Our top ten travel moments, plus one dream journey.
Dear seeker,
Being grounded is rough when your heart is calling you out to explore. Even though I just came home from two months in India and am quite happy to be sitting still after the rollercoaster adventure of repatriation amid COVID-19 lockdowns across the planet, I can feel the edges of discomfort as I imagine not being allowed to travel again for an unknown amount of time. Are you feeling that, too?
One of our favorite experience providers and travel agents, Terracotta Travel, has put a call out to reminisce. What are your top ten travel moments, and where is the place you're dreaming of going next, and why?
One of the things I've learned time and again through travel is that the moments we take home with us live in our hearts. Not only will they always be there, but they have also always been there. And so, all we need to do is recall them in order to feel boundless and basking in awe once again. In fact, I find revisiting old travel memories is an excellent teacher, as that recollection often reveals new learnings we never might've otherwise seen.
Anyway, we're definitely playing, for our own well-being, but the winner also gets a basket full of awesome Greek treats, so...
Here's our Top Ten + One Dream. What're yours?
1. Convening with the Dukha people in East Taiga, Mongolia. This was an Adventure Awake intensive. We spent three days of a 15 day trip with the Dukha people (reindeer shamans, known to be the oldest variant of shamanism practiced in the world), and we were all utterly floored by our experience there, including, but not limited to, being chased by playful baby reindeer.
2. Staying in a "casa particular" in Trinidad, Cuba. Witnessing the daily life of a small Cuban family in a vibrant coastal town as they showed us what life has been like for them during the embargo.
3. Dogsledding outside Ilulissat, Greenland. This was an Adventure Awake intensive. We were frozen for hours afterward and needed lots of hot chocolate to defrost, but this was perhaps one of the most magical experiences of our entire lives.
4. Trekking through Simien Mountains National Park in Ethiopia. Stumbling upon a pack of galata monkeys casually eating roots as we were walking along a ridge on our second day.
5. Visiting the Tarahumara Indians outside Creel, Mexico. Staying in a road-side truck stop hotel where the whole outfit was heated by one wood-burning stove. Living off of the best guacamole of my life for four days straight.
6. Hiking to the glacier at Cotopaxi, Ecuador. Discovering that altitude sickness has many forms, including actually not being able to breathe.
7. Learning to scuba dive in The Seychelles. Finally discovering the delicate and essential world that exists under the surface of the ocean, and the vulnerability of being with it all with very little protection.
8. The spontaneous 15 minutes of uninterrupted sunlight we got in the Faroe Islands. We were visiting for ten days and it rained for nine of those days. The sun coming out was ecstasy.
9. Hiking to Preikestolen and Kjeragbolten in Southern Norway. Never have I ever seen such exquisite nature in my life.
10. Riding on sidecars from Marrakesh to Agafay Desert to camp under the stars. This was an Adventure Awake intensive. We spent our evenings singing and playing music with berbers and staring at the vast expanse of the night sky until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore.
And here's where I'd love to go next: Nepal (and also Bhutan!). I was so close while I was in India I could taste it, and with the combination of both spiritual immersion and natural landscapes, I can't imagine another place I'd rather visit.
If you'd like to get more context for this list, check out this article written by Terracotta Travel. Let's see your top ten + one dream!