What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
W.H. Davies, Leisure
There’s a temptation when we travel to try to cram everything in. To see every sight, explore every street and alleyway, visit every museum! We fear we’ll go home and regret having missed something that others say is a must-see. Or worse perhaps, miss seeing that one thing that we could have been the first to discover and share.
But I have learned over the years that what you see and experience matters more than what you don’t see. If you cram every day with activity, rushing from one sight to another, you miss an essential part of travel, simply being in a place that is different from your usual environment.
Take the time to sit at in a city café, enjoying a drink and soaking up the atmosphere. Take the time to enjoy a view; don’t simply take a quick photo and move on. And take the time to talk to the people you meet along the way.
If that means you go home with a few sights not ticked off your list, so be it. In a few years it may well be those moments of engagement with the place that you remember, long after the details of this historical monument or that work of art are forgotten.
Moments of serenity
With that in mind, let me share a selection of moments of serenity from my travels, prompted by Egídio’s Lens Artists challenge for this week. And if there are rather a lot of sunsets among them, maybe that’s because for all my ‘preaching’ about taking your time, it’s sometimes only at the end of the day that I do just that!
Nearly as many were taken early in the morning. I’m not one to lie in bed, especially when travelling, and the time between rising and setting out to explore is often the most peaceful of the day. Another common feature is water; somehow being beside water always calms the soul.
But I’ll start with a short video clip. My feature photo was taken during a mokoro ride in the Okavango Delta, surely one of the most serene experiences I have ever enjoyed. I hope this video will give you some idea of just how tranquil it was, being poled along a waterway just before sunset, the only sounds the cicadas and the lapping of the water against the boat.
Early morning view of Mono Lake from our motel in Lee Vining, California
Early morning on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
Sunrise from Souimanga Lodge in the Sine Saloum Delta, Senegal
Misty (and heavily edited!) view from Souimanga Lodge in the Sine Saloum Delta, Senegal
Early morning by Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park, Washington State
Forest bathing in Gould Grove, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California
Watching hummingbirds at Aguila de Osa, Costa Rica
A relaxing cruise on the Loboc River, Bohol Island, Philippines
Late afternoon after a long day’s driving, Indian Creek Lodge, California
Sharing beach time on Playa Mendihuaca, Colombia
A sunset cruise on the Gambia River
The view at sunset from the Mirador de Kari, Atacama Desert, Chile
Sunset at Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Watching the sun set from our hotel near the Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica
Negril sunset, Jamaica
Sunset in the Okavango Delta, Botswana
Just after sunset at Lake Quinault, Olympic National Park, Washington State
19 Comments
Vicki
What a wonderful selection.
….and those sunsets. They are so relaxing and put my brain to rest. In fact sunsets (and sunrises) are my ‘go-to’ place. They’re magical and the best thing is that every one is different (to my eyes).
the eternal traveller
I do love a beautiful sunset and you have plenty in this post. We always allow rest times and quieter days when we travel.
thehungrytravellers.blog
The more we travel, the more we value those slower days and those “time out” moments. Funnily enough, I just read your post sitting on our balcony watching the 5pm sun sink towards the rocky headland, after a “time out” afternoon. Later, you often find yourself looking back and remembering the chill times with fondness, different kinds of memories from the major sights and events. I should say though, that we are in a small seaside town on a Sunday where Peruvian day trippers are out in the sunshine, so you definitely can’t call it serene! 😂
notesoflifeuk
Wonderful photos and such a calmness to them 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, that’s something I was aiming to portray.
photobyjohnbo
I noticed so many of your images contain shots of water. It must be ingrained in our psyche to feel calm when we find water, so necessary for our lives to continue. Beautiful gallery, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you John 😀 I realised when I started to look for images for this post that water would play a big part in my selection.
Egídio
Sarah, what an amazing collection you put together here. Thank you for picking such stunning images. Your opening text set the mood for serenity in a majestic way. So many photos with such beauty. Olympic NP is one of my favorites. Your post made me realize that water and serenity go hand in hand.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much for those kind words Egidio 😊 I do think scenes with water are often the most serene and I’m glad that came through in my selection.
Tina Schell
Loved your serene images this week Sarah. We did the same outing on the Okavanga and it never occurred to me to do a video (in fact I almost never do!) but it is a lovely way to share the serenity of those moments. Your images are all wonderful as always. I never see sunrises here unless one of my photography friends pushes me into an outing and of course the results are some of my favorite images. But when we travel I almost always see and shoot sunrise images. Your post is making we rethink that! Do you do sunrises when you’re at home???
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Tina. I don’t shoot many videos (my husband does far more) but I’m glad I thought to on this occasion. No, I rarely photograph sunrises at home. We don’t get much of a view of them, or sunsets, in our London suburban street.
Heyjude
Weirdly this post did not show up in my Reader. I quite agree with you about taking time to appreciate the things around us, whether when travelling or closer to home. Water features a lot in your photos, I also find it calming to be around water (not necessarily on or in it though) and surely sunsets and sunrises are the best times to simply absorb the colours of the sky painter. For me the humming bird photo is the best. I can imagine waiting patiently to capture the tiny bird hovering. A bit like when I am trying to capture a bee or butterfly when you need to be still and quiet and just be patient.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks for letting me know about the Reader, I’ll keep an eye on things, there could be a glitch. I’m glad you liked that hummingbird photo 🙂 Yes, it needed some patience (which I have rather too little of) and I ended up with a lot of photos of that bush and relatively few of hummingbirds!
margaret21
Marvellous moments – and a lovely calming video.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Margaret 🙂 Those mokoro rides (we had two) were very special!
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography
Beautiful images, I agree with you about sunsets, it is a peaceful moment usually watching it from start to finish in an eventful day. Ending the day in calm and quiet moment. We try to do every day. Lovely moments to remember from all around the world
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Ritva 🙂 Yes, watching the sunset is a calming thing to do for sure – we should do it more often but it’s not so easy in our busy suburban streets.
kzmcb
Well that answers one of my questions – I had thought you moved about rapidly, taking in the sights, at a pace that I might envy. But note I know better.
Sarah Wilkie
A bit of both – some busy days, some slower paced. But generally these days we pack in less than we used to, valuing down-time to balance the explorations 🙂