Afternoon walk along the loch with a group of travel business owners 

 

This quote rang clear as I listened in on a recent conversation with the brilliant Louis Theroux in London. Weeks later, the comment has lingered with me. As I thought of this line, I reflect on my decades of travel and the  people I've met, the stories I've learned and friendships made. 

 

I recalled the time I backpacked around Europe as a 20 year old. Throughout my travels, I shot portraits of various people I encountered. The man who sold me postcards in Prague, the artist sketching scenes in East Berlin, the fruit seller who I purchased fresh figs from in Florence. Upon my return to college, I produced a body of photographic work which I titled, A Portrait of a City. Each image was a portrait of someone I'd met and I title the image after the name of the city. To this day, I treasure those images and the memories attached to them.

 

The following year, I found myself living in Manhattan. I was struck by the friendliness of strangers in a way I hadn't experienced in the South. A particular moment plays out in my mind's eye. I am sat on a park bench on the Upper West Side looking out over the Hudson River eating an apple. A young man, who from his dress I knew he was Hasidic, sat down next to me. Over the next hour, I learned all about being Jewish in New York, his work as a jeweler and the history of Diamond Row. An entirely new world opened to me from one conversation. 

 

From that moment on, I decided I would talk to a stranger every day while living in Manhattan. On the subway, in a diner, on a park bench, in a cab or in a coffeeshop. Since then, I've carried that practice with me throughout my life. Because of it, I have made friends with people in the most seemingly insignificant ways.

 

Travel has a unique, transformative power that emerges through the interactions we have with people we encounter. These interactions, no matter how fleeting, hold the potential to leave a lasting impact, offering us insights into diverse cultures, life perspectives, and stories that we would otherwise remain oblivious to.

 

Many of us often underestimate the power of these human connections when setting out on a journey. However, it is these unplanned encounters that often become the highlight of our trips. They bring us face-to-face with the unadulterated reality of a place beyond its touristy façade, offering us a chance to experience its soul.

    Exploring Belfast with a new friends and kindred soul, Drew.  Fellow tour operators enjoying a pint in the Highlands

These days, my world tends to be confined to my lovely but often lonely, isolated cottage life. When I do re-immerse myself in the world and engage with people beyond transactions, I feel myself come alive. 

 

So, when I was recently given the opportunity to join a creative retreat and business workshop for tour operators, I jumped at the opportunity. Not only was this an enlightening professional experience; it was also a gateway into a vibrant community of peers – much needed in this season of my life. It also reinforced the impact of group travel and friendships made.

 

As you plan your next trip, remember to leave room for the unexpected. Open your heart and mind to the people you will meet, and let these encounters shape your journey. Every stranger you meet could be a friend in the making and a story waiting to unfold. And who knows, you might just come back with stories of your own A Portrait of a City.   

 

 

Here you'll find my round-up of recent European travel-related news, tips, and resources so you can be in the know:

 

 

Anyone else exhausted by the constant email ambush to buy more this month? Every day we’re coerced to buy stuff we don’t really need, spend money we don’t have and purchase products that will lose value sooner than later.

 

Poet Heinrich Heine famously wished people would “Ask not what I have, but what I am”, and this is exactly as it should be. People are defined much more clearly by their life experiences than their possessions.

 

Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University who has studied the link between money and happiness for over two decades explains, “One of the enemies is adaption. We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”

 

Biking the city walls of Lucca, Italy

Gilovich found that experiences, as fleeting as they may be, deliver more lasting happiness than things. 

 

We thirst for experiences that are meaningful and significant. Experiences will enrich us, teach us, shape us and broaden our minds. They become a part of our identity.

 

 

We often consume experiences directly with other people. And after they’re gone, they’re part of the story that we tell to one another. That’s why we are more likely to have a deeper bonding experience with that woman we join on a sunset cruise sailing the Mediterranean than with someone who sat next to us at a coffeeshop.

 

There is something to planning shared experiences. You anticipate the trip, imagine what it will be like. Then you experience the places you've traveled to and return home with memories that last a lifetime. 

 

 Greek cooking class in Athens and Italian cooking class in Florence

 

 

When you are considering how to spend money this holiday, maybe invest in an experience over stuff. You don't have to cross the ocean or even your county line to do this. Maybe your city or town offers a unique experience such as a class or event that you've overlooked simply because you live there. 

 

If you have kids, instead of having family send toys, ask extended family take the money they would spend on stuff and put the money towards a family trip or a unique experience. 

 

Aside from the cabbage patch doll I really wanted in the early 80's, I don't really remember all that well what I got for Christmas as a kid. What I do keep close to my heart are the shared experiences and wonderful trips taken with my family. 

 

 

Picture yourself enjoying the crisp autumn weather as you explore the enchanting landscape of The Cotswolds. Afternoon walks through the rolling countryside and evening gathered by the fire. Led by an expert guide and professional photographer, you will be given a unique local experience as you discover the region's charming villages and historical significance.

 

See England as you've dreamed of it. 

The experience is personal and authentic, with time to immerse yourself in local culture, discover gorgeous scenery, meet lovely people and time set aside for your own exploration.

 

 

One Hundred Shoreditch is located at the busy heart of East London and, a five-minute stroll from the High Street station. Brick Lane, Spitalfields and Columbia Road Flower markets are easily reachable on foot, while Shoreditch House and the pop-up shops of Boxpark are mere minutes away. Liverpool St station is a 10-minute walk away for the Tube and National Rail services.

 

This photogenic hotel has revamped the old bones bringing a grown-up vibe to playful Shoreditch. Rooms are pared back and putty-toned, many with floor-to-ceiling skyline views.The rooftop bar is another fun, fabulous feature. Look out at the city skyline while you enjoy a cocktail or feast with friends over Sunday brunch. 

 

A highlight to this hotel are the staff. From the moment you walk through the doors to the service you experience throughout the many public spaces, the hotel staff are a delight. 

There are 258 rooms – studios, doubles, suites and lofts, which bask in the natural light flooding in through the new oriole windows. What stands out to me is the size of the room for the price. You can settle into your room comfortably in a way I rarely experience in most London hotels (without paying an outrageous price). A muted palette of sheepskin, leather, jute and raffia make everything – especially rooms on the sixth and quietest floor – feel like a welcome retreat. They've also considered many small touches that go a long way to enhancing your stay. 

 

Double rooms from $249. Breakast for additional price. Free Wi-Fi.

 

Do to all my travels this autumn, I haven't had as much time to read but one book I found to be a moving and thought-provoking exploration of changing senses of place over time, in the form of a kind of locography – life-writing through places and moments in place.

 

'Of all the places where I feel the translucency of things, places that are thin for me, bluebell woods are first among them.' Some travelers are driven by the need to scale a natural wonder, or to see a city's sights or a place of history. Others, like Alice Maddicott, travel in search of a particular scene, feeling or atmosphere, often inspired by music, literature and art. Taking us deep into our emotional and creative responses to place, this book explores the author's relentless traveling adventures. With her uniquely lyrical approach to psycho-geography, Maddicott explores the relationship with landscape that she believes is the very essence of human creativity. From seventeenth-century salons of Paris to the underground culture and crumbling balconies of modern Tbilisi, Tender Maps is a beautifully evocative book of travel, culture and imagination that transports readers in time and place. 'A rich and beguiling work of literary travel memoir that nimbly tracks the wider contours of the world in terms of feeling, memory, introspection and the imagination.' Travis Elborough, author of Atlas of Vanishing Places