Guide for Real Travelers
We often aspire to travel: for vacation, to disconnect, to invite a change. But as we move out into the world, something happens within us. This happens only if we give it a space in which we can listen, observe, and remain silent without fearing the transformation that each new place and encounter brings.
Here is one piece of advice for those who are reading: never plan the trip.
Allow yourself to live slowly and spontaneously. Eliminate from your daily life the renowned “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out) which inevitably cuts off any form of authenticity in our actions and desires.
The only real fear we should have is losing ourselves to ourselves, squandering the wonderful opportunities that only exposure to new places can provide. It is through authenticity, by following the insights of the moment, that you can truly travel.
The inevitable tourist sites? Beautiful, of course. But they should never be your main purpose. Don’t turn the remarkable experience of traveling into a trivial checklist of places and sights to cross off. Don’t kill the sense of adventure by reducing it to just another experience on autopilot.
Live the journey with awareness, guided by the choices of the moment. Breath after breath, thought after thought, desire after desire. Because every journey is much more than a photo to add to the already overloaded memory of our smartphones.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t get the perfect postcard shot of the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, or Machu Picchu.
Ask yourself: do you want to repeat, like a puppet in a row, what has already been done and experienced by everyone? Instead, sit in cafés, and observe the lives of the people around you, their language. Wander the streets and get lost in the city. Talk to locals, even if it’s just through gestures. Observe the art being created, the architecture, the living nature, and even the problems that repeat identically in every corner of the world.
Above all, observe yourself: how you react, how you exist outside your usual routine. Experience life in a new and different way, away from the usual patterns. Allow you to feel lost, sad, happy, and to embrace new ways of thinking. Explore this unknown with a smile.
Try it. You will be surprised by how much you will learn about yourself and your surroundings.
It will be far more fulfilling than the usual, more or less organized, Lonely Planet trip. You are unique, and as such, you must exercise your right, if not your duty, to create unforgettable experiences. And what could be more unique than enriching yourself inwardly and evolving as a person?
The real journey is the inner journey.
We travel to find ourselves and to break the chains of endless lists and the countless things we impose on ourselves. The purpose of it is to rediscover and reinvent ourselves, to become a new and better version of who we are.
हरि ॐ तत् सत्
📝 My name is Carmen Maya Posta, thanks for reading me! This article was originally written in Italian for “Laici” on February 12th, 2025. Find more writing translated into Italian, Spanish, and English on this website, on Instagram @carmenmeanspoem, on Substack , & listen to my voice on YouTube.
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