Why I'll Never Be Too Busy to Travel for Pleasure

In this series of posts, professionals reveal their best antidotes to work stress. Read the posts here, and then write your own (use #OutsideWork in your piece).

I happen to have an extensive life outside work that spans culture, friends and family, cooking, and travel. I wrote a couple of articles last year: The Path I Chose Lets Me Create Art for Art’s Sake and Why I Cook, and Suggest You Do Too about some of these passions. I haven’t written much about travel yet, so in this post, I thought it would be fun to talk about that.

I have always loved to travel, and I have always traveled extensively. 2015 was a fun year, and we started by spending a weekend in Yosemite at the historic Awahnee lodge. Awahnee was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who also designed the Zion, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon lodges. I very much enjoy architecture and design, and Awahnee’s Great Hall and Dining Room are both spectacular.

In March, we spent 10 days in Barcelona. The focus was on food. Barcelona is Europe’s food capital these days, and the highlight of our visit was a Japanese tapas restaurant called Dos Pallilas.

Barcelona is also a feast for the eyes if you like Art Nouveau architecture, a style that I absolutely love. 

In June, I had to make a quick trip to England for a cousin’s wedding. The wedding was in Ilfracombe, Devon, on the coast. A small fishing village called Clovelly was charming. 

In October, we enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Utah, visiting Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks. Nature’s grandeur there is overwhelming. It always makes me feel insignificant, and happily so.

The last trip of the year was in November. We flew to London for business, and then traveled to Budapest, Vienna and Prague for an immersion in art, architecture, theater, and classical music. And of course, food. In London, a memorable meal at Chutney Mary, the fabled Indian restaurant, was the highlight.

I am crazy about London theater, and saw two plays there. We also saw a delightful performance of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmallion at the Vienna English Theater, and Pucchini’s opera Madame Butterfly in Budapest. Budapest Opera is a spectacular venue. 

We arrived in Vienna on a rainy night only to find the Christmas markets glittering like a fairy tale.

Among the highlights of Vienna was the dressage show of the Spanish Riding School at the Hofburg Palace. Lipizzaner horses start life as black foals, growing into white stallions in a strange whim of nature.

Vienna is full of historic cafes, and we visited many. Café Demel, famous for furnishing pastries to the empress Sisi, Café Sacher, birthplace of the Sacher torte, Café Mozart, founded soon after Mozart’s death, Café Central, where Freud used to hang out … all were atmospheric and charming.

We ended the Eastern Europe trip in Prague. Watching the sun come down on the river Vlatava is magical. We also listened to three classical concerts at three beautiful venues: the mirror chapel at the Klementinum, the Lobkowicz Palace, and the St. George’s Basilica at Prague Castle.

In fact, classical music was a key aspect of this trip. Not only did we listen to concerts in each city, including the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverain, one of the most important concert halls in the world, we also visited the apartments of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert in Vienna and Lizst in Budapest. Vienna’s already famous composer Schubert died in a tiny apartment behind Naschmarket at 32. I found it hard to fathom.

We also saw a lot of art in all cities. A Giacometti exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and an Edward Munch exhibition at the Albertina palace in Vienna were the highlights. Also interesting were the Klimts at the Belvedare in Vienna, and our introduction to the Hungarian Secession movement painters in Budapest.

The Eastern Europe trip is the first time I did an extensive travelogue on Facebook. I have never done a public travelogue, really, but it turned out to be a fun experiment with friends and family all over the world and many of my readers following it, engaging with it, and sharing the moments. Social media offers an interesting medium to capture and share memories and experiences, one that I shall explore further on future trips. This post is an abridged version of that travelogue.