Unforgettable Travel Essays That Reveal Art, Belonging & Humanity Beyond Any Map

I am writing to introduce you to my travel essays because these are pieces I’m most proud of. I’m attaching a few lines from some essays here. Hope you enjoy them and visit the place vicariously through my words.

“I still get goosebumps when I think about the wonderous gigantic library I had visited in Alexandria, Egypt. This modern library built in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, can accommodate 2000 readers in its main reading hall on any given day. It’s located on the gorgeous Mediterranean shore of the port city of Alexandria.

 

As I walked out of the library, I noticed the concrete bust of Alexander. Was he really this gorgeous in real life? Along the perimeter of the library, there was a wall of inscriptions from many world languages. As I lifted my head, the sunset splashed its colors across the Mediterranean sky, clutching at my heart. I can’t possibly leave this city, how can I?”

Read more about the meeting place of words and the Mediterranean HERE.

“I arrived in SFO as a tourist, but the moment I walked into SFMOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, it felt like I belonged there. I was suddenly in the company of over 50,000 artists’ works. The Grand Atrium’s minimalist geometry draws you in immediately, creating a quiet sense of reverence before you even encounter the art.

 

A good artist does not impose meaning, they create space for interpretation. Art can arrest us without force and command respect without noise. It may not always pay the bills, but what would life be without words, sound, art, and the artists who weave them together for us?”

Read how I went as a tourist to SFO but felt instant belonging at this place HERE.

“I have a million essays planned about Spain. And here’s one. We went on a 16-day road trip through Spain, starting in Barcelona, traveling to the tip of Catalonia, looping around to the southern coastal tip of Andalusia, and finally ending in Madrid.

 

We traveled through Valencia, Toledo, Seville, Córdoba, Málaga, Ronda, and of course, Granada, where the Alhambra showcases the influence of the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian cultural blend. Sitges is the gay capital of Spain. You’ve got permission there to be queer, artistic, and unapologetically yourself.”

Read more on I went on a road trip in Spain and felt the vibrant spirit of the people in their siestas, seas and flamenco HERE.

“In the evenings, you come across uncles who are drowning their sorrows in the Rasna Bar or the Bratt Bar, where cocktails cost five times what they do in the Rasna Bar. And your night cap will come in the form of the ultimate jugaad*, the birthright of every Indian, when you see an electric car charging port that can give any true-blooded American a heart attack.

 

* Jugaad: there’s no problem that doesn’t have a solution mindset LOL”

Read more on how I travel to my hometown even without using a passport HERE. Read more of my India Travel Diaries HERE.

“In the mornings, at 8am, I would get in my rental car to go to work a few miles away. And every day I would pass by the grim looking homes along the downtown center of Wilmington. At a particular traffic light, I would always see what must have been the remnants of someone’s eviction process.

 

I would stop here and stare at this long enough for the ones in the back to honk at me as the light would turn green and I had to leave that spot. I would wonder to myself everyday, where is this child who rode that toy jeep now?”

Read more on the nature of America’s Melting Pot and the housing crisis no one wants to talk about HERE.

“He told a heartbreaking story about his divorce, about chess friends from a Connecticut library, and about the homeless chess players in downtown Atlanta, one of whom he lost to mental illness during COVID. He spoke of men with full stomachs and empty ones, wrestling over chess matches on the streets of a city that both feeds and starves its people. And he said that even on his darkest days, the sun rose twice for him. I’ll carry that mantra forever, and I wish you would too. We really do have so much to be grateful for.

 

Every story was a daring leap to restore our faith in humanity and our shared togetherness of survival.”

Some stories funny, all unforgettable. Read more about the night of stories at Moth, Atlanta, HERE.

If you liked what you read, you might like my travelogue series where I write about the places I’ve visited and the people I’ve met. You can find the full anthology HERE.

Thank you for reading.

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