am going with the flow. I am (for better or for worse) accepting and idealistic. I was born when the sun was in Pisces.
What coaxes intrigue and acceptance and living in the moment when traveling is seeing how other people live. I want for more of that connection though sometimes it is simply by observing and imagining how it might be. I also want to understand certain economic inequalities, how the wealthy to the impoverished are living.
We were driving through a town called Höfn in Iceland. It was midday and an Álfabúðin (not really) child with short blonde hair biked in front of our car, causing us to slam sharply on the brakes and exhale loudly with relief. It was her all alone, she stopped to smile and wave. She lives in an Icelandic fishing village in Southeast Iceland which we were passing though briefly on this clear, sunny day, making our way to Djúpivogur. That night Bob and I witnessed a spectacular Northern Lights show. I can imagine the young girl and her entire neighborhood clapping on the street. This is what Icelanders do when the aurora is in spectacular form: they gather, they watch in awe, and they cheer and they shout and they clap, together. Life in Iceland, how extraordinary!
In Lombok we stayed at Puri Mas. To an Indonesian island on the opposite side of the world I came with not a lot of knowledge or expectations. Outside the spa resort walls up in the dusty hills of Mangsit we were surrounded by a Muslim village. Certain homes could be described as shacks and yards were abundantly dirt. Trash piled up in the backyard woods. The call to prayer faithfully beckoned every morning and night. A $1.20 cab ride away was the decidedly hip and thriving city of Senggigi. We walked with local families on the beach at sunset. One evening a very amicable doctor made a house call to our hotel room on his commute home. (Let that sink in though. A house call!) He was able to prescribe Bob something for a painful ear infection caused by deep dives when snorkeling off an Indonesian outrigger the day before.
I wrote in 2017: I have never met a kinder nation of people. The Balinese and Sasak have an awareness, peace and kindness that extends beyond what I expected - not only to us as travelers, but to everyone around them. It is an awakening and fulfilling and meaningful thing to be a part of.
In Rio de Janeiro we did not visit the favelas and in Old San Juan we did not visit La Perla, even though I wanted to. Should we have? Would you have? So too is a desire to remain respectful and safe. To understand how people live and to understand a culture feels relevant — but compromising (respect/safety) is not ideal either. The two articles I linked were mostly positive but some information (which could be dated) will paint these tropical urban neighborhoods in a not so attractive light.
The desire to wander through expensive and trendy neighborhoods appeals to me in a similar fashion. How are you living life in this city I am so lucky to be a part of for a blink of an eye? Is there a 12 foot tall gate fronting your posh home and fancy garage or are you more like in the music video Despacito?!
In Rio the upscale neighborhoods are Leblon and São Conrado — where our group stayed, dined and partied. Urban beaches Ipanema and Copacabana are infused with local flavor. They are balmy, colorful and rowdy. In Puerto Rico, Old San Juan is bucket list destination worthy and La Perla probably is fine nowadays but we thought not particularly suited to wander through with a toddler and a baby in a stroller. Intuition rules, especially so when traveling with kiddos.
Let me paint a picture with a United States experience. I feel like I made the point but stick with me. The year is 2010 and I am visiting my Grandparents in Lantana, Florida. They had a fourth floor condo at Pelican Bay on the Intracoastal with expansive waterfront views. It was a modest space for a retired couple who loved boating. Additionally, my grandfather loved to drive and play tour guide. On this trip we drove through the wealthiest neighborhoods in West Palm Beach, peering into gated walls of sprawling mansion compounds or viewing them from the water where mega yachts were docked. On this trip we also drove through some of the poorest communities in Palm Beach County — around the banks of Lake Okeechobee through the towns of Belle Glade and Pahokee. Pahokee is named from the Seminole word for “grassy waters” where sugar cane fields line the roads opposite the lake.
I wrote in 2010: It is a different part of the state that most don't get to experience. It is certainly not your typical picture of Florida with white sandy beaches and teal ocean waters. I took a lot in on that drive and will definitely remember our time spent traveling through these inland and relatively poor towns.
This is not an all-encompassing travel style. I want to do vacation-y things like relax on a beach, ski down a mountain, and take in the major highlights of a city. Sometimes taking the time to just be, to observe, and to appreciate how lives are lived feels important.
The first half of this post is not to say how I experience life 100% of the time. I can acknowledge when something is not for me. I can constructively criticize. I can garner a complaint when it feels necessary to do so. However, where your mind goes first (i.e. optimist, enthusiast) and where it goes second/later (i.e. adverse, pragmatic) is unique to you.
It is more of an overarching march towards blissful is where we are going here — but not blindly.
So as to not settle on that which really matters.
Quite the opposite in fact — figuring out what MATTERS — in the moment and in the long run is one goal. What actually is there to complain about?
Experience is about recognizing how you are uniquely, inherently a certain way. That wisdom about why you are the way you are exists now and comes with age.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~ Howard Thurman
I LOVED reading this!!! And I could absolutely relate to the smell of fermentation and many nights gone wrong in the streets of New Orleans. That was perhaps one of the grittier travel experiences I've had. And I loved every minute of it.
The insights you’ve gained through travel are so relatable! I agree that every destination offers a unique experience for everyone, and it’s so fascinating to immerse yourself into these completely different worlds. You definitely come home with a new perspective!