{Travelling Tuesday} Random thoughts inspired by a day in a London park

This post is more of a photo journal entry with random thoughts then a full cohesive blog post as I am going to be typing the thoughts that come into my head without any restrain or theme in mind; just like how a page in my dairy would look like except now I’m sharing it with you, my reader.

In the last couple of years, I’ve been going to Europe a couple of times annually and I’ve had the leisure of spending days, just relaxingly enjoying the parks and people watching without feeling the need to rush off to explore every touristy sight. Part of why I love traveling is that I get to soak into the lifestyles and culture of the places I visit. I strive for integration and try to be less touristy unless it’s my first trip to the place on a limited schedule or I’m traveling with someone that has an agenda to cover for that trip. The most memorable discoveries have been found when I least expected anything out of my day.

I usually have my camera with me whenever I travel though sometimes I might not use it at all for an entire week because I’m having too much fun with great local company or immersing myself in museums, musicals, fine dinning or anywhere that makes a camera quite cumbersome. In today’s post I’ll share with you (through my lens) how I spent a day in London, walking through the parks, refreshing my soul, opening my mind to the positive energy around me and how these photos have inspired my current perception. This series of photos is also a good break for those of you who are sick of seeing photos of me on my blog 😉

London is a major entry city for me whenever I visit Europe mainly because the London Heathrow Airport is one of the biggest and busiest in the world. This means that I can easily find connecting flights at more competitive prices to continue my journey to the rest of Europe. My usual travel tactic is that I will fly from Singapore to London, catch a regional flight to another european country like Spain, Scotland, Germany, and then travel by trains or budget flights for most of the way before finding my way into Paris in France to catch my international flight back home to Singapore. I usually put Paris as my last stop because a lot of my favorite brands are found there. This way, I can keep the shopping of my more expensive purchases to the last leg of my trip without having to lug them all around Europe with me risking an overweight luggage or having items stolen or lost in transit. I’m not saying that this is the best or only way to do things but it’s just the method of traveling around Europe that works best for me.

Often when I have time in London, I’ll try to spend a day or two strolling in their parks. They have so many beautiful parks in the city and they are always teeming with birds, squirrels and other wildlife. The cool temperatures also makes it a lot more pleasant to spend the day outdoors. I often head to the park with my dogs in Singapore as well but the heat and the humidity tends to sap the energy out of me and I go back feeling exhausted whereas, when I’m in a temperate climate, a day out just keeps me even more refreshed! I honestly feel that I was not made for living in a warm and humid equatorial climate and despite all the other things that I love about Singapore, the humidity, the heat and the crazy rains probably contributes to the driving motivation for me to travel so much.

In the above section, you’ll see that I’ve taken a whole series of swan photos. They are so graceful on water and I’ve always had such a romantic ideology of swans as they are symbols of lifelong fidelity and devotion. Swans mate for life and in many ways, they reflect the dedication and the commitment that I value in any relationship. I believe that love is a choice and you have to be there for your mate, for better or for worse.

Putting the photos together for todays’ {Traveling Tuesday} post reminds me that its been awhile since I took time off to have a little quiet time to do nothing. To just sit on the beach and hear the waves crash, to go to the parks and watch the insects scuttle around, to lie down on the green grass and let the mind wander as clouds pass by. As we get older and more busy, it seems that we need to find more time and more excuses to find the time to do nothing. In a day of digitalization, our brains work at multitasking an incredible rate to try and maximize our time. But by multitasking, we gain quantity and lose quality. We lose the quality and depth of our thoughts, failing to analyze our actions and our directions in life as we go through the daily grind and thus becoming stressed and depressed with our current situations. Happiness comes not from a desperate search for stimulation elsewhere but from finding what is intriguing, surprising and “exotic” in the everyday stuff around us.

Earlier this year, my partner and I had a major disagreement that tested our understanding and put my mystery man and I out of sync. We’ve become stronger after the incident when we realized that our love and commitment to each other forces us to face any problem and work at it until it is resolved instead of ignoring it or running away from it. However, we have both become busier than ever this year and other than my Maldives trip with him, we haven’t had any time to just indulge ourselves in each other’s company. I will be making it a point to put aside at least a couple of hours, once a week to spend time with him (and most likely my dogs as well) in the serenity of nature. I miss the times hiking with Mr Mysterious as we took walks, admiring creation and keeping a comfortable quiet pace while enjoying the presence of each other. No words need to be spoken when there is complete trust and understanding.

It’s amazing how a series of beautiful photo memories, the feeling and thoughts captured through the lens can evoke so many strong sentiments for me. I hope today’s post is as inspiring it is to you as it was for me in writing down my thoughts. Have a great Tuesday.