The Alluring Sound of Faraway Places
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 08.14.06 | 6:32 AM ET
Steven Knipp used to play a game with his mother where they’d take turns shouting out the names of exotic destinations. “After one of us would holler the name of a particularly glamorous city or island, the other’s job was to describe the first vision that came to mind,” he writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. “At that time, I’d never traveled much beyond New Jersey. But the mere mention of some alluring place name was enough to set my imagination ablaze.” Knipp’s excellent story explores how the sound of a destination can be a bit part of its attraction, and how traveling to a place with an beautiful, romantic name can ultimately be a letdown. “So, is it still worth traveling, despite the risk that some of your ultimate dream destinations might be shattered?” he asks. “In other words, is it better to have loved and lost them, then never to have loved them at all? You bet it is. Actual travel is always superior than the most imaginative armchair journeys.”
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
