A long way back, I featured here a list of songs that
I’d most like to hear while traveling. The list was partly based on some personal experiences with music while I was on
the road in various places. For example, years ago when I did the five day trek up the Inca Trail, I was drained and
tired and beat, and I put the headphones on and heard Willy Nelson sing Peter Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up, and immediately
quickened my step and pushed on. It wasn’t the title of the song, or the words, it was just the sound of Willy’s
doleful tenor, some mix of his voice and the incredible surroundings that just clicked and created a moment of immense
and meaningful beauty.
And then later that year, I was standing alone on a cliff over-looking the crashing waves on the Valdez Peninsula in
Argentina, miles away from anywhere or anyone, and I head Pearl jam’s Off he Goes, and well, my spirits soared, my
chest puffed out, and my head whirled with the most wonderful feeling of freedom.
I guess the point of all this is that music and travel can create an intoxicating mix. Music adds a dimension to your
experience in the moment that can lift your spirits and fill you with a sense of joy that is really incomparable. I was
reminded of all this when reading
this piece in the SF Chronicle
about exactly that: music and travel. The writers sense of music and travel differs slightly from my own, but it is a
toic worth thinking about as you load up your ipod for your next adventure.
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