“The depth of life comes from reflection.” Where is your focus when you travel?

Text & Photos /“European North Travel Observation Diary”by Tsai F-da

Some say you must travel, that it will show you a different world, or even change you.

Since when did “travel” become so important?

Do you remember that day, when the sea was set against the glow of the setting sun, and heart-shaped clouds made the sunlight even more dazzling? Did you see what I saw? Around us, people murmured: “The water here is a different color!” “Aren’t those two being shameless, hugging and kissing like that?” “The sun’s setting later today.” “Is that person actually catching any fish?” “Why are there so many cigarette butts on this beach?”

In the same time, place, and scene, what we observe and how we feel can differ greatly. Likewise, with “travel,” different mindsets lead to different outcomes.

I never used to think that travel could truly change a person—maybe it’s that travel teaches you to start looking at everything around you from a different angle. I remember back when I missed a train, I’d curse my bad luck for not making it. Now, if I miss a train, I’m grateful for the extra time I get to quietly read a book in my bag at the station.

Back then, arriving at a destination, I’d rush to find the most iconic thing there. Now, I start savoring everything along the journey even before reaching the destination—maybe it’s a rusty old bucket, a 35-year-old Kawasaki, a quilt drying in the sun, or a child’s handmade clay camera hanging on a moss-covered red-brick wall.

Don’t expect travel to bring you any substantial changes, and don’t go chasing after the footprints left by previous travelers.

It’s you who expands your social circle because of travel; it’s you who becomes more positive and optimistic in your thinking because of travel; it’s you who starts feeling invincible because of travel.

The depth of life comes from reflection after venturing far.

What travel wants to tell you has always been the truly important things behind the journey itself.

Do you see what I see?