the magic of travel
I understand how insufferably privileged this will sound but I truly believe everyone should travel. I am incredibly fortunate and grateful that I have enough health and wealth to travel. That wasn’t always true and has only been true in recent years. It’s so sad that I, like most Americans, spent my youth working, trying to keep my head above water and pay off student loans. By the time you have disposable income you probably also have a dislocated disc. But I and my aching back and crackling knees will climb as many mountains and subway staircases as we can for as long as we are able.
If you can’t fly to other countries, take a train to another state. The United States is huuuuge! There are incredibly different sceneries and climates and cultures right here in our one country! As someone who has lived in every corner of America, it is wild to hear the stereotypes that other Americans have about parts of the country. Southern friends who visited us in NYC found it nothing like they expected: dirtier and louder but also friendlier and safer. NYC friends that visited us in the South found it nothing like they expected; not every town is run down and rural but every food really is deliciously deep fried. Friends visiting us in Alaska found it nothing like they expected; no one lives in an igloo but the midnight summer sun is not a myth.
If you can’t do that then drive or take a bus to another city, or at least another neighborhood. I lived in New York City for several years and it really is somewhere different every few blocks. I lived in Downtown Brooklyn and Hell’s Kitchen. When friends message me to say they’re visiting and what are some good restaurants and things to do and then tell me their hotel is on the East Side? I don’t know that place. You’re on your own. I went over there maybe twice because I had to not because I wanted to. Now that I’ve moved away I wish I had explored more, and gone up past 110th sometimes because it sounds like I missed out.
If you can’t leave your home, watch YouTube videos of places you want to go. Years and years before I went to Korea I watched walking tours and travel reviews. Listen to audiobooks or read travel books and memoirs. Join a Reddit group or Discord and talk to people from other states or countries. Learn another language and find a practice partner or online tutor.
I’ve gained something from each place I’ve lived and visited. Tangible souvenirs, yes, but intangible things like wisdom, gratitude, and confidence. And a lot of favorite foods. In New York I learned that even though I had eaten things called “bagels” before living there I had not in fact eaten bagels. A real bagel has that chew, a texture indescribable unless you’ve had it. And once you’ve had it you know whether or not you are eating a bagel or a roll with a hole. In Alaska I fell in love with smoked salmon. Smoked salmon dip, big fat strips of smoked salmon with the skin still on, pungent and chewy salmon jerky! You cannot find smoked salmon like that anywhere else. I introduced Alaskan and New York friends to my favorite Southern treats: cheese straws and grits. My mom would send extra boxes in my care packages because I had gotten my friends addicted. One night in Busan, I was starving but too exhausted to eat at a restaurant and stopped by the convenience store for instant ramen and snacks to eat in my room. I accidentally dropped the ramen in the sink later. I was left with a single serving pack of kimchi, some squid jerky I had bought earlier that day on my way to Beomeosa Temple, and a can of beer. It was likely the fatigue and extreme hunger, but I remember that as one of the best meals I ate during my whole 2 week trip. Another favorite memory from Busan is standing at a food stall, my last night in town, and ordering haemul pajeon. A family exited a nearby restaurant and started chatting with me. A daughter around my age and her parents who had been born in Busan but now lived in New York! It was unbelievable to meet fellow New Yorkers at a street stall in Busan! They were so warm and friendly and reminded me of my own parents. The father lamented he was too full from his restaurant meal to eat what I was eating, and insisted on buying me some fishcake soup to try. I also met a nice woman on the train one night, when I was lost and riding in the wrong direction. She got me on the right train and even messaged me often on Kakao to check on me during my stay. We met up one night to have ramyun in Yeouido Park. I have forgotten the name of the hotels I stayed in and the neighborhoods I visited, but I have not forgotten the kindness of these strangers and what their welcoming warmth meant to me while I was alone on the other side of the world. And I have not forgotten the comforting taste of that fishcake soup.
There’s just so much magic when you open up and make your world bigger. When you see something from another perspective, through another cultural lens, experience another way to live and exist, see a landscape or architecture you’ve never seen before, eat a food you’ve never tried before. Do that however you can as often as you can. Recently, we were boarding the plane flying home from Scotland and someone came up from a few aisles behind and said my spouse’s name. It was a friend we had met while living in Alaska, and had not seen in a decade! And it turns out we were in Scotland at the same time and now flying home together. It’s one of the happiest coincidences I’ve ever experienced. A truly magic moment. When your world is bigger, you realize how small it is.
