Just the right amount of feeling

Everyone travels with a purpose, even if it isn’t always at the top of our minds. I see people around me traveling for so many different reasons. Some love the excitement of discovering completely new places. Others plan trips around a micro purpose like a specific food experience, a coffee sourcing trip, a music festival, or a retreat. And then, some repeat the same destination every year. Everyone has their own reason. But for me, I always find myself pausing to ask a different question: why do I keep returning to the same city or village more than once or twice? Is it a specific moment I experienced with a friend, a family tradition during the summertime, or is it simply that a place becomes so familiar it started to feel like home?

I was sipping my coffee today, and all I could think about was why I visit Mykonos often. Why do I feel so deeply in love with that city? Honestly, it’s because it feels like I am home. I don't feel like a stranger there; everything feels familiar. The people are down to earth. And although it gets busy and full of tourists, the fresh air, the perfect sunlight, the smell of the sea, and the perfect sunset that washes away everything, taking you into that exact moment to be grateful for where you are right now, all of this is just the right amount of what I need as a person. I am not going to say more, because maybe the reasons behind it are just that simple, maybe this is exactly what home feels like to me?

Sometimes, it’s not about going to the same destination over and over because it’s a summer trend, or because it’s where everyone goes during that time of year. It’s entirely about how you feel when you are there. We shouldn't underestimate the effect a city can have on us. It’s as if there is another version of you there, one stripped of everything that holds you back, allowing you to feel every moment to its fullest. We rush through life so fast that we forget what we feel when we travel to our comfort places. Yet, that exact feeling is what heals you from within, it’s what brings your broken pieces back together. Even if a city brings back sore memories, sometimes there is a strange relief in reliving them there so you can finally move on.

This connection is why I return to these familiar cities, because they always bring me happiness and help me find myself. They give me the space to think and to wander around without a plan. Because I have been to these places multiple times, I already know where my favorite cup of coffee is, where my dreamy chair in the park waits, and where to find the most authentic restaurant by the beach. My mind capacity is completely free of all the unnecessary thoughts or planning, instead, it can focus entirely on myself and what I need, allowing me to feel far beyond what I usually feel during my routine days. I don't return just to desperately relive past moments, but to let myself reach that place of being fully present, and to create moments for memories with the people I care about the most.

It makes me wonder, if we went to our favorite place with a view in any city, whether it's a coffee spot, a library, or a park, and ordered our favorite drink, and just enjoyed that moment entirely alone. Without any company, just sitting with our thoughts, present with our feelings, and noticing how we actually feel in that exact moment about the city. I believe that is where the true connection to a city hides, and it might just explain why we find ourselves visiting over and over again.