Today

My Uncle told me to enjoy my school days. “They’re the best days of your life,” he said, with the kind of certainty that only comes from someone looking backwards.

I’m not sure he was right.

Don’t get me wrong — my school days were amazing. But I’ve always been the kind of person who believes the best day is today. Not yesterday. Not some golden chapter I’m supposed to be nostalgic for. Today.

There’s a song I keep on repeat — “Younger” by Imagine Dragons. The lyric that gets me every time is simple: take me back when I was younger. I understand the feeling. I just don’t live there.

Because here’s what I’ve noticed about travel: the places that stay with you aren’t the ones you’re romanticizing from a distance. They’re the ones you were fully present for. The meal you didn’t photograph because you were too busy tasting it. The street you wandered down without a map. The moment you stopped trying to make it memorable and it just was.

Travel has a way of pulling you into the present tense like almost nothing else can. New smells, new sounds, a language you don’t speak — your brain has no choice but to arrive.

I do wonder sometimes whether I’ll feel differently as I age. Whether I’ll find myself sitting somewhere quiet, thinking about today the way my uncle thinks about his school days. Maybe that’s just what time does.

But until then — the best trip I’ve ever taken is the next one.

And the best day? It’s still today.

Paul Mercuri
Wake Up Here Founder

Stories – Wake Up Here