All I felt was gratitude
Tbilisi | Georgia
The calm I needed
Volta Region | Ghana
An incredible feeling
ATIU | Cook Islands
When “Tbilisi Loves You” is the airport’s Wi-Fi network, it’s fair to deduce that there’s a warmth toward visitors. My time there was exactly that — a cornucopia of feasts, wines and passionate locals desperate to share their culture. Every evening left me electrified.
I prefer to walk as much as I can while traveling, to soak up all of the sights and sounds. One morning, while staying at Meidan Square in Old Tbilisi, I made a decision to hike as much as the Narikala Fortress to take panoramic photos of the town. It was then that I stumbled into the National Botanical Garden of Georgia.
I used to be suddenly enveloped in a greenery of calm. The pathway stuffed with rows of cypress trees is seemingly countless, and I felt my sense of being shift. My mind became quiet — in an excellent way — and all I felt was gratitude.
– Cheryl Tiu
The Wli Falls is the tallest waterfall in West Africa. I vividly remember entering into it and looking out up — and seeing an enormous rainbow. I felt such a profound sense of peace.
Back home in Maryland I’m a registered nurse, which could be an awesome profession. But the sentiments I got here with lifted with ease, knowing that priceless natural beauty like this exists on this world.
On the river, I passed waving fishermen and Ghanaians dancing to Afrobeats by the palm trees. Ghana is a travel-friendly country that I all the time recommend to others as their first destination on the African continent. Ghana is a spot where one can find warmth — in its weather and its people.
– Shandorf Yirenkyi Jr.
Photo: Shandorf Yirenkyi Jr.
Atiu is considered one of the biggest of the Cook Islands, yet it lacks shimmering lagoons and beach hotels. It has about 400 residents. And in January 2020, I used to be the one visitor.
Through the day, I explored sea caves. At night, I cooked easy meals and browse books.
On my final morning, I walked to a beach I hadn’t explored. Days before, conservationist “Birdman George” Mateariki told me Cyclone Timo, lurking near Fiji, might push giant frigatebirds toward the shore. To no avail, I watched for them as huge waves attributable to the faraway storm crashed over the harbor partitions and onto the deserted beaches.
As I reached Matai Beach, I spotted a flock of low-flying, diving birds. Finally! They flew toward me. Soon I used to be surrounded by soaring, circling frigatebirds. It was an incredible feeling. For a few minutes, the entire world was just them and me. It was a fitting farewell for a once-in-a-lifetime journey.
– Carrie Hutchinson
The one noise was the whirl of the wind
Kamalame Cay | Bahamas
After greater than a 12 months of the pandemic, the death of George Floyd and other political and social upheaval, I used to be exhausted.
When my water taxi docked on Kamalame Cay, and I saw the plush greenery and white sand beach, I exhaled — finally. The private island resort is near the world’s third-largest barrier reef with acres of coconut palm groves and stunning vegetation.
There have been no crowds. The one noise was the whirl of the wind, the waves. I heard my thoughts. I took long walks along the water.
The sunsets soothed, as did the over-the-water spa with the wind blowing, the ocean splashing and the fun of a stingray swimming below my Swedish massage.
With the pampering and Mother Nature’s magic, I left the island higher than I arrived, assured that one way or the other all the pieces can be OK in an upside-down world.
– Sheryl Nance-Nash
Considered one of my fondest memories
Dona Casilda Iturrizar Park | Bilbao, Spain
I felt at home
Howzak House | Isfahan, Iran
An astonishingly beautiful mountain town
TAWANG | India
Ihad been awake for greater than 36 hours. Jetlagged and filled to the brim with pintxos and Rioja, I popped into Dona Casilda Iturrizar Park on my first night in Bilbao.
As the town’s fundamental public green space, the park would likely be teeming with locals on a sunny day. But it surely was sleepy at 10 p.m. on this misty Sunday night, with only a number of people and their dogs.
Though I rarely enter a park after dark, that transient time stays considered one of my fondest memories of the 2 weeks I spent in Spain’s Basque Country. I didn’t do much in Dona Casilda that night except people-watch, hearken to the splashing fountain, and sense Bilbao preparing for an excellent night’s rest.
– Tracy Kaler
Nassi and Babak, the founders of this unassuming guesthouse within the Ebn-e Sina area of Isfahan, want guests to grasp Iranian culture. So that they offer guided walks to a close-by cultural haven, where I handled 100-year-old picket blocks used to supply intricate qalamkar fabrics, and listened to string music from the kamancheh, a bowed string instrument.
The home, a converted 90-year-old residence, says lots concerning the culture too. I’d see this every morning when sunlight filtered through the preserved stained-glass panels atop my windows and door, as birds chirruped their greetings. I felt it as I worked on my laptop, with my legs inside the heated korsi — a low-lying heated table — to fend off the late winter chill.
Every time I stepped out, the fatherly Mr. Rahnama, the housekeeper, offered tea, soup or bread to enjoy on considered one of their daybeds. Despite the stark cultural differences between us, I felt at home, cocooned on this oasis.
In keeping with an old Persian saying, “Isfahan is half the world.” And Howzak House was my world on this distant land.
– Morgan Awyong
Tawang is an astonishingly beautiful mountain town, tucked away in India’s extreme north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. This secluded a part of India is ethereal, with its towering Himalayan peaks, glacial lakes and jaw-dropping mountain panorama.
I feel privileged for having spent my early childhood on this Himalayan town. The sheer simplicity of life, the fascinating Monpa tribal people, those visits to the 400-year-old Buddhist monastery — with monks chanting “om mani padmme hun” and indulging in a game of snow football with my friends — remain etched in my memory.
The town’s hallowed spiritual ambience is palpable and His Holiness the Dalai Lama is revered as God incarnate by the local Monpas. Incidentally, Tawang was the primary place the current Dalai Lama went to after fleeing Tibet when Chinese forces invaded in 1959.
– Subhasish Chakraborty