Thinking thinky thoughts

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you’ve been running on a treadmill and just need to get off for a minute? This is me at the moment, metaphorically catching my breath, sweating and taking a giant gulp of water. Aren’t you glad I painted that picture for you? To give you an idea of my mindset, I went for a hike yesterday to think about the meaning of the universe and then intentionally watched a movie about death, so you may find that the collection of stories today are leaning a touch towards the philosophical. But I promise they are not at all depressing and dang if they don’t make you think!

The Good

+ In a perpetual  present  -  Wired

As someone who quite fanatically captures travel memories in photos, blogs and videos, it is hard for me to imagine not being able to associate any of those moments to the emotion felt at the time they happened. ​  Travel experiences are meant to be relived and I imagine doing so when I prepare to go off to my ‘happy hunting grounds’ (this is a saying I learned from my grandmother - it turns out once you turn a certain age you have free reign to mention your looming death at any time). ​

Excerpt:   "Spend enough time with McKinnon and it’s hard to escape the creeping sense that she’s not just different - she’s lucky. Memories that would be searing to anyone else leave little impression on her."  Continue reading.

The Uplifting

+ It turns out money can buy happiness but only if you spend it in the right way - Quartz

Somewhere along the way, some crazy hippy said something about money not being able to buy you happiness. I think we all know that is a false statement unless you are inherently unlikeable for some reason. ​  ​  The conspiracy theorist inside of me thinks it was an idea created by the rich and powerful to make us all subservient and ambitionless. “Money is evil everyone, let us handle it and save your souls.”

Quartz relays the latest studies that show that when you get to choose where to spend your money based on the activities you enjoy, there is a definite link between your joys and your dollah dollah bills yo. This seems pretty straightforward but hey, if you need an extra reason to take that trip - here it is.

Excerpt:   "The participants took a happiness test before being given the voucher, after receiving it, after using the voucher, and after engaging in the prescribed activity for 30 minutes. And so the researchers could determine that extroverts told to spend $10 at a bar were made considerably happier than introverts given the same activity, while the reverse was true for those sent to the bookstore."  Continue reading.

The Ugly

+ After mother’s death in road rage, she opened women-only travel firm - Hindustan  Times

Sometimes ugly things happen in life and there is nothing you can do about it. The question then becomes what you do after - become bitter and afraid or strong and determined? The Hindustan Times tells us of one such crossroad faced by an Indian woman whose mother was murdered while trying to save two young girls. Wanting to help other females, she has shown amazing strength in choosing to turn the experience into a solution for female travellers to India.

Excerpt:   "She had then met a Canadian woman who needed a guide. A regular at Manikaran, she offered to double up as a guide and both hit it off very well. She realised women travellers were more comfortable with a woman guide. The Canadian woman sent her friends to India and she got her first clients."  Continue reading.

Thanks  for  reading  Travelhers.  Have an amazing week - keep your head up and travel on.