Tuning Out and Tuning In

People often ask me why I travel. Can't you get those same experiences at home? No. Well, why do you have to go so far away? There's a great big world right here in the United States. I'm not going to deny that there are amazing experiences, places, and people right here in the U.S. I don't travel to Europe because I think America is boring and humdrum. I travel to the far reaches because every experience, every everything is the exact opposite of boring and humdrum. In my travels, I have discovered the sublime and serendipitous, the unbelievably different and things that are so similar they hardly seem 'foreign.'  I've learned history and seen it first hand. I've been places I never imagined I'd go. 

And look, full disclosure - At home in America, I block out most of what goes on around me. Or at least I try. I hate the sound of idle conversation and chit-chat going on around me. I hate the same soundtracks being played over and over. I hate the noise, the laughter, the raised voices blathering on. When I'm out and about, I try my best ignore the world or I put on headphones. Like right now. I'm at my favorite coffee bar doing what I love to do and I can't seem to get the music loud enough to drown out the bullshit going on around me. There's party of some kind behind me with balloons, loud voices, and raucous laughter. Dishes clatter as busboys clear tables. People come and go. Headphones and loud music. It's my modus operandi for surviving long stays in public places in the U.S. 

In Europe, my senses are alive and yet dulled in a way. I can hear, but I can't understand. I can see signs and advertising around me, but I don't know what it all means. The music and the smells are different. I can tune in and tune out at the same time. It's an introvert's dream. 

And it's also perfect for discovering the truly sublime and serendipitous. Because I'm not tuning everything out, occasionally something enters my consciousness and even more occasionally that same something stirs my soul. The music I'm currently listening to I discovered in one of those near-perfect, time-stopping, life-changing moments.

Buza Bar is a little bottles-only-peanuts-and-Pringles-to-eat-nothing-fancy hole-in-the-wall carved into a cliff  just outside the old city walls over looking the Adriatic Sea in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It's on the tourist council's city map, but it's not exceptionally easy to find. And for most people on vacation, it's just not snazzy enough. One of the locals (my Air BnB host) told me about it in broken English. I don't know if the guys running the bar give him a kickback for recommendations, but I hardly care. If there was ever bar made for me, Buza is it. Bottles of Strong Bow Cider, sunshine (it's all open air), and an unequalled sea view? I went there almost daily. It was quiet with small groups casually sipping bottles and chatting (except for one particular Saturday afternoon when a group of Aussies took over the lower deck). 

On my first visit, the music was all American oldies. Beach Boys, some Foreigner, an AC/DC tune. That kind of thing. Stuff I could easily sing along to. My second visit started much the same. I assumed that was just their usual soundtrack, until the music stopped and changed. What came on wasn't anything I'd ever heard before. Moreover, I couldn't understand the lyrics. I figured the guys had switched to a Croatian artist (Hell, I didn't know) and I proceeded to listen absently. Then I heard Tina Turner's very distinctive voice in a duet. Wait.....What? She was singing "I can't stop thinking about you......." At the time, coincidentally, I was struggling with something very similar. Who is so famous from Croatia that Tina Turner would sing with them?!? Google answered that easily. Tina Turner recorded a duet called "Can't Stop Thinking of You" with an Italian artist (had to Google him to figure that out for sure) named Eros Ramazzotti. The guys at the bar had put on either a Spotify station or a CD because when I really started listening I realized his voice (singing in Italian) was in every song. 

I also realized that I liked every song. That night while sitting in my apartment in Dubrovnik, a super short walk with few steps from the bar (If you've ever been to Dubrovnik, you understand how important and rare step-free travel can be in the old city), I downloaded a few songs to my iTunes. I listened to them over and over again the next day on a day trip to Mostar and again a few days later on a similar trip to Kotor, Montenegro. Those songs will forever be my Croatia soundtrack.

When I got back to the States, I borrowed a friend's Spotify account and listened to Eros 30, the greatest hits album I think the boys at Buza had played. I couldn't understand the lyrics (and I still can't) but I love the songs nonetheless. I zipped over to iTunes and bought the entire album, something I rarely do. I've listened to little since, including right now as I write this (and block out the bullshit going on around me). 

Ask me again why I travel. Sure, it's possible I could have discovered Eros Ramazzotti in America....but I'm fairly certain his fan-base is exclusively European (Well, except for one fifty-something woman in Austin, Texas). So while it's possible, it's also highly improbable. Besides, here in America, I'm about tuning out rather than tuning in. It's the gift that keeps on giving as long as I'm traveling. I can be present on some level without getting frustrated, overstimulated, and introvert-weird. 

I know. I know. There are all kinds of sublime and serendipitous things right here in American that I'm missing out on because I insist on tuning out. Blah, blah, blah. I don't dispute that in the least. Hell, I discovered my favorite composer (also an Italian.....) while listening to Pandora not fifty feet from where I'm currently sitting.....................while tuning out the world. I don't know about y'all but I'm beginning to think that there's something to this tuning out thing. When I tune out and tune in, cool stuff invariably happens. And all the more when I travel. 

So, why do I travel? Easy. Unexpected, often random-seeming, beautiful ah-ha moments. The better question? Why doesn't everyone travel?