rana84's VirtualTourist Home Page

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A Starfish I Saved in the Spring of 2008

The journey not the arrival matters (T.S.Eliot)

"For no matter how far a person can go, the horizon is still way beyond you" and it really is.

Every time I hop on a plane, a bus, a train in order to catch up with my restless soul in the horizon, the horizon seems to remain where it has always be- far, way too far. No matter where I go, how much I travel, how hard I try to find that thing I am looking for although I don’t know what it is (but for the sake of the argument I’ll call it my soul) in the end all I get is another vision of the same horizon that keeps running away from me.

If I were a fool, the idea would evolve into a disturbing state of mind. But it does not; for I know as long as the horizon is there - untouchable, I have a reason to set out for another journey leaving behind everything that's so dear and familiar to me. And I know for a fact that everything familiar and dear to me now, do not feel so dear if I am not looking at them from a distance.

I believe at some point (if not always like me) we all need our ITHAKA in order to stretch our selves, put our limits to test and understand the real value of what we have at home.

Just like in the famous poem;

Keep Ithaca always in your mind; Arriving there is what you're destined for; But don't hurry the journey at all; Better if it lasts for years; So you're old by the time you reach the island; Wealthy with all you've gained on the way; Not expecting Ithaca to make you rich...

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My Top 5 Travel Quotations of All Times

I have wandered all my life and I have traveled; the difference between the two is this: we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. (Hillarie Belloc)

Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel's immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way. (Ralph Crawshaw)

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (Mark Twain)

One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy. (Sir Richard Burton)

The earth belongs to anyone who stops for a moment, gazes and goes on his way. (Colette)