I write this from our son’s flat in Berlin, Germany.
Our suitcases are packed ready for an early morning flight homeward bound.
We’ve been visiting the UK and Germany and while it’s been an amazing three months, we are very much looking forward to arriving home to the mountain.
What motivates people to travel?
Some wish to experience adventures, others to understand history, gain insight into different cultures, broaden horizons and even discover themselves. For others it may be about connecting with loved ones in faraway places.
We’ve experienced all of those on our journey.
The history has been amazing.
Learning about people’s lives and their struggles throughout the centuries was personally impacting. I touched cairn stones that were put in place by someone in the bronze age some 5,000 plus years ago.
I stood at the grave sites of ancestors from centuries past. I met up with people who knew my Scottish family before I was born. We dined with our son’s international community of friends and heard their stories.
We had opportunities to chat with random strangers on trains, planes and trams.
While waiting outside a public restroom I shared a bench with the cleaner who shared her life story with me.
I’m more convinced that, despite our diversity, we have more in common than we realise.
Our lives, though the circumstances and settings may be very different, have common themes. I found myself relating to stories past and present and imagining myself in those situations and similar choices I might have made.
While we will treasure the memories and novelty of travel, we are yearning for the familiarity of home and our community. When all’s said and done, the desire to belong draws the travellers home.
Catch up on Main Street perhaps?
