Tag: travel

Traveling/Going to Paradise

Of course one of the first things that pops into my head when I think of this subject is Demi Lovato’s song “Cool for the Summer” when she sings “Take me down into your paradise…” I think traveling and going to paradise are similar because when we travel it is like we are going to paradise. I have probably talked about traveling before, but in this post I will probably talk about it again. It is especially something to talk about since summer is winding down and I know we all take vacations/travel during this time of the year before we start school or whatever it is we do in the real world. It is the way we live and that brings me to the first quote of this post which I believe is self explanatory. “To travel is to live.” In other words we travel in order to live life. That is why traveling is important.

We usually take the time to rest our minds and bodies. That brings me to this next quote. “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” In other words, we think of travel as a way to escape life, but it is the other way around. It is so life does not escape us because if we do not travel life will pass us by in a blur and we would miss out on so much. It is why we have to take care of ourselves. I will conclude by sharing the following visual poem and one last quote. “Paradise is not a place, it’s a state of mind.” People think of paradise as a place but that is not always the case. I can go on and on about this but this is a good spot to end. I hope you all enjoy the following poem. Cheers and let it take you to paradise!

Visual poem titled “Going to Paradise.” Image copyright by Elena Waller.

Unique & Sacred Places

Let me just say this right off the bat. I love to travel and I have been to so many places already. Places like Australia, Hungary (Budapest), France, Italy, France, Turkey, etc. I am not here to boast about the places I have been to, but the one thing that I love about traveling is seeing all the unique places around the world. We can even see the uniqueness in our own back yard or hometown or a place we have come to call home. I have come to appreciate my hometown that much more because it is so unique. I feel like Wendell Berry says it the best. “There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” There are times when you have to leave that unique place behind, but you learn so much from being in that place to begin with.

You begin to appreciate every place’s beauty and it is like discovering the world’s hidden gems. They are not always easy to find like what Kamaran Ihsan Salih says. “The precious gems are hidden, it is not easy to find them.” That is why I feel like they are called gems. They are precious and hidden very well from our view. Like I said before I have come to appreciate and love my hometown of Oakland, California that much more. I spent so much time there and have so many memories of such an incredible place. There are some lyrics from Adele’s song “Hometown” that speaks to this. “In my hometown memories are fresh.” And that lyric is so absolutely true because in everyone’s hometown there are memories that will be fresh in their minds no matter where they go.

Someday we may go back to our hometown and it could feel the same or different. I always think back to when I went to college and then came back afterwards. In some ways it changed and in some ways it stayed the same. I am going to throw one more quote into this post. Sam Ewing says “When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood.” That quote is very powerful because it is not necessarily the place you miss, but it is the memories that you miss instead. I hope that my readers come to appreciate the beauty of their cities or place where they are right now. Enjoy my poem down below about my lovely “unique” place.

Image by Justinite from Pixabay.

Oakland, California

Twenty-seven years of my existence, scattered around and
Hidden within the precious gems of Oakland, where I grew
Up. It is like you keep rediscovering every forgotten nook.
An airport with tearful and heartfelt goodbyes with a hand
That is hard to let go of. With every minute passing through
It gets more difficult to part ways with a place that hooks
You with its charm and hometown feel. It is like luggage,
Lost but then found again among the panoramic views of
The city. The memories that are fresh yet years old, like
The boy I loved here with my heart among the wreckage
And the floorboards that creak beneath my feet. A love
That is lasting longer than the sky’s quick lightning strike.