I was listening to music on Pandora, and I started to cry just now. Perhaps I’m sad about my London trip never happening since I already cried several times throughout the day. The Pandora station was a guitar station and the artist playing was Armik. I heard Armik’s music for the very first time in the streets of Prague, and when I heard his guitar tunes I stopped dead in my tracks to find out where the music was coming from. It was a puppet and toy store and I went inside to inquire about the music. When I offered to buy the CD from one of the guys who worked there, he hesitated and told me to come back the next day so he could make me a copy of his CD. When I returned the next day, the guy didn’t have time to make a copy (or he just forgot) so he just ended up giving me his original CD. It was some sort of deluxe edition, and even his friends at the store gave him looks as they were thinking why the hell he was giving away his only copy to a complete stranger. The guy wouldn’t take any money from me at all. Of course, I will cherish the kindness of that stranger, and every time I hear Armik my mind takes me back to the streets of Prague, how the sun was just starting to set, as well as the little dog that was in my path while walking.
Then I thought about all the music I heard while traveling and how happy it makes me feel to go back in time to that certain place, even for a moment, even if I end up in tears. The love song called Zina was so beautiful when I was riding in the back of a car while riding through the Atlas Mountains on that sunny day as we were en route to Marrakech. After having dinner and walking around the Jemaa el-Fnaa, the driver, Kacem, was adamant about finding me the CD with my favorite song on it as it was his favorite, too. Then the CD I bought at the Istanbul airport on my return trip (the first time I went) allowed me to discover the song, 1001 Nights, about the beautiful Scheherazade who would tell stories to the king who ended up falling in love with her, sparing her life. The happy music I heard in Barcelona on the TuneIn radio app always makes me smile as it transports me back to that wonderful trip, with wonderful weather, with wonderful memories. And the music I heard on the train ride to Machu Picchu takes me back to heaven as I swear, I was ascending there.
The list is endless, of course. All the music of my travels takes me back, and it seems like my entire memory of each trip is played out in the entirety of each song. The happy memories inject me with a dose of euphoria with the duration of each song, and when the music stops, I actually end up crying. I want to go back to that place so, so badly. It’s amazing how one song triggers such vivid memories. I used to think of my ex boyfriends when I heard certain songs, feeling nostalgia, and then crying sometimes. But now as I wish to go back to each and every place of this world I’ve traveled to, I cry each and every time about the place just by hearing a song from that trip. This WanderLust is something else!
Springsteen was so very right: “Everybody has a Hungry Heart.” Especially, me.
(Please press the Play button below to see where your mind and heart transports you. Have a nice trip!)
