I could give all the usual reasons, it broadens your mind, you get to see how other people live….. And all these things are true of course. But it’s the little things that come along out of the blue that really brighten my day.

I was walking through Perth wearing my backpack a couple of weeks ago; Liz and I were off to get my backpack fitted properly (Many thanks to the lovely Pam at Main Peak,  I am sure my back and legs will thank you too in a few weeks!) We were stopped by a lovely Japanese gentleman who was bowing very politely, a big smile on his face and pointing excitedly to the little Japanese hat hanging on my backpack.

Unfortunately his English wasn’t great, but since our Japanese is almost non-existent, we had to do a lot of  that speaking slowly and head nodding that seems to aid better understanding. He and Liz talked about the Shikoku pilgrimage that she did a a couple of years ago, we think he had done some of it too. It was just lovely, we took photos of each other and smiled and did lots of bowing and went on our way. And our day was made that much happier by those few moments when strangers became friends all because of a souvenir hanging on my backpack.

Liz wrote a great blog about why she loves travel when she returned from Japan. Check it out here

I’d love to hear what you love about travel!