Travel vs Common Sense

Common sense is rather vulgar. It lowers aspirations, calculates risks, prepares its counter‑attack. Courage, sincerity, instinct — they don’t stand a chance if you give common sense time to organize. The impulse that pushes us to change, the wind that ruins, doesn’t argue, doesn’t promise results. It simply offers extreme, irresponsible choices. We can say yes or no. That’s the beauty.
(D. Da Silva, mancarsi)

_{Selçuk, Turkey, September 2013}

The beauty of a journey is the discovery you don’t expect — what lies behind the next curve, the next station, the island across the water. Sometimes it’s just a chair thrown there: you sit, miss a train on purpose, write, think, and suddenly understand something important. The unexpected arrives uninvited, but it’s the most precious gift.

So it happens: after a giant juice, I look for the “touvaletes,” check schedules, and wonder — should I continue toward a dead city, or sneak behind the scenes of the Otogar? I decide I’ve had enough of death this year. Now I want life, lights, colors. And then I lose myself in a market — a kaleidoscope of people, sounds, spices, and flavors. I wander through stalls, carried by the rhythm of the crowd, enchanted by voices and colors.

That’s when I know: what matters to me when I travel is the people. I let myself be distracted, diverted, I try speaking their language — Turkish, why not? If words fail, I speak with my eyes, and they answer back. And I lose time…

I close my book, peek at my neighbor’s Penguin Classic, and ask him how Turks see Italians. He smiles: “You Italians really know how to enjoy life.” Pleasant, though wrong. At least, does he know when the bus leaves?
Nope.

Don’t you agree?

I would love to hear from you: what unexpected moments have surprised you while traveling? Which small detours, chance encounters, or hidden corners became the highlight of your journey?

Your stories are the heartbeat of travel, and sharing them makes the adventure even richer.