I find that many moments live up to my dreams and expectations in both travel and life, but even if they are extended moments, rarely is the whole entirely dreamy. I'm generally good with great moments… Love the thoughts, questions, and the book recommendation. Thanks!

Recognizing the moment, living the mantra “be here now”, embracing the sour to enjoy the sweet: all of these are tough to do in a world of competing stimuli, dissenting opinions, pressures pulling us multiple ways. If your moments live up to your dreams and expectations, then you're definitely doing something right: how do you do it?

An aside, a question: Recognizing <a href=”
http://www.taylordavidson.com/writing/2009/02/0… moments and turning points in real-time is incredibly hard, our romantic notion of what the experience *should* feel like clouded by the noise, uninformed by the clarity of the future: are you generally good with these great moments?

[...] to the right to experience a place and a destination in their own way, for their own reasons, safe from judgment. All travelers are created [...]

I couldn't agree more that it's tough. It's definitely a work in progress for me to “be here now.” I don't have it mastered and don't ever really expect to… Like balance, being present just seems like it's an ongoing life process. The only way I've been able to do it is to stop and take a deep breath in the moment – literally and figuratively. I try not to move so fast mentally that I'm not capable of slowly down in the moment. Often this is unrelated to my actual physical pace, but I find that slowing down physically for a little while at a time without distraction helps too (i.e. computer/tv off, calls/tweets/text unanswered, etc). What about you?

On defining moments, I think it's depends. Some are hard to miss (assuming I'm listening) and others may only be available in hindsight – with the clarity of the future – because what matters is what was *done* next. I don't always know how I feel about something immediately so it's hard to catch in real time… Maybe catching some should be good enough?

Travel (and life) is never quite what you expect and I think that's what drives us. I see it as we get to make choices and then the rest is really up to the dominoes that we've set off.

Traveling is life so the idea that it's a single moment on a beach, or partying might throw some people off depending on what they're looking for. My daydreams are rather unpredictable and that's how I like my travels, and dreams :)

Life is the sum of single moments, each contributing to the whole in their own little ways; yet in our dreams (not literally, dreams, but the fanciful castles in the sky we create in our heads) we blur the moments and focus on the grand vision: why?

“Be here now” is my mantra to remind myself to be present; “I am exactly where I am supposed to be” is my mantra to remind myself that the sea of alternatives are less important than where I am right now. Physical space helps me create mental space, and separation from my tasks helps my mind re-look at an issue in a new way.

Defining moments: rarely, if ever, do I catch a defining moment in the moment. Most likely, never…

Good question – perhaps it's the emotional aspect of the thoughts that cause us to make our ideas into dreams. Sometimes when we break things down they aren't as glamorous so better to keep our heads in the clouds.

And that's my personal quandry: I like breaking things down, I like experiencing “the suck”, but I wonder if I wasn't better off sometimes not asking questions and “keeping my head in the clouds.” Most of the time? No. Sometimes? Probably yes. For me…

Expecting too much from something will never do you any good. You are right in your views here, that's why a well planned travel should come first before the “leap”.

[...] of literature, but I like the book. I discovered de Botton fairly late, picking up his book The Art of Travel in the Tate Modern in London back in 2005; while de Botton’s subject matter, style and [...]

This make me remember of my visit to New York with LastMinute travel.I rested myself in the Miami hotels….perhaps it was only one of my experience out of the many where all my dreams about spending a splendid vacation got fulfilled.