Until I traveled, I never truly understood what was meant when people said your “mind wandered.” Now, my mind is often physically elsewhere, and this phenomenon leaves the question, “Where is my mind today?” open for debate.

There are some days I find my mind wandering. Yes, quite literally wandering. Down a road in Valencia, Spain that I walked dozens of times. On a train in the UK headed to a new destination. Meandering down cobblestoned roads in Georgetown. Perhaps even driving a road that I once maneuvered daily in North Carolina or Arizona. 

Sometimes I see a place in my mind, and it feels just out of reach. Where was that? I can see it so clearly, but I’m not sure where it is. It’s a memory strong enough to remember visually, but I can’t put names or locations with the images. 

And I wonder, does this happen to other people? Do places they’ve been and images their brain has stored haunt them all day long? What makes my mind select a certain place — yearn for a location — one day and seem to all but forget it the next?

I can hardly say it bothers me, but it’s like a tiny little film reel playing in the back of my mind, distracting me from what else I’m supposed to be doing. It’s a product of the travel I’ve done and the travel I want to do. Even when I am stationary, my mind is traveling.

Where is my mind today? And where is it going tomorrow? In some ways, it’s comforting to know that my brain will always remember places I’ve been, and maybe even in old age, I’ll have the pleasure of seeing them in my memory long after I’m able to physically visit. Perhaps it’s my mind granting me the freedom to travel forever…or at least that’s as much as I can hope.