What Travel is About: That “Wow” Moment

“Wow.”

It’s a word that’s said often for many reasons:

“Wow … what a beautiful sunset.”

“Wow … that pizza was good.”

“Wow … that was an exceptionally large booger I pulled out of my nose.”

Of course, there’s other interjections, like: “oh,” and “cool.” But, “wow” seems to be the one that garners the most emotion. We just love wow’s. Wow’s are what gives travel meaning.

My husband is an artist. He loves to visit museums when we travel. The thing about travel is that, if utilized correctly, it becomes more than just a country-counter. Travel isn’t about having a lot of countries under your belt. It’s not about the: “Yeah, I been there, I saw that,” moment because that doesn’t mean anything. It’s about the “I can’t believe this world is so beautiful.” It’s the “wow” moment that allows a traveler to learn more about themselves and people around them. That “wow” moment becomes the inspiration for life. My husband loves to visit museums because seeing art up close is his inspiration for life, for work and himself. It’s his “wow.”

The Albertina in Vienna. The Albertina in Vienna.

The very first place we visited in Vienna was the Albertina, a museum in the first district of the city. Frank grew up around art, thanks to his mom who was an art teacher. His favorite artist is Albrecht Dürer for many reasons. They share a lot of similarities: Dürer was a mathematician, my husband was an engineer (lots of math in that career) and they both became artists. To Frank, Dürer is the best watercolor artist and made exceptional art engravings and made his favorite piece is The Young Hare.

We visited every single room in the Albertina. It wasn’t until the very end, in a small hallway leading down the stairs to another exhibit that we saw it:

The Young Hare. The Young Hare.

The Young Hare, the painting of a rabbit that seemed to lock eyes with my husband.

“It’s here,” he said. “I can’t believe I’m looking right at it, my favorite painting.”

Frank stared at it, studying the painting, burning its image into his memory to be remembered. That tiny hallway leading to a larger room held his most favorite painting, his inspiration for his artwork, by an artist who was his inspiration to become an artist. It was the most uneventful hallway, but it didn’t matter. People squeezed past us to get to the big room with the big paintings, unaware of the small painting. Hundreds of thoughts ran through his mind as he admired the painting in that instance where travel ceased being a country-counter and became beautiful instead. But, he uttered one word and the most suitable for this moment:

“Wow.”


(The Albertina is located at Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Wien, Austria. Bring your student ID if applicable. It may help you get a discount on admission prices).

Thanks for reading our 100th post! Wow! We’ve written 100 Wow moments from around the world. What is your Wow moment on your travels?

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22 responses

  • Congrats!
    I just wrote something similar about wow moments – I experienced many in Ireland but one of them (other than the one I wrote about during my time at the Rock of Cashel) was at Glendalough. A gorgeous and eerie place. But I agree. I haven’t been to that many countries (5) but I’ve experienced some amazing things and that’s what counts! Plus when you’re located in North America it’s tougher to get your country # up.

    • I agree. We’re a little secluded over here in the Americas. The countries are just so huge, that it becomes more like a state counter than anything.

  • Certainly sounds like a wow moment! I can only imagine what that must have been like for your husband. I agree that it’s not about how many places you’ve been but the experiences that you’ve had while there. A nice bit of inspiration to slow down and appreciate all the ‘wow’ moments travel brings.

    • Thank you for commenting, Casey! You know, based on looking at him, he was shocked, but in a good way. I don’t think he realized he would stumble upon the Young Hare. So, it was a surprise. =)

  • Loved this post; thank you for sharing this “wow” moment with you. I 100% get what you mean about searching for those “wow” moments—truly, no other word would do. I often feel in those moments a sense of something almost a bit like vertigo but right in my gut. Ever since landing in Nepal, we’ve walked around kind of just laughing in disbelief at all the things that evoke wow after wow from us!

    • Nepal must be amazing! I love it when visiting a place can do that. Disbelief that you’re actually there and experiencing something so amazing is really an awesome emotion. =)

  • After 3 years of travel, those wow moments become rarer, but still happen enough for me to continue searching them out. Definitely still a major reason why I do this. And when you do find them, they’re even more special. 😀

    • They become more rare after a while traveling? I do think that the excitement wears off. For example, our first time traveling together, my husband and I were soooo excited for France. We couldn’t sleep the night before. It was like we were kids again. Now, we’re more prepared when we travel and it, while still exciting, traveling is a thing we “do.” So, still fun. Still wow. But, we do it, as in “a vacation is a thing you do, not a rarity.”

  • congrats on your 100th post (and i guess more than that now)! my most recent wow moment was at cafe moto in brooklyn, new york, eating delicious food, and listening to seriously the best live jazz i’ve heard in a long time (baby soda jazz band).

    • Thanks Eva!

      That sounds like a great wow moment! Hubs really wants to sit in a jazz cafe. Maybe we ought to try this one! =)

  • Congratulations on your 100th Post, and I do have those WOW moments too. it sounds cheesy but its the reason why I travel, im constantly on the lookout for that “wow” (or in my case, that Holy Smithereens! moment) factor. its like a drug 🙂

  • What a great post, and some great comments too. It’s so interesting to hear abouteveryone’s “Travel Wow”. Mine: after a long, noisy and terrifying car ride, sitting at a shabby cafe table high in the mountains near Munnar, India, looking over the brightest of green tea plantations and hearing…nothing!

    Congrats on the 100th post!

    • Hi Sharon,

      That sounds like an excellent wow moment. I love it when we have those kinds of moments, too. Especially when the sun is out or if we’re sitting up some place really high.


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