Inspiration is a relative thing. For some people it’s music, for others it’s a wide stunning landscape. It also depends on what we need in a particular moment in our lives – at one moment a bit of architecture can unleash our own personal sense of invention, at others the play of wild animals can help us feel connected with the planet when we were feeling a spate of loneliness.
The world is full of places, people, animals, and vistas that can lift us up. We’ve put together a list of seven trips you can take around the world that just might help give you a much-needed boost when you’re feeling a little run down.
Miami, USA
Miami isn’t just for retirees anymore. The city has become synonymous with the word “culture”. Teeming with galleries, performing art troupes, music production from multiple genres, and conventions that celebrate everything from body-painting to ethnic-based film festivals, Miami seems to have something big going on three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
Petra, Jordan
There are of course historical sites a-plenty in the world, but there’s something especially inspiring about the way Petra merges into the rock walls of Jordan. It’s a beautiful meshing of uplifting architecture meeting the natural beauty of the surrounding red rock landscape.
The Continental Divide
Sometimes you just have an overwhelming desire to get up and go. For some people, that means going wherever their feet (and their visas) take them. However for those that would like something a little more goal-oriented, there is the Continental Divide Trail.
The CDT is a hike-able trail stretching from Canada to Mexico. Unlike other long-stretching trails, the CDT is still a bit of an adventure in that it is not always 100% defined. That means that sometimes the CDT is more of a vague guide rather than an actual well-trodden trail.
Santorini, Greece
If you’re looking for something with a Mediterranean flavour give Santorini a thought. First, it’s in an active volcano area – you’re likely to tackle life with a little more vigour when you’ve got a volcano to keep you motivated. Second, the art and architecture is a blend of western European and eastern Turkish flavours. Third, Jacques Cousteau loved it (he even hunted for Atlantis in the area). If Jacques Cousteau loved it (and that guy had been everywhere) then you know that it’s worth trying out.
teamLab’s Japanese Art
If you’re looking for a new paradigm try out teamLab. teamLab is a group of Japanese artists who collaborate to blend new technologies with traditional Japanese art to explore different approaches for human behaviour in the information age. If that sounds like a mouthful, just know that they create some truly stunning displays that you can move through and explore. Their art has both a travelling show and installations in galleries and museums around the world.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Like Petra mentioned above, Angkor Wat is an amazing blend of nature and human architecture. Temples, statues, and other forms of architecture move through the Cambodian jungle in an almost liquid dance.
Penguin Colonies of Antarctica
There’s something immensely moving about visiting the hundreds of thousands of penguins that mate on the shores of the Antarctic (and the nearby islands), reached by an Antarctic cruise. In the face of so many of these dapper tuxedoed birds you get a really strong feeling about how alive the world is.
That feeling is often multiplied in an exponential fashion when the penguins, completely unafraid of human visitors, waddle over to investigate you just as much as you are investigating them.
Photo Courtesy: The Antarctica pictures are copyright of Oceanwide Expeditions.
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