“Remember that time when…”

…it’s a phrase used by so many of us with our travelling partners in the days, weeks, months, even years after we return from holiday:

“Remember that time that I got an electric shock from a fence in the Swiss Alps whilst talking to a cow”; “remember that time when I rode around Greece on the back of a motorbike in a bikini” (ok, so we’ve all done stupid things!); “…when I hurried to get to the other side of the ‘Broken Bridge’ in Avignon before getting half way and realising it was broken” (ditto last comment!); “… that time I climbed aboard one of Elvis’s jets on a visit to Graceland” …the things we do in those days away can leave imprints in our minds that last much longer than the holidays themselves.

It’s all in the detail

I remember sitting with my dear old Grandma – who’d had her fair share of holidays with my Grandad – as she relayed stories of the things they’d done, places they’d been and things they’d seen on their travels, despite not remembering what she did last week! She’d remember times, dates, people – so many details of her experiences whilst on holiday in Germany or Austria or Switzerland or wherever, and it was almost as though, for a few minutes, she was transported back there, reliving the experiences over again. I always found it fascinating how she could remember things so vividly from 40 or 50 years ago!

Time to turn off ‘auto-pilot’

Have you ever had that feeling when you’re at home and going about your daily routine where you sometimes switch to ‘automatic pilot’? You don’t even really think about what you’re doing – whether it’s getting ready for work, cooking the evening meal, dropping the kids at school or doing the weekly shop – it just seems to happen. Yet when you travel, you come back with bucket-loads of memories from even a weekend away. Sound familiar? If you asked me what I did last week, like my Grandma, it’s hard to always remember. Each day of the daily routine blends into the next: Monday becomes Friday; Friday becomes Monday and before you know it another month’s passed. So why do we seem remember so much more when we’re way?

The ‘eyes’ have it (and the noses, mouths and ears too!)

When we’re surrounded by different sights, smells, tastes etc, our senses are kick-started and we actually take notice of what’s around us (although, I have to say it would’ve been pretty hard to not take notice of that electric fence, no matter where it was!). When we’re on holiday, we’re constantly exposed to new things which is why they leave that impression in our minds so much more than the familiar sights and sounds of our everyday lives.

Packing it in

It’s also pretty common for us to return from our holiday feeling like we’ve been away much longer than we have – another result of us being much more aware of our surroundings. Each moment of our time away is packed with memories, making the days seem much longer than the same period of time back home. These memories become etched into our memory, stored for years to come, as my Grandma proved to me, time and time again.
Whilst on one of my own travels last year, I met a guy who shared with me something his father used to say to him:

“When you’re at home, you exist. When you’re on holiday, you live.”

What an excellent way of summing it up.
So, remember, life is for living! Soak it all up, take it all in – the new sights and sounds and smells of any new place you visit and any new experiences you have – whether it’s at home or away. And when you can’t actually travel any more, like my Grandma, hopefully all your experiences will carry on through your memories, to be relived time and time again. And that’s another one of the many reasons that thousands of us love to travel each year… the memories of our travel experiences can keep us going through the times in between our adventures… and beyond!
Have you got holiday memories you’d like to share? Be sure to let us know!