#TravelGoals = #TravelFomo
There’s a rhythm in rush these days
Where the lines don’t move and colours don’t fade
Leaves you empty with nothing but dreams
Elevate and leave the flickering screen
When everything is realized, Nothing’s crossed
Our quest for seeking the unknown always takes us on new adventures. Some of us are lucky to take off on unpredictable paths whereas most of us end up establishing a love-hate relationship with the alarm clock. On one such Saturday morning I ended up having a conversation with a biker who doesn’t remember the number of times he has been to Himalayas. He said, ‘whether you go for a half an hour drive or explore the quaint Italian villages thousands of miles away, something in you will always change’. His words have stayed with me so far and I guess, they will be with me forever.
Since when did we have a manual about what is considered as a good vacation? Why are we following these unsaid rules while planning our next trips? Let’s take a selfie with the nearest abandoned postbox with #rustic corners and listen to the mailman’s stories, ponder over what it felt like to be the bridge for connecting two souls apart from each other. Let’s find the rustic newspaper stalls in the nearby lanes and check out the last newspaper read on that stand to know what world was like when a doorway to the outside world needed you to flip black and white pages instead of staring at flickering screens. Let’s head to that lake or beach just outside the city and kick-start our #travelgram.
I know all this is easier said than felt. Because these days getting over a heartbreak is easier than getting over the opulent travel stories on Instagram. How are we supposed to feel good when half of our classmates/colleagues are backpacking across Europe and the other half are exploring the majestic mountains of Himalayas? How do we see the beauty in the simple corners when you are bombarded with heavenly pictures of Niagara falls?
To get the right answers we need to look at the right places. I found my answer to ZNMD in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I don’t know if I’d be a high-flying investment banker or a witty copywriter and I am certainly not the rich kid of the squad like Abhay Deol. On the other hand, Walter Mitty is a more realistic picture, grappling with loneliness and mundane routine. We all might relate to some or the other aspect of Walter Mitty’s life.
Walter Mitty shows us that it’s never too late to make your life interesting and there’s no right time to hit the milestones. Unlike the popular belief we are not bound by any universal clock, we are all walking in different directions taking our own time. And sometimes smallest of the efforts will open doors to an unknown wonderland. Talking about travel, Walter’s voyage to absolutely unpredictable places in the most uncomfortable circumstances was far more relatable than driving along the Costa Bravo in a vintage and astonishingly beautiful car.
Now that I am trying to plan my travel trips, I will take this lesson along and define my travel by the way I feel and not by the places I visit. So, till I reach the magnificent Himalayas, I’ll be hovering around the rustic cafes of my city.
Leaving this line here from the The Secret life of Walter Mitty that precisely sums up all our wanderlust goals.
