Five Senses
Planning the perfect trip itinerary doesn’t guarantee being awe-struck. It is the moment that settles over your senses like a quiet wash of water and sound.
Awe does not announce itself. It does not wait for the right landmark or the right timing or the right lighting. Awe arrives the way water does. It is an emotion that is mysterious like water. It surrounds your senses before you realize you are inside something larger than your everyday life.
Awe is felt and alive in our five senses.
In what you see. Color. Light. Shape. Movement.
In what you hear. Rhythm. Hush. Chiming. Collective Breath.
In what you smell. Fresh. Intense. Associative. New.
In what you taste. Sweet. Savory. Exotic. Unexpected. Familiar.
In what you feel. Temperature. Texture. Closeness. Openness.
Every awe-struck moment you have ever had on a trip started there. In your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin responding to something that reached you more deeply than you expected. Sometimes it was planned. Sometimes it was not. The sensation was the same. Your senses woke up at the exact same time.
Awe is the compass that shows you what you need from travel. When you learn how your senses awaken, you can choose places that support the version of you who returns home.
What senses were awakened the last time you were awe struck on vacation?
Postcard Confession: Time To Say Goodbye
Postcard Confession image by Know Distance
I did not understand any of this until Las Vegas stopped me in front of the Bellagio fountains. Water. Light. Sound. Movement. All of it settled over my senses in a way I could not ignore.
Walking along the Las Vegas strip, the background music faded, the water began to bubble up as jets slowly rose out of the lagoon, and people mid-stride stopped to watch the show. The Fountains of Bellagio dancing waters are set to popular and memorable music that washes over your senses. I am in awe every time I witness it. I have seen the fountains hundreds of times, yet standing there along the fountain with strangers all experiencing the same moment stops me every time.
The rhythm and movement of the water match the intensity and flow of the song, and I am inspired by the people who created this orchestra and brought beauty to life. Watching videos online is beautiful, but nothing matches the collective feeling of lining up with others in the moment to catch a glimpse.
My favorite show is when the song “Time to Say Goodbye” plays. It was my grandmother’s favorite as well, even though we were not on the same trip when we saw it. When she could no longer travel, every time she heard that song she would lift her arms and sway them back and forth like the waters dancing with the music. Awe has a way of opening our minds and helping us feel part of something larger in this beautiful world.
Travel Awe
Awe is mysterious; but it’s not elusive. Awe can be found anywhere if we take a moment to stop and wonder. Travel allows our bodies and minds the opportunity to find awe. Recently the scientific study of awe has been researched by Dr. Dacher Keltner, a renowned expert in science of emotions and professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and he is the faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.
Let’s start with the definition of awe:
“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.”
Keltner, D. Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. 2023, pp. 7.
Awe is about our personal relationship to mysteries of life. It’s personal and changes from one person to another and even changes at different moments in our lives.
As you think about travel, consider these 9 awe categories as an exploration of which destinations most likely meet you where your awe lives.
Nature Coastlines and ocean destinations. Mountain and alpine regions. National and state parks. Island landscapes. Desert terrain. Forests and plains. Rivers, lakes, and waterways. Gardens and parks. Dark sky destinations. Places where the natural world operates at a scale that interrupts everything else.
Relationships Festival cities and collective gathering destinations. Pilgrimage routes. Destinations known for warmth and communal culture. Family reunion and celebration milestone destinations. Places that invite shared experience rather than solitary exploration.
Moral Beauty Sites of historical significance and memorial destinations. Cities where extraordinary human courage shaped history. Communities known for resilience and rebuilding. Destinations where the courage and kindness of others is embedded in the landscape itself.
Music and Performance Cities with living music scenes. Opera and performing arts capitals. Festival destinations centered on music, dance, or theater. Street music cultures. Places where performance happens in public space as part of daily life.
Art and Visual Design Museum cities and gallery destinations. Architectural capitals. Street art neighborhoods and creative districts. Design forward cities. Places where visual beauty is part of the infrastructure not just the institutions.
Culture and Tradition UNESCO World Heritage cities. Living cultural capitals with deep historical layers. Destinations where local customs and traditions are still practiced daily. Indigenous cultural regions. Markets and gathering places that have operated for centuries.
Rituals and Ceremonies Destinations with seasonal festivals and calendar celebrations. Sacred bathing and purification traditions. Cities where ceremonial life is visible in daily public space. Destinations where milestone celebrations are communal rather than private.
Movement and Adventure Hiking and trekking destinations. Coastal adventure regions. Cycling routes through landscapes. Water sport and open water destinations. Places where the body moves through terrain in ways daily life does not allow.
Mystical and Spiritual Ancient sacred sites and pilgrimage routes. Stone circles. Pyramids. Cathedral and temple cities. Destinations where the sacred is embedded in architecture and landscape simultaneously. Places where something larger than daily life is palpable before you have even entered a building.
Ways to Find Travel Awe
Awe can act as a beacon that illuminates our travels. How do we find awe? Let’s circle back to wonder and let the emotion of awe wash over our senses.
Sight: Let your eyes gaze over natural beauty, colors and shapes of art, look upon natural and man-made structures.
Sound: Let your ears take in the sounds of travel, music you hear, leaves rustling in the wind, chimes/bells used in rituals.
Smell: Let your nose breathe in the aromas surrounding you and notice how they tantalize your olfactory senses. Smell the flowers or herbs in a garden, smell the landscape of the seaside, aromas wafting from nearby restaurants.
Taste: Let your mouth be awakened with flavors and textures. Savor the familiar and comfort, and try exploring new cuisines from the culture you are immersed in.
Touch: Let your skin feel how it moves through your travels, the wind on your skin and hair, the earth below you as you walk, run, hike or move through a landscape.
Your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin respond and signal the sensations. The key is simply to pause long enough to notice what your senses are already receiving.
Awe Intention
Try quieting your mind, your self-critique, and pause to wonder about patterns of life you feel with your five senses.
What are the trips where you felt awe? What shifted in your thinking of this mysterious world?
Travel Reflection Assessment
If you want support in understanding your relationship with travel, the Know Distance Travel Reflection Assessment™ that gives you a personalized look with your relationship with travel, where you find awe, and what travel could be giving you back. Here is assessment - https://knowdistanceco.myflodesk.com/products/travelassessment.
Travel does not restore you because of where you go. It restores you because of what you bring to it and what you allow yourself to receive.
Au’revoir y’all!
Amanda
