Hello, 2019.
Word of the Day: Quiddity /ˈkwidədē/
- The essential nature of a thing.
- A distinctive feature or peculiarity.
- A trifling point or quibble.
Isn’t it strange how a single word can have vastly conflicting meanings? As you can see above, the word “quiddity” can mean anything from the essential nature of a thing, a distinctive characteristic of a thing, or even be relegated to a trifling point about the very same thing.
This sliding scale of meaning points to a fundamental truth when it comes to chronicling experiences, especially when it comes to traveling: no experience is ever the same for two people.
For some, the the Eiffel Towers and Statues of Liberty of the world are essential stops on one’s journey to Paris and New York. For others, these attractions are interesting peculiarities that they would prefer to experience from afar — or even just crowds to be avoided. For still others, these opinions change on a daily or hourly basis depending on the trip, the group, or a multitude of tangible and intangible reasons.
And this unpredictability is what makes traveling so great (though a bit intimidating).
Luckily for me, I have a secret weapon: a travel partner with a keen eye for locating budget airfare, maximizing the benefits of credit card reward programs, and structuring impressive travel itineraries that can be adjusted to work for just about anyone. If you would like to learn more about us, feel free to check out our About page, but I can assure you that he’s the useful one behind this operation.
As for me, I’m generally the one that stumbles on things. Usually it’s not as dramatic as the time that I walked face-first into a metal garage door in Madrid (though that did happen and was extremely painful), but more along the lines of finding a breathtakingly beautiful kayaking trail through a swamp in Memphis or the perfect tempura restaurant in Kyoto.
That being said, our best trips have had a few things in common: rock-solid airline bookings (in other words, a single airline the whole way), lodging booked in advance (with keen attention paid to proximity to attractions and transportation), and one planned activity for each day. This activity can be a single attraction, meal, tour, or whatever it is that is most important to you, but the most important thing you can do on a trip is to ensure that you budget time for the non-negotiable things. From there, you can carefully build activities and meals on top of this foundation until you find the perfect balance, but you never want to walk away from the non-negotiable things feeling rushed.
Speaking of walking, we tend to (usually-unintentionally) walk between 5 and 10 miles per day when we’re on vacation. If that seems like a lot to you, I can assure you that you’ll ramp up faster than you think.
Another big part of travel for us is eating well. Not necessarily eating the most expensive food, but making a list of the foods that we want to eat and checking them off as we go. Again, usually at least one planned meal per day.
And finally, my favorite part of traveling is finding a moment to pause in the midst of the new place that you’ve found yourself. A good way to enforce this is by bringing a journal, a sketchbook, a watercolor kit, or even a Rubik’s cube. Anything that frees your mind from thinking logistically or practically, and forces you to change gears towards something more freeform. Given my embarrassingly lack of artistic skills, I hesitate to say creativity, but it is very likely that you will have more success than I do. This will help you distill a feeling or a memory of a place that you can ground in the reality of a sketch, a painting, or, really, any object — and it’s a neat personal souvenir to take home with you.
So, if I were to summarize our philosophy in a few words: Plan. Walk. Eat. Pause. And repeat until you’ve seen and done everything that you set out to do.
The goal of this blog is to share some of weird and wonderful places that we have encountered while traveling both domestically and abroad, and to (maybe) give you ideas regarding your future travels.
Let’s wander together for a while.