Infected or Infused

My senses are hyper-sensitive.

Every time I travel, I am reminded of this.

At times I am struck by I-don’t-know-what…but that thing that instantly makes me love a place or not. I usually can’t pinpoint it. I have trouble answering the question “What did you like about it?” or “What did you not like about it?” Sometimes there is no answer. It’s just a feeling I get. Or rather, the way I feel being in a place.

I have stepped foot in a few new-to-me cities recently, and have been overwhelmed by my physical and emotional reaction to them. I wish I could better describe this in words. All I can say is that it’s an extraordinary sensation to step off a train in a foreign city, walk for just a few minutes, and feel either infected or infused with the energy of a place. This thing, whatever it is, hits me so hard that it cuts to my core. I have been brought to tears both by the overwhelming love for a place, and the overwhelming dislike for a place. Instantly.

And the great thing about traveling alone with no real itinerary is that I just go with it. I stay where I love, collect what I can from it; I leave those places I don’t love, and don’t look back. There is no sense trying to force something that just isn’t there…