Recently, my friend who doesn’t particularly like to travel, asked me why I love it so much. As I’m constantly dreaming of going to new places or wishing I was back in a city I’ve visited, I was so glad to be asked. I explained the typical aspects everyone lists off: experiencing different cultures, a change of pace, new food, new people, etc.Â
But, to finish off my explanation, I told my friend: the best part of travel is that every single minute of every day is enjoyable. Even when something goes wrong, or someone’s hangry, or you accidentally walked the wrong direction for twenty minutes – nothing is ever that bad when you have the privilege to be exploring a new place in the world.
Back in November, I visited Paris while studying abroad. I’ve dreamt of going to Paris my entire life. This obsession led to an Eiffel Tower decal against the hot pink wall of my childhood bedroom, and owning endless accessories and clothing pieces with the Eiffel Tower on it. So naturally, when I finally saw the Eiffel Tower at the famous Rue de l’universite, I started crying.Â
On our last night in Paris, we were getting ready to go out for the night. Some were using the balcony to take photos, others were doing their makeup and sipping wine, and music blasted from the TV. On top of that, the sound from the street was travelling into our apartment from the restaurants below.Â
With all the noise and little worlds happening inside our Airbnb, we couldn’t hear the knocking at our door. Until it continued and continued so I finally noticed. We were scared it could be weird men who saw us on the balcony from the street. So, it was an absolute relief to find out it was only a noise complaint that could get us kicked out.
But, turning off the music only pushed us out to the streets of Paris faster. It’s also the reason why I have the most perfect photo of my friend. He’s sipping out of a wine glass, holding an ice pack to his head, and staring blankly into the distance as we sat in utter silence.Â
As soon as we left, we forgot about the threat of being kicked out and went into the night. Which led to us getting back home at four in the morning and only having an hour to sleep before we had to get to the train station. But, that hour somehow turned into three and we woke up at 7:19 a.m. — the exact minute our train was departing the station.Â
Everyone bursted into the living room where two of us were sleeping and instead of being annoyed or angry at ourselves, we were laughing. Of course, we were still shocked because four of us set alarms, and not a single one went off, but we were still laughing. The second half of our trip consisted of us bringing up our missed train and making stupid jokes about it.
Would we have remembered making the train? No. That would’ve been a forgettable, passive moment. Now, I have the memory of us waking up the minute our train was taking off and how we were all half-asleep, confused, and giggling. At home, that acceptance of missing a train wouldn’t have been so easy to have. But, travelling makes for an environment where even stressful situations can’t truly affect you. Admittedly, we should’ve been more upset because it cost us another seventy euros to get on a later train – but I won’t remember the seventy euros. I’ll remember the missed train, the countless croissants, seeing the Eiffel Tower, walking the yellow-hued streets at night, and how absolutely content I was.Â