I have long daydreamed of having a dorm room to decorate and make feel like home, and to me, there's no better way to make a space feel like "home" (lol what is that word) than to garnish it with travel-related memorabilia and pictures. Posting a world map on the wall is obvious, but to customize it more, I found 6 travel quotes that really speak to me and pictures from some of my travels to correspond with each quote. I have six little airplane clips to attach to the pictures along with the quotes. Although I haven't realized it onto my wall yet, here are the quote-and-picture sets I picked and why I picked them.
"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." - Martin Buber
This picture was taken in Venice, Italy, as I gazed upon the grand canal from the Rialto Bridge with my friend Sari. We were suddenly greeted by a downpour of rain, which can't be seen in the picture, and felt quite incredulous about it considering the beautiful weather our trip had been previously blessed with. The umbrella the two of us huddled under can be seen at the top of the picture. The rest of our group went off elsewhere, but she and I knew we wanted to go onto the bridge and from there explore more of Venice. We didn't know where exactly to go, but the memories of where we ended up are still vivid in my mind. First, we stopped at a sidewalk café where we sipped earl grey tea while looking at the gondolas and the canal, listening to the rain fall. We continued our promenade, taking narrow alleys and twisting streets, crossing foot bridges that spanned streets made of water, listening to local chatter in Italian. When we decided to go back, we realized a bit late that we had lost our way. Rather frantically, we attempted to return the way we came, ending up in a random courtyard completely empty of people. Eventually, we found our way back to St. Marc's square as the bells of the campanile chimed the turning of the hour. We turned our attention towards it and decided on a whim we would enter and go up. Seeing Venice from above with one of my best friends remains one of my most precious memories of travel, and that afternoon all started with Sari and I taking that picture.
"There is no foreign land; it is the traveler only that is foreign." - Robert Louis Stevenson
As somebody who has a hard time answering the question "Where are you from?" and whose ultimate passion in life is discovering new places and learning about people, this is arguably the quote that I can relate to the most. I don't fully agree with the mindset of another place being "exotic" and "foreign" (though the romantic in me sometimes advocates it); it distances the traveler from the place, and can subconsciously influence him/her to see its people less as fellow human beings than as people whose differences render them impossible to form meaningful relationships with. A true traveler believes in this quote and embraces her own foreignness. A true traveler embraces the differences in cultures, tries sincerely to understand other people on a more human level regardless of drastically contrasting backgrounds, and wholeheartedly shares what other people may not know about his own culture. For after all, every new land a traveler visits is home to the people who occupy it, and every language a traveler doesn't speak is an entire people's mother tongue.
Anyway, the picture I chose doesn't really have anything to do with my philosophical and personal understanding of this quote. When I was around 10, my sister got a stuffed Pikachu from a cheap store when we were still living in the Philippines. It has since traveled all over the world with us. Here, he's in the Bahamas. I needed something of Pikachu since he's obviously staying with my sister, so I decided to include him with this quote. For what traveler is more foreign than a non-human one?
"People don't take trips - trips take people." - John Steinbeck
To me, one of the best parts of travel is the people you share a trip with, and also the people you meet on your trips. This picture contains an example of both.
When I was an exchange student in France, I signed up for two bus trips. The first one went from Paris to Barcelona, and accompanying me were 47 other kids from all over the world, living all over France. I hadn't known any of them previously, but became friends with some of them really fast. Among them were the two Korean girls, Hyesoo and Shinhae. We bonded in the later half of the trip in Spain, meandering along Las Ramblas and drooling over a paella lunch. I met them again in Eurotour, and we (along with a neat group of friends) stayed close.
After my family got our round trip tickets from the Philippines, I saw that on the way back to Oregon we had a 13-hour layover in South Korea. I knew that that airport offered tours to Seoul for passengers in transit on long layovers, so I was absolutely stoked at the idea of getting to see my Korean friends again. I let them know I'd be stopping by, and we organized accordingly.
Shortly after those tickets were bought, I was perusing my college's class of 2018 page on Facebook and saw an introduction someone had written, saying he lived in Seoul. I commented and suggested we meet up.
Long story short, I got to see my old friends, and meet up with a future classmate for the first time. And in no less than Gyeongbokgung Palace, a place that just looks so iconically Korean! I found the little group marvelous, considering the connections formed over years that brought us all together that day on my extremely brief trip to Seoul.
My trips, whether meticulously planned or spontaneous, have introduced some really meaningful relationships into my life. I hadn't seen Hyesoo and Shin Hae in over a year, yet we still got along like we did on the other side of the world. I had never met Moses in person before, yet we got along instantly. And now thanks to this impromptu trip, the three of them now know each other. Certainly, I wouldn't be the same person without having been taken by the trips I've gone on.
"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." - Oscar Wilde
This is really self-explanatory. The above picture is a picture I took on one of my first solo train trips as an exchange student in France, complete with Kinder Bueno I treated myself to. Train trips were a splendid time to write about my adventures and read about previous travels.
"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." - Benjamin Disraeli
This quote was just asking for a dramatic picture of me from behind, gazing out over something scenic. Anyway, this picture was taken at one of my favorite places in the world, Shangrila Resort and Spa on Mactan Island. I frequented the place frequently as a child; my parents tell me I took my first steps there. I have been there so many times that memories I have of that place blur between the occasions I visited there. I can't remember when I saw the black and white striped sea snake. Was I 7, 8, 9? Did I actually ever see baby barracudas like I've been thinking I have? When did the Italian restaurant called Paparazzi become a bistro called Acqua? Eventually, as time goes by and memories blur, I'm sure my readings and writings (and way of romanticizing my life) will interfere with them. I suppose that's one reason I write; so I know what's real and what my imagination wants to believe.
