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This Battered Suitcase

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  • Start Here
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    • Africa
      • Botswana
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      • Morocco
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      • South Africa
      • Tanzania
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      • Zambia
    • Asia
      • Bhutan
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
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      • Laos
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Stories

Imagination vs. Reality

written by Brenna Holeman March 8, 2013
Brenna walks in Uyuni, Bolivia
Near Uyuni, Bolivia
Samuel Johnson said, “The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” And haven’t we all dreamed of a faraway land, only to be slightly disappointed upon arrival? Or perhaps we’ve experienced the opposite: expected nothing, and felt everything. I’ve been let down before, by great cities and famous monuments. I’ve also fallen in love with places I didn’t know existed until the day before, fallen in love with whole countries I had written off too soon.
We use imagination to spark our wanderlust, but it is reality that brings us back on the road time and time again. We crave the reality. We crave the different and the true, the things that shake our beliefs, the things that force us to think with new minds, force us to see with new eyes. We pick up what is in front of us, we make it whole and real. We make it a tangible thing, no longer scrambled amongst our perceptions or our assumptions. We stop thinking of how things may be, and we start seeing them for what they are. We let ourselves get lost in the real, we let ourselves forget what we know, we open up our arms and our eyes and our minds and our hearts and take it all in. And that, that is so much better than anything our imaginations could ever create.
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Brenna Holeman

Brenna Holeman has travelled to over 100 countries in the past 13 years, many of them solo. She's a big fan of whisky and window seats.

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10 comments

Steph Lloyd March 8, 2013 - 6:08 am

Yes!

Reply
This Battered Suitcase March 8, 2013 - 10:13 pm

🙂

Reply
'Lara March 8, 2013 - 11:25 am

Post on point…travelling sure make the imagination a reality.

Reply
This Battered Suitcase March 8, 2013 - 10:13 pm

It definitely does…

Reply
Andi of My Beautiful Adventures March 8, 2013 - 1:54 pm

Sooo poignant!

Reply
This Battered Suitcase March 8, 2013 - 10:13 pm

Thanks, Andi!

Reply
mollyocon March 9, 2013 - 1:46 pm

Great post!

Reply
This Battered Suitcase March 10, 2013 - 1:03 am

Thank you!

Reply
[Ali] To Be Continued... March 10, 2013 - 5:16 pm

Beautifully written and oh so true my dear xx

Reply
This Battered Suitcase March 10, 2013 - 7:03 pm

Thank you my love xx

Reply

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About Me

About Me

Hi, I'm Brenna

My name is Brenna Holeman and I drink a lot of whisky. No, wait. That’s not how I want to start. After over 100 countries over 14 years, many of them solo, I tend to write about travel a lot, but I write about other things, too: getting dumped, buying way too much jewellery, and yeah, OK, whisky (none of those things are related, I swear). You’ll find a mix of advice, opinion pieces, and stories on this blog, but either way, I hope to make you want to read more. For more about me and what you'll find on This Battered Suitcase, click here .

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Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." - Jack Kerouac

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