Travel and creativity

Last year I was sitting on a rooftop terrace at a riad in Marrakech when I had a realisation about the power of travel to fuel creativity.

The sun was setting, the birds were singing and dancing across the sky, and the air was still warm from the heat of the day. I could hear sounds from the city below as the call to prayer rang out from the nearby mosque and I sat there taking it all in.

It was the second time I had visited Marrakech. The first trip had been three years earlier and had involved a whirlwind couple of days of arriving, being amazed by the culture, and quickly leaving to spend a week at the Taghazout coast. I had been waiting to return to the city ever since, and I was not disappointed.

Creative inspiration

There is something special about Marrakech. Yes, it’s busy, hectic, hot, and at times stressful, but it also has a magical quality. It’s a place to dream and be inspired. A city shaped by travellers and nomads with the spirit of wanderlust flowing through its streets.

And it was with those thoughts that I realised I wanted to spend my life traveling, being inspired by the world, and writing about it.

Let me provide some context. For the year leading up to the trip to Marrakech I had been living in London, working in PR, and generally feeling uninspired. Marrakech changed all that. I felt like myself again as I sat on that rooftop and thought about ideas for stories and photographs. I had a desire to create that I hadn’t felt in months. I felt free.

Travel and creativity

It’s well known that many artists, whether they be writers, photographers, or musicians, travel to become inspired and to kick start their creative outlets. There are even scientific studies on the topic with one suggesting a link between living abroad and an increase in creativity.

From personal experience, I am a firm believer in the power of travel to inspire and expand the mind. Often creative ideas come to us when we switch off, and what better way to do that than by taking ourselves away from our day-to-day lives. After all, we only have one life and we should live it to the fullest.

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