"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill
You should know that in this picture, taken in Vienna, Austria, all of these people are cloaking themselves in the flag of their native countries. Except me. I'm in the French flag because I didn't have a flag of the USA nor did I have one of the Philippines, and I wouldn't have been able to choose between the two anyway. (At the point in my life in which the picture was taken, France was the place I considered home.)
Once I'm fully recovered from a long haul flight, I think not of how far away I am from where I originally started, but of all the exciting encounters that await me in whatever new place I visit. In a journey it's typical to think of how far you go both literally and figuratively. I mean, the thought of being thousands and thousands of miles away from everything I had previously known excites me like nothing else. But it really wouldn't excite me if I didn't make new friends wherever I found myself.
Speaking of where I find myself, I am finally officially in the east coast of the United States of America, where I currently call Cambridge, Massachusetts home. I wonder what excitements await me now!
"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." - Martin Buber
"There is no foreign land; it is the traveler only that is foreign." - Robert Louis Stevenson
As somebody who has a hard time answering the question "Where are you from?" and whose ultimate passion in life is discovering new places and learning about people, this is arguably the quote that I can relate to the most. I don't fully agree with the mindset of another place being "exotic" and "foreign" (though the romantic in me sometimes advocates it); it distances the traveler from the place, and can subconsciously influence him/her to see its people less as fellow human beings than as people whose differences render them impossible to form meaningful relationships with. A true traveler believes in this quote and embraces her own foreignness. A true traveler embraces the differences in cultures, tries sincerely to understand other people on a more human level regardless of drastically contrasting backgrounds, and wholeheartedly shares what other people may not know about his own culture. For after all, every new land a traveler visits is home to the people who occupy it, and every language a traveler doesn't speak is an entire people's mother tongue.
Anyway, the picture I chose doesn't really have anything to do with my philosophical and personal understanding of this quote. When I was around 10, my sister got a stuffed Pikachu from a cheap store when we were still living in the Philippines. It has since traveled all over the world with us. Here, he's in the Bahamas. I needed something of Pikachu since he's obviously staying with my sister, so I decided to include him with this quote. For what traveler is more foreign than a non-human one?
"People don't take trips - trips take people." - John Steinbeck
To me, one of the best parts of travel is the people you share a trip with, and also the people you meet on your trips. This picture contains an example of both.
When I was an exchange student in France, I signed up for two bus trips. The first one went from Paris to Barcelona, and accompanying me were 47 other kids from all over the world, living all over France. I hadn't known any of them previously, but became friends with some of them really fast. Among them were the two Korean girls, Hyesoo and Shinhae. We bonded in the later half of the trip in Spain, meandering along Las Ramblas and drooling over a paella lunch. I met them again in Eurotour, and we (along with a neat group of friends) stayed close.
After my family got our round trip tickets from the Philippines, I saw that on the way back to Oregon we had a 13-hour layover in South Korea. I knew that that airport offered tours to Seoul for passengers in transit on long layovers, so I was absolutely stoked at the idea of getting to see my Korean friends again. I let them know I'd be stopping by, and we organized accordingly.
Shortly after those tickets were bought, I was perusing my college's class of 2018 page on Facebook and saw an introduction someone had written, saying he lived in Seoul. I commented and suggested we meet up.
Long story short, I got to see my old friends, and meet up with a future classmate for the first time. And in no less than Gyeongbokgung Palace, a place that just looks so iconically Korean! I found the little group marvelous, considering the connections formed over years that brought us all together that day on my extremely brief trip to Seoul.
My trips, whether meticulously planned or spontaneous, have introduced some really meaningful relationships into my life. I hadn't seen Hyesoo and Shin Hae in over a year, yet we still got along like we did on the other side of the world. I had never met Moses in person before, yet we got along instantly. And now thanks to this impromptu trip, the three of them now know each other. Certainly, I wouldn't be the same person without having been taken by the trips I've gone on.
"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." - Oscar Wilde
This is really self-explanatory. The above picture is a picture I took on one of my first solo train trips as an exchange student in France, complete with Kinder Bueno I treated myself to. Train trips were a splendid time to write about my adventures and read about previous travels.
"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." - Benjamin Disraeli
This quote was just asking for a dramatic picture of me from behind, gazing out over something scenic. Anyway, this picture was taken at one of my favorite places in the world, Shangrila Resort and Spa on Mactan Island. I frequented the place frequently as a child; my parents tell me I took my first steps there. I have been there so many times that memories I have of that place blur between the occasions I visited there. I can't remember when I saw the black and white striped sea snake. Was I 7, 8, 9? Did I actually ever see baby barracudas like I've been thinking I have? When did the Italian restaurant called Paparazzi become a bistro called Acqua? Eventually, as time goes by and memories blur, I'm sure my readings and writings (and way of romanticizing my life) will interfere with them. I suppose that's one reason I write; so I know what's real and what my imagination wants to believe.
"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill
You should know that in this picture, taken in Vienna, Austria, all of these people are cloaking themselves in the flag of their native countries. Except me. I'm in the French flag because I didn't have a flag of the USA nor did I have one of the Philippines, and I wouldn't have been able to choose between the two anyway. (At the point in my life in which the picture was taken, France was the place I considered home.)
Once I'm fully recovered from a long haul flight, I think not of how far away I am from where I originally started, but of all the exciting encounters that await me in whatever new place I visit. In a journey it's typical to think of how far you go both literally and figuratively. I mean, the thought of being thousands and thousands of miles away from everything I had previously known excites me like nothing else. But it really wouldn't excite me if I didn't make new friends wherever I found myself.
Speaking of where I find myself, I am finally officially in the east coast of the United States of America, where I currently call Cambridge, Massachusetts home. I wonder what excitements await me now!
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