Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Plane, Train, Automobile, or Armchair


Is your soul filled with wanderlust?  Are you most content at home?  Do you travel the world?  Do local experiences give you what you need?  Does your mind do the wandering for you, across photos, books, websites, stories read and heard?

Me?  I'm not a big traveller, though I did journey out of the area more before having kidlets.  I married a homebody who is quite content to enjoy the nest.  And while we (or I) still take some jaunts around California, traveling isn't something we're partaking a whole lot in right now.

Thankfully, my Four Musketeers and especially my brother, like to travel and fill my head with their out of area adventures.  Wanderlust and my brother are very well acquainted with each other.  Sometime back I shared just a bit from his summer trek up to Mt. Everest Base Camp and if I can convince him to let me, I'd love to share some of his other travels across the continents.

In the meantime, in addition to the well travelled loved ones in my life, guess where I've turned to, filling my eyes with magical locales and destinations?  If you said that place where many of us just can't stop clicking 'See More Pins' one more time, Pinterest, you hit the mark.

I keep two boards primarily geared towards this new armchair travelling:  Dreamy Destinations and Favorite Places and Spaces.  The first are places that peak my interest or are simply beautiful; the second, are places or approximations of spaces I've been.

These boards actually began as something else entirely.  They began as visual inspiration to use when I write, fiction and/or memoir.  Having a photograph to spark a memory or as a jumping point for a scene can put an entirely different spin on words click clacked out across the keyboard.

And now?  I use my boards for both writing inspiration and the ever fabulous, entirely inexpensive armchair travelling.  One of these days, I'll get to some of the destinations on my list, but in the meantime, just one more reason to read tales in exotic locales, wander the web, listen to friends' adventures, and keep pinning!




When Julia travels to Burma to search for her missing lawyer father, she discovers much more than she expected. Join From Left to Write on February 1 and read posts inspired by the book,  The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker.


As a member of From Left to Write, I received a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.


10 comments:

  1. My family always describes itself as "nomadic". We all tend to wander around a lot. The only problem I find with a well traveled life is that you constantly miss things and people all over the place. Oh well. Just another excuse to keep visiting.

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  2. I always assumed I would be a traveler, but once kids entered the picture it all changed. It's harder to justify spending the money, burning the vacation days, and spending the time away from the kids. But, I have to admit, tonight we booked tickets for our first real trip in more years than I'd like to admit - And I can't wait!

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  3. I used to think I wanted to travel as well. We went on a 5 day cruise for our honeymoon and I loved the days we were at shore. The days at sea, I was so bored! I think using Pinterest is a good way to do some armchair traveling.

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  4. I tend to be a homebody...but I love how writing fulfills my slight bit of wanderlust.

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  5. lol-- I was just on Pinterest not 10 minutes ago. I decided that starting this weekend, I'm going to choose one project from my craft board or recipe from my favorite recipe board every weekend to make-- because I was starting to feel like I was hoarding ideas (;

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  6. My husband and I are active advocates for travel. Traveling opens people's minds and hearts to "the other." It teaches us that human beings want the same things whether we live in a mud hut in Africa or mansion in the US.

    Keep traveling!

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  7. I certainly do have the travel fever. As a foreign correspondent I had the privilege to travel around the world and found it so fascinating that all of my books are inspired by what I experienced. But I truly believe reading is a way of traveling as well and the most wonderful think about traveling is the feeling you are very, very happy to have a home you love to come back to!
    Thanks for reading and recommending my book "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats"
    Jan-Philipp Sendker

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  8. I have travel fever, too-though my budget doesn't agree! Great idea to pin those places on Pinterest! We live in California, too, and I do feel lucky to visit placs on the weekends that some people plan as a big vacation. But I am ready to move on..

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  9. I used to have 'itchy feet' but now with everything that's happened in my life, I just want to feel at home in my house and rest up for a while. :)

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  10. I miss traveling to interesting places, but as The Dudes get older we are taking more adventures together. And oh Pinterest. I have a weekly Pin This! Challenge that runs every Friday now, you should come join us! It's for Pinterest addicts everywhere:)

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