Travel isn’t so much about being in a different place as it is about paying attention. When you live with an awe-inspiring view, you barely see it after a while. When you catch the train to work, it’s hard to notice the life going on outside the window. But when you’re in a place that’s not your home, you look at faces, eavesdrop on conversations in languages you don’t understand, and stare out the window wondering what life’s like in this place and how it’s different from your own. And that’s it. Travel is the opportunity not just to look at the outside world with fresher, sharper eyes, but to see your own life with a clarity that you’re usually just too busy, too tired, too comfortable to see.
And while travel can, and should, happen any time, it’s summer when most of us have an opportunity to unmoor ourselves from our work for a couple of weeks, to pack up some essentials and get out of town. Even a couple of hours in any direction makes a difference. But, go further if you can. Go to the Solomon Islands to see how the climate change you read about impacting your own life one day is already irrevocably changing an island nation not that far from here. Or go to Italy and indulge your pasta obsession. Or go to Islay to drink so much whisky you have to pour it on the floor just to keep up. Or just read about those adventures in the pages of 1972 and find your own way somewhere. Walk out the door, hop on a train, get in a car, buy a ticket somewhere. See where it takes you.
A Refined Trip Through Islay, the Birthplace of Great Whisky
Earlier this year Hayden Donnell took a pilgrimage to Scotland to sample the best whisky in the world. He’d “made plans to travel to the island after going through the insufferable and embarrassingly predictable process of developing a passion for whisky – and particularly peaty whisky – as a male in his early-30s.”
Obsessed: Gary Jones
We define ourselves through our obsessions, and perhaps no expression is as visceral or polarising as that of tattoo art. To be covered in ink is either the ultimate taboo or the ultimate example of cool. To Gary Jones, a longterm collector, it's certainly the latter. He takes us under the surface in Obsessed.
Rugby takes a back seat: A wild ride in Buenos Aires
In September, Jamie Wall traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was supposed to be to follow the All Blacks around for the week, but ended up being a crash course in how to survive in a city that loves to eat, drink, drive fast and occasionally play rugby.
