The Inspired Traveler

Where aspiration becomes a passport.

Some journeys begin with a boarding pass and end with a lesson in letting go. Easter Island. No bags. No plan. Just me.

I lived an inspired childhood in Coral Gables, just next to Miami—where most of the streets were named for Spanish and Italian cities. Ferdinand Street was home. A few blocks away: Lisbon Avenue. Parallel to mine: Madrid Street. Alhambra Circle and Granada Boulevard carved through the city, crossing near the center. These weren’t just names. They were invitations. The Mediterranean-style buildings felt like I grew up in a special place.

Even then, my compass pointed outward. Something about departure boards, worn passports, and the crackle of possibility at a gate call stirred something in me. Back then, I didn’t know what I was chasing. I only knew I wanted to go.

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

—Robert Louis Stevenson

Some people chase inspiration intensely, like it is a task to be reigned in. I’ve come to believe it’s more like a breadcrumb trail—small moments, missed connections, a glimpse of the unexpected. It shows up in the slow burn of a train journey through Andalusia or the silence of a sunrise over a foreign city where you don’t speak the language—but you understand the feeling.

For me, inspiration lives at the intersection of curiosity and courage. It doesn’t always wait until you’re ready. Often, it shows up in the middle of uncertainty. Sometimes, it shows up without your luggage.

This is a photo I keep from a flight to Easter Island—a simple shot of my boarding pass tucked into the seatback in front of me. That journey was iconic, but my suitcase went on to Tahiti. For two weeks South and North over the equator, I rotated the same clothes, navigating the most remote inhabited island on Earth with nothing but a backpack, my passport, and some Oreo cookies. But what I gained was something better: the story that became a chapter called Baggage—and the realization that the weight we carry isn’t always physical.

Travel, at its best, unpacks us.

“Your aspirations are your possibilities.”

—Samuel Johnson

What inspires me now isn’t just the destinations—it’s the detours. The ways we grow when we’re uncomfortable, the strangers who remind us who we are, the pauses between places where the most important reflections happen. Pema Chödrön, the esteemed Buddhist nun and teacher, emphasizes in her teachings to embrace life’s challenges as opportunities for growth.

That’s the heart of why I write. Why I wander. Why I invite others to do the same.

This post is a love letter to the inspired traveler. The one chasing questions more than answers. The one who packs light but brings a full heart.

Here’s to the moments that shift us—one bag, one gate, one gaze, one story at a time.

—Jim