Traveling At The Speed Of The Soul | NOEMA

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the author's experience of walking 2,500 miles across Europe, following in the footsteps of travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. It explores the themes of pilgrimage, the importance of walking speed, and the sense of dislocation and estrangement felt upon returning home after a long journey.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The author's walking journey

1. What was the author's walking journey?

• The author walked 2,500 miles across Europe, following the footsteps of travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor
• The journey took 221 days and took the author through the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey to the shore of the Bosporus
• The author slept in various places, including couches, the ruins of castles, and abandoned hunting hides, and spent most of the time alone

2. How did the author feel upon arriving in Istanbul?

• The author felt beyond exhaustion, and the arrival did not feel as triumphant as expected
• The author felt happy, but in a distant way, and mostly felt like crying

3. Why did the author choose to fly home instead of returning slowly by train and bus?

• The author was just too tired after completing the walk and felt that the purpose of the journey was concluded
• The flight compressed the 221-day walk into just 240 minutes, which the author found disturbing and felt had "undone the walking"

[02] The sense of dislocation upon returning home

1. How did the author describe the experience of returning home after the long journey?

• The author experienced a sense of estrangement and dislocation, where the familiar sights around had become foreign
• The author's mental map of London, a city the author had known well, had completely vanished
• There was a temporal distortion, where the author felt the place had been in a state of suspended animation during the time away

2. What did the author feel was negated by the manner of returning home by flight?

• The author felt that the achievement of the walk, with all its struggles, hardships, joys and revelations, had been negated by the quick return by flight
• The author came to realize that the journey was not a completed pilgrimage, as the return should have been done slowly to integrate the experience

[03] The significance of walking speed

1. What is the significance of walking speed according to the article?

• Walking at a slow pace of around 3 miles per hour allows the mind and soul to keep up with the body, rather than being left behind
• Faster modes of transportation, like driving and flying, disrupt this continuity and connection between the body, mind, and the surrounding environment
• The author experienced this disruption when accepting a lift in a car, feeling disconnected from the world around

2. How does the article relate the idea of walking speed to the concept of pilgrimage?

• In the past, pilgrims would reach their destination and return home at the same walking pace, allowing for a completed circle and integration of the experience
• The author's quick return by flight meant the journey was not a fully completed pilgrimage, as the return was not done slowly

[04] The story of the man from Baghdad

1. What is the significance of the story of the man from Baghdad?

• The story, based on a Rumi poem, follows a similar structure to the hero's journey and pilgrimage
• It suggests that true treasure lies at home, but one cannot see that treasure until they have seen the wider world and returned
• The author relates this to their own experience, realizing that the treasure was waiting at home all along, and the journey was necessary to gain that insight

2. How does the author interpret the moral of the story in relation to their own experience?

• The author's attention had always been on the "away" rather than the home, with the treasure seen as elsewhere
• The author realized that the true treasure was at home, and the journey was necessary to gain that deeper understanding and meaning of home