#travelanywhere

Greetings fellow globe trotters! Or perhaps, like me, you’ve not been doing as much trotting lately. As people accustomed to perpetual motion, staying still can feel uncomfortable. Travel promises novelty, adventure, broadened horizons… and so can become so synonymous with these experiences that we stop looking for these experiences in the sameness of here.

The schools in England have just had two weeks off, so I have had this time off work also to be with my daughter. I thought it would be a good opportunity to dig into my Anywhere Travel Guide. We didn’t have any adventures planned abroad, but I wanted to see how easily we could feel that same sense of exploration and exhilaration here. I wanted to practise approaching at my own familiar surroundings with the same expectation of adventure as I do the unfamiliar.

I’d bought this Anywhere Travel Guide in a fit of curiosity, and then sat and looked at it for a while. The holidays seemed a good opportunity to look and it more closely, and I sifted through the cards (75 in total) and put aside a few that I thought sounded particularly do-able in the next few weeks.

This one put me in mind of our local art gallery’s sweeping staircase, and sculpture hall. A change of perspective always brings out the fresh and new, and it’s true – sometimes we need a prompt to visit the treasures that are just up the road.

This one was a fun one also… we are lucky enough to have both castle and cathedral in our home town… and my daughter loves climbing the castle walls to look down on the city. The day was bright, the wind threatened to blow us over, and the view was wonderful. It is good to stand and look sometimes.

I took this card camping 🙂 Lying on the grass, staring up through blossom trees to the clouds beyond… Summer is coming and I intend to do much more of this!

I ran my first 10km race at the beginning of April. We were permitted to run with earphones but I didn’t. I wanted to hear the crowds, the clapping, the sound of my feet as they slogged on, the encouraging calls as we all variously flagged around 8km… it was good to connect to the sounds of the people around me… unknown strangers, yet all connected by the physical efforts of young and old, personal goals and charity fundraising. For that race, I belonged.

I did this with my daughter… it was interesting to see how in the present her comment was, directly related to an activity we’d just done. But I found this card was an invitation not only to reflect on what I appreciated about my here, but also an invitation to connect with others, albeit in an indirect way.

I’m not being paid to promote these cards at all. But I liked them. Some of them verge on the ridiculous (hide in various places throughout the day!) but they are a fun way of engaging with your environment, an idea-sparker and motivational tool to get out there and get exploring.

And exploring, friends, is what Third Culture Kids do best.