This article first appeared on the Weekly Log newsletter.
Greetings from Barcelona!
This was the first stop on a much needed vacation. Between loss in the family, trying to find a new home, and running two live cohorts, it's been a demanding year. It was time to get away, get my head out of work, and fill my heart with new adventures. Naturally, I got sick two days into the trip.
This was devastating to me as a lifelong travel hacker. From the packing, to the flying, to the events, I plan a lot to make the most of my time. I don’t know what felt worse, being sick, or watching plan after plan evaporate day after day as I laid in bed.
One stir crazy night, I went out for some fresh air and dinner with my partner. The closest restaurant that had soup was a ramen place with sidewalk seating. Instead of racing through the city, I sat still and watched the city move around us.
The sun painted the grand old buildings in warm light. Wine bars were packed with tired tourists and vibrant locals. Macho men walked toy poodles. Old women walked pit bulls. An electric was Porsche parked in front of a neoclassical building. The young handsome owner wore shorts, cheap rubber flip flops, and sat on a flimsy foldout chair next to a dressed up old man. They laughed quietly and smoked.
While slowly making our way home, I walked by a drab grey building with a large doorway. I took a peek and was so stunned by what I saw, that I couldn't help but step inside.
Sunset poured into a verdant rainforest bursting from the stone of a Gothic courtyard of weathered marble colonnades and stained glass windows. Old winding trees shot into the open sky above shading colorful wild flowers below.
The distance between the sidewalk and this secret garden felt much farther than New York to Barcelona. A different reality, a footstep away. All this found within blocks from my bed.
All this time, I've been optimizing my travel around breadth: see as much as possible in the time that I have. Maybe in doing so, I’ve made no room for much of it to sink in; to actually be in a place, or with a place, rather than simply be at a place.
If the point of travel is to experience new things, then maybe the best travel hack is making room to be transported.
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