The Best Place
By Harry
"Where is the best place you’ve been to?”. Now there’s a loaded question. Can you honestly answer that?. Is it home, after all there is no place like home, according to Dorothy. But was she right?
I’ve been to a few places, 20 countries at last count, about 10% of the countries in the world. However, there a thousands upon thousands of places to go to within these countries. So please forgive me if I pause while I think about the answer.
Other people that I talk to have travelled a lot more than me, experienced a lot more than me and they must take even longer to ponder over that question. When I talk to them it makes me hanker over buying that ailine ticket, the travel guide and packing my bags and going. Especially if they tell me about The Best Place.
The Best Place, it gets me thinking about border crossings, train stations, snowy mountains, sun kissed beaches, and beautiful smily people in some crazy, mad places where I wonder why they are smiling, is it that they have found the grail of The Best Place.
How can I possibly answer such a question, I think my search for this grail will always continue. Everyplace I have been to and every place I will go to will be remarkable in it’s own way for it’s own reasons. That’s why I’ve gone there.
When you head off think about what will make ‘The Best Place’. To me there are many things, I love a bit of everything, makes life complicated but very interesting. Beaches, mountains, lush landscapes, hard concrete urban sprawls, but mainly, it is The People.
It is always The People that make ‘The Best Place’. They can make or break your trip, make or break a place or give you lasting memories of places. The People could be your travelling companions, ramdom other travellers that you chance across , or, some would say the most important, The Locals.
Make sure you talk to The Locals, whether you are in a metropolis like New York or on the beaches of Goa. Talk to them. Most of them speak a little English unless you are really off the tourist track, so use this. Use it to learn their language and learn to break down the barriers. It’s fun try it. And they will really help towards making it ‘The Best Place’.
I came across the random other traveller once. Turned out to not to be the greatest experience, though you should always give them some time, it’s part of the grail search.. My random other traveller was a sunburnt Englishman, wearing just his boxer shorts and flip flops because it was “Too bloody hot”. India not long before the monsoon, what do you expect? I met him in Hampi (Vijayanager, Karnatika, India) amongst the nine square miles of 5-600 year old ruins of one of the greatest cities in India.
This other random traveller told me about how he ended up in a fight in Sri Lanka because they didn’t understand him. Obviously didn’t follow the rule of meet The Locals and learn some of their language. I was embarrassed to be English. Still, he helped to make that place and after two years of travelling he still sticks in the forefront of my mind, linked to Hampi Ruins.
So, in answer to the question; “Where is ‘The Best Place’ you’ve been to?”, I will also with anywhere there are people. And they are everywhere. Go talk to them, give them some of your time and make every place you go to the discovery of that grail, ‘The Best Place’.
