What Travel Teaches You About What Actually Matters

Travelling is wonderful because it constantly brings home to me what is actually important.

On the challenging side there is the hassle factor, the organisation, packing (ugh!) things not going to plan, delays, tech not working, traffic and confusion, and the moments when a foreign language feels like a wall rather than a door. On the flow side there is pure delight, inspiration, new flavours, scents, exciting experiences, beauty, hilarity and connection. And when the language barrier is quietly playful. I love pretending I know what people are talking about. Spanish is the only foreign language I actually speak, so that is the one I reach for wherever I find myself, whether it fits or not!

Since long Covid I have been gradually regaining my sense of smell, so when the honeysuckle-like scent of the Tiglio trees washed over me in Rome, I was genuinely thrilled. Despite having bought one, being without a working eSIM when I arrived was another matter entirely. I refused to leave the airport without one, because being able to reach the people I am meeting is for me, essential. That is my most favourite thing about mobile phones: stuck in traffic, let someone know; train delayed, flight cancelled, it all comes down to communication.

Claude AI has made navigating new places much easier, but on this trip it was my friend Flaminia from shaman school who made Rome truly accessible, and gastronomically fulfilling, not just for me but for my father and sister who were also there. One evening they gifted Flaminia and me to a string quartet with two opera singers performing different arias in a venue above the Trevi Fountain. It was sublime. My sister and I both sat with tears streaming down our faces. Music really does take you somewhere words cannot reach.

Meeting friends and family in foreign countries seriously works for me. It feels like an adventure, all of us coming together in a new place to experience something new and somehow discover more about each other.

Yesterday I was in Florence by myself with roughly ten billion other people, walking in a quiet mantra of “I am calm and grounded.” That is a significant amount of too many people’s mixing energies for me to manage. I did see David, who is as beautiful as advertised, and I missed my mother deeply. She had a real knowledge of art history and could talk me through everything I was looking at, as well as pointing out the light and shadow with an artist’s eye.

I also missed my son, daughter in law and baby granddaughter. They had originally planned to join me, and surprise my Dad and sister, but Schengen visa delays made it impossible, so for the second time this year I found myself navigating a foreign city alone. I love culture, and seeing art, and most of that happens to live in cities, but I am not a city person. I made the most of it, even in the rain, and I would have loved to have had a friend alongside me just to share it.

Today my Dad and sister met me in Florence as their cruise stopped in Livorno, which is exactly why I arranged the trip this way, since I will not make it back to the States this year to see them. Everything immediately felt better. I love my family so much and I feel genuinely blessed that we all get along so well. My Dad is 90 and still travelling, and he freely admits it is not nearly as easy as it once was. But for most of my life I have travelled with at least one other person, and for me that makes all the difference.

I am eating everything on this trip because it is EATaly and that is simply what you do. I also notice how much I appreciate clean food. At home I rarely eat carbs, sugar or heavy sauces, and I feel the difference in my body here. I will absolutely return to my plan once I am home, but part of the joy of travel is tasting the culture on your plate.

Tomorrow I take a train to Pisa for another afternoon with my Dad and sister before flying to Toulouse to see another girlfriend from shaman school I have not seen in ten years. She is deeply knowledgeable about wine, so I imagine we will be enjoying quite a lot of that.

Travel is fun and exhausting, exciting and frustrating. The best parts, for me, are always the connections and the new things seen. And it makes me appreciate my life, my family, my friendships, and my own capacity to go with the flow and settle myself when I start to stress.

It also makes me appreciate where and how I live, and of course my cat Ghost, who I know is being very well looked after by friends having a staycation in my house while I am away.

Each night I fall asleep in gratitude. Life really is what you make it.

I still remember my passengers on my Peru trips saying one of the best things about travelling with me was that they didn’t have to worry about a single thing, because I handled all of it. If you have the desire to explore but prefer not to navigate the unknown alone, why not come with me to Peru next year? I am finally taking a small group again for two weeks at the end of September 2027. We will sit in ceremony, work with shamans, get off the beaten track, and experience Peruvian culture at its most authentic.  Interested?  Your life will shift! Book a call: https://bit.ly/MyTruthMap