Music has always been a very powerful way to stimulate emotions. So here is the secret - when you travel, listen to the local music, capture it and when you get home, download and play it. It is one of the best ways to remember your travel experiences, the place, the location, the memory of where you were when you heard that song. You will find yourself smiling, reminiscing and dreaming about your someday trip again. Here's what to do:
First, we recommend you put aside your phone, ipod or music device with all of your pre-recorded music.
Next, download an app like Shazam so you can capture music that you hear while on your trip, then identify it and buy it.
Now, if your are the adventuresome type who likes to rent a car and explore other countries, don't plug into the line jack, turn on the radio. The radio will bring you music you may have never heard before. The point here is that it is coming from a local station so you are immersing yourself in the culture. You may not understand the language but that's what makes it even more fun. You can usually get the gist of what they're saying from the radio announcer's enthusiasm, very much like radio stations in your own home towns.
Finally, when you have a choice to walk in the direction of music you hear, whether live or recorded, do it. Listen to it and capture it on your Shazam app.
Hopefully you are getting the point that you can capture "moments" during your travels from the music playing around you. By allowing your Shazam app to listen and identify a song, you have just captured a powerful travel memory. These can be the cheapest but most treasured souvenirs that you can take home from your travels. So how do they create memories? Here are some examples of how music has become one of the most powerful memories for us.
When traveling to work in the morning and listening to music on our phone, the song Un Souffle De Délire (A Breath of Delirium) by Suarez starts playing. Our boring commute suddenly reminds us of driving through the French countryside on our way to a winery. The song brings us back to those moments on the road when we were listening to the "FUN" radio station in France. We would never have been exposed to this Belgian pop band had we not been listening to the radio on our trip. Now we have it on our playlists to listen to whenever we want to remember our fun road trip through France.
On other occasions, while sitting at our desks at work and listening to music on our headphones, the song Gotta Go Home by Boney M starts playing and suddenly we are transported to a dance party on a catarmaran while on our way from St. Maarten to Anguilla for a morning of snorkeling. It takes us back to waters so clear and blue and cut so effortlessly by the sail boat as we glide through the aqua blue Caribbean water. Everyone on board was having a good time moving to the lively rhythm of the song. The challenge here if you are in the office is to stop yourself from getting up and dancing with your coffee cup in hand; but for a few minutes you smile and the work in front of you is momentarily on hold. You're now energized from those wonderful travel memories and ready to focus again. Watch our video of Pinel Island now and you will feel those island waters.
We don't typically listen to a lot of hip hop and soul but a radio station in Italy, during our road trip from Umbria to the Amalfi Coast, frequently played the song Bright Lights Bigger City by Ceelo Green, which was very popular in Europe at the time. Now, anytime we hear it, we are transported back to that road trip through the Italian countryside and along the narrow winding roads of the Amalfi Coast. This trip seems distant now but with that song on our playlist we have revisited our someday trip again and again. Happy memories often, anywhere, at any time. What could be better than that.
The next song on our travel memories list is what we call a dream everyday song, that special song you need to add to your somedaytrip playlist on your phone for those future bucketlist adventures. That song is Paris by the Friendly Fires. This one makes us dream of escaping and living in Paris someday, a dream for sure but one we always have fun thinking about as it makes us dream that someday we could live there.
Needless to say we have a significant list of songs that we have captured from our travels and whenever they pop up on our playlist, we are happily reminded of our journeys to far away places. Travel is about experiences, and the music that you grab from your trips can create a sensory memory experience that will immediately transport you back to that special place and time.
Here is a link to get the Shazam app, which is our favorite. The best part is that you can capture the song snippet even without being connected to the internet. It will store it, and when you return home, you will be reminded of those magic moments as you listen to the clips you've captured abroad.
We hope this tip helps you Dream Everydaysm of those wonderful experiences from past travels while planning for your future SomedayTripTM. Share with us what songs transport you to your travel memories.
Happy travels!
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