I have to be honest. This blog that I am embarking upon will be different.
While it is true that this is a travel blog, there is a reason I have named it “Alexandra’s Secret Travels.” Simply put, I am just not content with drifting on the surface of my experiences and never diving in. I want to find the secrets, the hidden worlds and journeys of others, myself and most of all, of life. Life is a “secret” travel.
Of course, I will do regular travel posts and upload videos and photos about my adventures. I will share places I find that have nothing to do with secrets or mysteries. I enjoy doing those things for they are apart of the thrill of travel. But I have to be upfront and acknowledge that I will never be satisfied with my blog unless I am also able to look deeper. Much deeper.
My life has been profoundly altered by my journeys. It has been altered by journeys that included planes, trains and automobiles as well as those that were played out in the simplicity of my daily routine. Many of these experiences have been commonplace but many have also been very unusual and drastically uncommon.
Because my experiences and my life have not always been ordinary, I can never be content to rest with posts on the latest pizza place I found in Rome or the cheapest place to stay in Florence. It is just not who I am and I would feel starved, like a dolphin beached in a shallow pool of water struggling to make its way back to the sea. It would never be genuine or authentic.
So I probably will not be the most popular travel blogger on the internet. Well, I can live with that. I have never been the most popular at anything. Popularity is not what I am seeking anyways.
Ultimately what I am seeking is to be led home. Travel can take you around the world and to places you never dreamed of, and give you moments that you will never forget. But if you are only skimming the surface of travel or of life, then it is likely you are missing the pulse of your own existence and living in a half-dream; a human in a glorious house that never became a warm home.
For me, travel reflects the ancient desire of pilgrimage in the soul that says “I am only passing through. I have a greater destination ahead. This land is not my home.” Like many pilgrims of old, I long to understand and fulfill my reason for being here on this earth and so I have set out on a physical quest, mirroring the spiritual one within. I am famished to explore new places with the intention of utilizing them as a catalyst to delve deep into my being and find the One that is waiting for me and calling to me all along.
Simply put, I travel because I am alive and I am alive because I am meant to find my way home. We all are, regardless of the shape of our journeys or the length of our travels. Even if we are just journeying to the grocery store, we can inspire and help one another with what we find along the way, both within and without.
This is why I travel, to be led home.
And yes, I will even enjoy pizza along the way!
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I have different motivations, but I also like to spend time in a place and not just skim through it. This is why we bought a house in Italy, my favourite country to visit. It means I can stay longer and revisit the places I like the most. I feel at home in our little village and I feel part of the life here.
I agree. It is nicer to spend time in a place than just skim through it. My travels are never the same when I feel I have to rush or get to the next site.
I do travel for other reasons too though than the ones I mentioned 🙂 But they are the most fundamental underlying one, the desire for a physical journey to mirror and open windows to an interior one. Thanks for commenting!