{"id":10839,"date":"2015-03-16T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=10839"},"modified":"2016-10-05T09:51:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T22:51:28","slug":"wonderful-thing-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wonderful-thing-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"The best thing about travel (and why you can’t control it)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a little annoyed. The seat of my rusty old bike keeps shifting and dropping. And it\u2019s uncomfortable. It\u2019s making for extra hard work as I ride through thick, humid air on the back roads of Anuradhapura, the UNESCO World Heritage Listed city in Sri Lanka. It\u2019s supposed to be the best way to see the scattered ruins, but I\u2019m sweaty, tired, and I have to keep adjusting my rump. These ruins are making me work for it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But then it happens. I hop off the bike to adjust the seat again and, without realising, I\u2019ve stopped in front of a ramshackle bike repair shop. What are the odds? A kind man, presumably the owner, approaches me and insists on fixing the seat.<\/p>\n

As he works away, his young daughter starts making faces and squealing with laughter. It\u2019s completely infectious and soon we are both laughing uncontrollably. I get the camera out and I try and capture her smile. But there\u2019s no need, it will live in my head forever.<\/p>\n

“You think these moments don\u2019t mean much, but upon reflection, they mean everything.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bike ride back to my guesthouse is an improvement. The seat is stable, at least, but I\u2019m still sweating. With the day drawing to a close, I realise that my brief encounter with the little girl in the bike repair shop was the best part of it.<\/p>\n

Of course, the ruins were spectacular, but the joy I felt at the end of the day wasn\u2019t because of the ruins, it because of that beautiful little girl. And it was probably my favourite memory of three weeks I spent in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s these unexpected moments that make me so excited about travel. We all make bucket lists and often choose destinations based on their drawcards \u2013 the temples in Japan, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the big five in South Africa, Machu Picchu in Peru. And they are all amazing and memorable. But what often stick out in my mind are the encounters and experiences you don\u2019t know are coming. The stuff you can\u2019t plan for. They\u2019re often fleeting moments that appear to be minor and random. You think they don\u2019t mean much, but upon reflection they mean everything.<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t will them into existence – they just happen.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was that time when the grey skies hovering above the hills outside Gyeongju in South Korea started to rain down on us, spoiling the beautiful temples. We ran to take cover and collided into an eccentric lady in a plastic poncho who begged us to come to her empty restaurant and practically spoon-fed us the meal of our lives.<\/p>\n

Or when I sat on a bench in the middle of Santiago jetlagged after a long flight, tired and questioning what I\u2019d done, when an old lady sat next to me and started asking me questions in Spanish. I was so excited to put my newly learnt language skills to use and had the most meaningful conversation on my whole trip \u2013 even though we barely understood each other.<\/p>\n

These unexpected pleasures are special because they transcend a destination. You can\u2019t will them into existence – they just happen. And they always do. They\u2019ll be the moments you remember the most.<\/p>\n

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It’s not the food. It’s not the sunsets. It’s not the freedom. So what is it? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15099,"featured_media":10844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[455],"tags":[684,677,417,253,643],"class_list":["post-10839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-advice","tag-intrepid","tag-tips","tag-travel","tag-travelling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe best thing about travel (and why you can't control it) | The Good Times by Intrepid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's not the food. 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