Stay sentimental. There’s a thrill in the new and the foreign, but small tokens of your life are, in part, what lead you to where you are today. Don’t hesitate to carry your pocket full of lucky dice, sachets of your favorite tea, or for me—the scraps of paper that make up my late grandmother’s handwritten prayers. There’s a time to adopt minimalism on the road, but this isn’t one of them.
Make your traditions. The road is a place for spontaneity, impromptu whims, and making-do. These are the challenges and delights of constant movement, but they don’t have to exist outside the practice of tiny rituals. Visiting bookstores in every city, taking a long bath wherever there’s a tub, waking up with the sun to see the loneliest hours of the day; these small moments we create for ourselves keep us human.
Let yourself be your home. Which is to say: as we keep moving, we are our own constants. Except that we change, too. It is both the truth and a lie that we “find” ourselves on the road—rather, that we find we’re always changing. In this, the road forces and encourages us to become our own comfort until we see we’re just where we ought to be, after all.
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Written and photographed by Celeste Noche.
Celeste is a photographer, second-hand book lover, and picnic enthusiast based in Portland, Oregon, but she is more likely to be found on the road. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @extracelestial.
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