Lists, and how to use them to travel!
I love lists. I use them in the office to know what I’m doing and what else I need to do. I shop with lists, make Lists at Christmas and I travel with them. Travel with them? I hear you ask. How does that work? I’m glad you asked.
Everywhere you look, you’ll find lists of the top 10 places to visit in… (insert any country, continent, city or whatever you wish). What are the top 10 IN destinations for 2017? The top 10 Gelato stores in Florence (my personal favourite). And so on. I’m sure you get the idea.
But what if you had specific things to visit in different places around the world, all with a similar theme or content? How cool would that be.
I have a couple going at the moment and they came about quite by chance. I bought a lovely coffee table book titled “The grand literary cafes of Europe” by Noel Riley Fitch. It contains pages of wonderful cafes all over Europe, and sets out some of the famous names who sat for hours writing, thinking and in some cases plotting in these basilicas of caffeine. And it neatly combines 2 of my great loves. Visiting Europe and Coffee!
Names like Joyce, Trotsky, Lenin, Freud, Wagner, Picasso, Hemmingway and on and on. People who frequented these cafes, and played a huge role in shaping Europe and world history (Sorry I’m a bit of a history dork!) is laid out and explained! So, whenever I am heading to Europe I check the book and make sure I visit for a coffee. Breathing in the aroma and the history at the same time. Grab a coffee, a quick souvenir and off I go. Tick, one more down.
The other list I have is a bit left of field. I love Marc Chagall’s painting. His use of colour, particularly blues, just seems to resonate with me. So, when a fellow traveller advised me to go to St Stephens In Mainz and see the amazing stained glass windows by said artist, I decided to go and have a look. Well, blown away or what. Put it on your list (sorry another list).
But it turns out, he didn’t just do one church but a whole bunch of them. Mostly in Europe, but also the United nations building in New York. I’ve managed to tick off a couple of the churches, but have plenty to go!
So, you can use lists to enliven a place you’re going to visit, or to look for new places to go knowing you’ll find something of interest when you get there.
Have a think about what it is that makes you travel and what you want to see when you go. Maybe you too have a list just waiting to be written!