The Songs That Have Shaped My Travels
Seeing as I’m busy enjoying Coachella I figured it’d be fun to do a music themed blog post. For me, music is really powerful and when I listen to a song I love, memories surge through my veins and I remember all the critical points at my life when I heard that particular song. Music is the closest thing I have to teleportation, at the moment, and for this reason I’m very particular about songs that I choose to play throughout my travels. I’m typing this post on a bus from Prague to London (hey, it saved me 70 euros) and I realized that travel would be a lot more painful without good tunes.
After 1.5 years of travel, I’ll be honest and say that there are times when it’s difficult. Travelling alone has many benefits and I treasure it because of the special experiences it opens up with locals and fellow tourists alike. Changing places regularly brings a full spectrum of emotions: empowerment, anxiety, bliss, loneliness, confusion, awe, homesickness and pride – you can feel everything and anything at once. I’ve got songs that lift me up when I’m feeling down and I have some that let me just pause and take everything in.
When I was saying goodbye to three guys I’d travelled with for two months and moving on to Cambodia alone, I needed to hear something that made me feel like I could take on the world. Naked and Famous – Girls Like You was my weapon of choice, and whenever I listen to it I can remember all the details of that period of time. I can remember the long, lonely bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh, requesting a room for… one and proceeding to spend an entire day in my pjs eating ice cream blasting this song on repeat. I want to share the songs that have shaped my travels with you, so get comfy (pjs and ice cream encouraged), and listen to some really amazing music.
Jose Gonzalez – Heartbeats
I never expected much from Amsterdam, I thought it’d be seedy, with prostitution and drugs oozing from its pores. Instead, I found myself biking around the beautiful canals, shopping bags in my basket, slowly falling in love with Europe. I knew it was a period of my life I would want to savour forever, so I chose this dreamy song as my soundtrack to Amsterdam.
M.I.A – Paper Planes
This is a bit cheesy, I know – I suppose everyone associates this with India thanks to Slumdog Millionaire. But, when I was flying into Calcutta airport, I had one of those moments where I doubted every decision I’d made leading myself here. Why on EARTH did I pick India and such a random city I knew nothing about? ALONE? I was nervous, sick to my stomach and smothered in doubt. The only solution? Two doses of this song. As the plane dipped onto the runway, I was blasting it as loud as I could on my iPod earphones – it was everything I needed in that moment.
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
I arrived in India on the Monday, on the Tuesday a strong earthquake struck my hometown. I found out the following day that my aunty, affectionately renamed my pseudo mama, was missing and after a few complications with insurance I was on a long, painful flight home. I don’t think I could ever accurately articulate the feelings that churned inside: hope and fear are devastating when mixed. I spent three days constantly on the verge of breaking down and this beautiful song was my lullaby. It soothed me to sleep, it kept me awake at the airports while in transit, and it gave me the confidence to walk through the arrival lounge in Christchurch knowing she wouldn’t be there waiting for me.
Bon Iver – Skinny Love
Well, Bon Iver’s got around a lot. He’s been the background music to many key parts of my life. This was the sound of me learning to live with grief and finding the courage to leave my country again. Probably the sweetest memory I have of Bon (we’re clearly on a first name basis now) is sitting in a four-bed sleeper train coming back from Sapa, with three Europeans I’d met during my travels. I put Skinny Love on, the two guys relaxed while a new friend, Ava, and I sung along smiling at each other. She told me that she was really glad she came and decided to come to Bangkok to spend a few more days with us. It was perfection. Hearing him last night at Coachella was an absolute dream.
And for those days when I’m feeling a little home sick and need some New Zealand music I play Fat Freddies Drop – Hope. It reminds me of sitting a little patch of grass, with a beer in hand, loving New Zealand.
Do you have any travel songs that you carry with you always? As my iPod was stolen I have to load up my music collection again!
Today, I went to the beach front with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!