I attempt to process what’s happening around the world by reflecting on where I am.
The morning after the terrorist attacks in Paris, I was glued to my devices, ingesting every update. At some point I needed to peel myself away from the news. So I went for a run in Tempelhof Airport Park, my usual spot in Berlin, to get some fresh air and to try and clear my head.
Suggesting a beginner's mind as a life and travel strategy might sound odd. Being a beginner can be uncomfortable. The learning curve is steep, the journey can feel overwhelming. There are fears, so many of them. Some of my own early travel experiences especially bear this out.
But there are advantages. The ultimate benefit of observing the world through the eyes of a beginner is captured by a quote from Zen master Shunryu Suzuki: “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.”
When readers ask, “I’m traveling to Colombia. What should I do? Where should I go?” We’re left wondering how we’ll keep it short.
Because Colombia is so huge and diverse and serves so many different styles of travel, the answer is: it really depends on what you’re after.
To help (us and you), we created this experiential guide to travel in Colombia. It follows the sequence of our three weeks in the country. For any particular entry, maybe you like the image, perhaps the activity grabs your attention, or maybe both.
Each year we like to go on a long multi-day hike, one that takes us to a new region somewhere in the mountains. This hiking is an exercise for the body and also for the mind. To disconnect with our day-to-day and also to reconnect with a region once unknown to us and learn about it through its nature and people.
Our trek of 200 km / 125 miles through the mountains of Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo along a the Peaks of the Balkans Trail was one we’ll never forget.
Earlier this year, we collaborated with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on a three-part series entitled Travel as a Force for Good. In connection with this campaign we have been invited to explore what “Freedom to Travel” means to us. As we did, we reaffirmed that the right to travel is not only important to us as individuals, but also to the communities we visit, and to the world and our shared humanity. Here’s why.
The Accursed Mountains, sworn virgins, blood feuds and 15th century codes of honor called kanun. It sounds like an experiential blend to inform the writing of a Game of Thrones season. Instead, it’s the cultural and historical backdrop of a 200-kilometer hiking experience we recently took through the hills of Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo called the Peaks of the Balkans.
Call it my imagination. While I looked forward to our visit to Colombia, I harbored the occasional image of thuggy bush-mustached Colombian narco-gangsters and aggressive gold cap-toothed street thieves shaking me down in the back shadows of Bogota or Medellin. (Yes, I realize I’ve probably watched one too many bad airplane movies.)
Colombia, thankfully, was altogether different. We spent time on our own, under the auspices of friends, on tours, in cities, way up in the hills, on the coast, and in destinations in between.
No narco-gangsters. No untoward experiences, for us.
This is my story about recently completing a 10-day course in Vipassana meditation in Malaysia. It’s also a story about impermanence.
We're headed to Colombia tomorrow. We're off to see a country we were supposed to visit five years ago. We'll be on the trail for Colombian culture — from the Andes to the Pacific to the Caribbean — and to find The Lost City along the way.
Colombia. It's one of the countries that got away during the 15 months we traveled through Latin America a few years ago. We didn’t skip it because of safety concerns — in fact, even at that time ever more travelers were saying the opposite and urging us to go. We just happened to pass it at the height of rainy season and we figured we’d return when we were certain to have ample time to explore.
We didn’t expect it would take five years to return, but here we are.
We leave for Colombia tomorrow.
This is the story of why I went to Switzerland with my mom. It’s also a handy little Switzerland-by-train itinerary with recommendations and tips along the way.