The View from a Drawbridge

Have you ever noticed that a sound or a smell can instantly transport you back to an experience in your past? A certain song always reminds you of your first kiss. The smell of baking bread takes you back to your mother’s kitchen when you were a child.

I love it when this happens.

Unfortunately, there’s really no efficient way to collect smells. But you can collect sounds. And one day it occurred to me that it would be lovely to collect sounds that I associate with my travels.

As tourists, we all seem to scurry around, desperately taking pictures because we want to remember this experience. Travel is often the high point of our lives, made even more poignant because it is so rare due to its expense. So why not collect sounds in addition to photos?

I have amassed quite a few of those sounds over my lifetime of travel.

Nothing says Puerto Rico like the sound of the Coqui frog.

And the beautiful, profound, haunting Muslim call to prayer instantly transports me back to Istanbul.

Fog horns remind me of the cold and isolated coast of Saint-Siméon, Canada, the farthest north I’ve ever been.

I had amassed quite a travel sound library, but unfortunately it went the way of my ex-boyfriend. This makes me think rather less of him, since I made it a point to make sure he got copies of all the photos.

But I have every intention of starting afresh. Along with my camera, I will always bring a recording device when I travel, and on those quiet nights at home when I feel the urge to reminisce, I will close my eyes, turn on the sounds, and travel back in time to some of the happiest moments in my life.

Saint-Siméon, Canada on a day without fog.

[Image credit: bonjourquebec.com]