Welcome

Friends,

This week, I have been thinking (a lot) about what travel provides. It helps put my life in perspective—to see that I am a small piece of a larger whole.

It can also provide a space for rest and foster new creativity. Those are great things.

Let’s get going.

Links

Ryanair is going 100% paperless (kind of) in November.

My family’s recent flight home from Auckland.

Story

I have a picture of my three-year-old daughter running barefoot through the Qantas Business Class lounge in Wellington. We were about to board the four-hour flight to Melbourne and stood out sorely as ‘the Americans’.

We also were flying in economy using British Airways points, and had like twelve pieces of checked luggage. OneWorld Emerald for the win.

We had no real concept of what awaited us in Melbourne, but we quickly fell in love with the city. Before you accuse me of being poetic or dramatic, let me add—if you haven’t already, you will too. Melbourne is a fantastic place, insofar as cities go.

One of the best parts is the beaches: you are never far from the ocean.

Unintentionally, we made our way down to Brighton Beach on one of our early Saturdays living in Melbourne. And then it quietly became an every Saturday activity. If anyone asked for us at 9:10a on Saturday morning, we would say “find us on the train to Brighton” (no one ever did ask, to be clear, but we were ready for the question).

I am grateful to miss our Saturdays by the beach in Melbourne.

I am also grateful to share it with you, here. One of my favorite parts of travel isn’t just visiting sights and monuments (being a tourist is fabulously great, to be sure), but stepping into the rhythms of everyday life somewhere else.

It invites a different pace and creates space for reflection—deeper, for me at least, than being with a crowd of out-of-towners somewhere famous. I love being in a cadence of somewhere-elses’ everyday life and thinking about those around me. Who are these other people on the train with us? What are their stories? How did they get here? Do they like airline miles too?

(Usually I stop asking rhetorical questions at that point).

Again: touristing is unmistakably terrific and there is a reason why the ‘sights’ are the ‘sights’. It is a gift to go see them, wherever you find yourself—including your own backyard.

The point is that there’s so much to discover in the ordinary—yet I find it tragically easy to overlook while traveling far from home. My encouragement: stop long enough to truly seek out the local—to find out why someone else calls that place home.

Big Picture: Do you enjoy experiencing the rhythms of ordinary, everyday life when traveling? I’ve learned that I really do—and now I believe it’s one of the keys to the best travel adventures.

Happy flying.

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Remember, this life you are living has meaning. Be well today.

-Tommy