Pena National Palace

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” 

                                                                      —Susan Sontag

The Things I Keep With Me

© Ilya Katz  Dunkeld Cathedral, Scotland

Hi there, fellow traveler! This is Ilya–a proud techie Rentinier! I took a storytelling class yesterday and felt like it was a good time to practice my creative abilities and share something that I’ve been itching to get out in the open for a while. Besides coding and working on various technologies, I am a big fan of traveling. Naturally, we all are here at Rentini for a reason. As you probably know first-hand, traveling is a highly engaging and stimulating undertaking. It promotes curiosity and enthusiasm to learn about new places, people, and cultures. One of the things that I preserve from my travels is not just my memories of towns I’ve been to, the castles I’ve entered, and the mountains I’ve hiked. What I really like to remember is the feeling–the sights, sounds, and the tastes of a new place. After all, travel is not just an act of being in a new place; it is a state of being, with all five senses involved. 


Over the course of my travels, I have come up with a few techniques that help me keep traveling even when I’m back home. The simple thing that I do after returning from trips is set up a basic website where I upload the most interesting pictures from my trip (of course, who doesn’t do that?). Well, on top of that, I add links to destinations I’ve been, and Wikipedia pages of the most interesting food and beverages that I tasted, and I attach links to music or video clips that help me remember the sounds and visuals that contributed to my experience. And of course, the more tedious–but oh-so worth it–exercise: I add notes–be they comments on selected photos or just random anecdotes and stories that affected me. Here is an example of a site that helps me relive my visit to England/Ireland/Scotland – http://theisles.shutterfly.com. What an amazing trip it was! Be sure to click on the YouTube clip of The Dubliners. Listen to the words carefully. I could not stop a smile from coming over my face. I’m sure you won’t be able to either 🙂

A message for the young, and young at heart.

©The World According to Marty

Last night, I was browsing my Facebook feedafter returning home.  I scanned the feed lightly, waiting for somethingto catch my eye.  There it was.  An old friend from college hadposted “3 Reasons to Travel While You’reYoung,” written by Jeff Goins.  

Now, I usually don’t like titles like this. As I read the article it only confirmed how arbitrary the “3Reasons” part of the title was.  It reminds me of the title “7Habits of Highly Effective People”.  Any number over 10 is harderfor the mind to digest.  It invokes thoughts of greater length and time.  Jeff chosea low number and it helped. His reasoning has racked up 78,185 “likes”on Facebook, and counting.

Of course, the article appeals to a guy like me–a guy who has had the “travel bug” for years.  It appeals to all of us whostill cling to our youth.

Jeff’s message is clear: Just go!  No excuses–justdo it!  He goes on to explain many of the enriching and enlightening aspects oftravel.  Damn, is he baiting me? It’s like he’s reading my mind.

He sure is hitting on some truth, too.  Many of us are blind, though we see. Put another way, many of us talk and talk, but never venture off.  That remote destination, that far-flung climate, that exotic landscape, the sights, sounds, and smells remain an abstraction.  The world waits, Jeff reminds us.  So, explore the world like a toddler in a playpen!  I’m starting to soundlike a cheesy version of Jeff, with all the enthusiasm and little of the reasoning.

But one thing’s for sure: To travel is a beautiful thing.  

The warm sheep of Wellington!

©Phillip Capper “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,  but in having new eyes.”                                                             —Marcel Proust

Fethiye Hillside!

©Tim Fields “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel’s sake.  The great affair is to move.”  —Robert Louis Stevenson