I’ve just returned from my travels... Sri Lanka. 

It’s a beautiful place.  It’s not perfect, of course – whatever that means.  But I didn’t let its flaws intrude on its beauty, neither at the time, nor in hindsight. 

I made videos while I was there.  I think they call it ‘vlogging’ don’t they?  My videos were close-up, authentic records of experiences that moved me.  I didn’t capture every such event – some experiences had already passed by the time I’d managed to get my phone out.  I missed the mongoose family lurking around the pool, the monkeys chasing each other across the roof of my jungle cabin, and the huge, jagged lacerations of fork lightning across the sky on the penultimate night.

But I did record many wonderful things.  Train journeys across plunging landscapes and through colourful towns and villages, lashings of rain through the jungle trees, the wonderful and magical dawn chorus of a forest near Kandy, Buddhist chanting from the hills above Ella, daybreak across the vast Kallady beach on the east coast, and even crabs playing hide and seek with the ocean on the west.

Everything was incredible.  Everything made me feel something.  And making these videos brought me more directly into the moment, rather than taking me away from it.  I was always looking for opportunities to film.  As well as fulfilling my creative urge, editing the videos (trimming and cropping only – my videos are authentic and unembellished) allowed me to revisit these moments.  And I can watch them again and again now I’m home, should I choose to.

Being home, I have a fresh perspective on my life.  The day-to-day issues I face seem to be less troublesome.  I have a lighter, more optimistic mood.  This is as much to do with the time of year (the clocks went forward the night I got home) as with my travelling experience - but I’ll take it, whatever the reason!  I feel more attuned to impermanence and change – and more of an acceptance of both.  I think that’s because when you travel, you ‘zoom out’ and see the world as part of a greater whole.  That’s what makes the detail of our lives seem less important. 

Many things struck me as I was on Kallady beach at daybreak.  One is that there, the dawn arrives over a much shorter period of time than it does here.  It’s almost as if a light has been switched on!  I got to thinking how that could be, and I realised that near the equator, the circumference of the earth is at its widest.  Therefore, to make one revolution in 24 hours, the earth inevitably must spin considerably faster than it does further away from the equator. 

If this confuses you, think of a fairground carousel.  If we want to go more quickly, we sit on the outside horse, whereas if we prefer a less hectic ride, we choose the inside horse, which makes a smaller circle.  Yet we’re all on the same roundabout, just as we are all on the same planet.

Experiencing the 'speeded up' version of dawn in Sri Lanka has helped me appreciate the gentler arrival of dawn here in England - which I happened to witness this very morning, since my jetlag is still present!  Dawn creeps up on us, allowing us time to adjust.  The birds break into song more gently too.  I like it very much.

We can learn a lot about other cultures through travel.  Travel can also reinforce how human beings are all very much alike, wherever you go.  It also reminds us to appreciate one’s own back yard, making us feel glad to be home again despite enjoying our time away. 

Another way to way to find this appreciation of home, without wandering far, is to take a moment each day to be thankful.  A daily practice of gratitude can build an appreciative mindset, one that recognises the beauty in our surroundings, and renders us satisfied with what we already have. 

I’m going to try to do this from now on.  Wish me luck - and please join me if you feel you can! 

You can access my travel videos on my YouTube channel via this link: