Orkney Islands Serendipity: Discovering The Best Place I Never Wanted to See | Jill Paris, Gadling.com

My wife and I are traveling more and more these days, in the Pacific Northwest where we live, to other states we've never been, and to continents and countries we've not explored.

I'm learning to be a "temporary resident," as travel guru Rick Steves calls travelers who try to immerse themselves in the culture, with the people and places they're visiting, without comparing the experience, for better or worse, with what's back home.

And I'm taking a lot of photos of the people and places we visit, with hope that I'll also start writing about our travels, the connections we make.

I stumbled across this travel article and loved its story of serendipity. I want experiences like this!

Near the end of her story, the writer describes one of her final memories with a couple she just met, who take her to a special place:

Selecting one of the largest stones I inch toward the twenty-foot-tall, flat rock and throw my arms around its base. Golden lichens and frosted white markings cover the surface above me like ancient graffiti. I'm hugging a mystical chunk of the world, standing in a place I'd never heard of before with total strangers.

And they take her photo to record the memory with the words. A short bio for the writer says, "She travels for the inexplicable human connection."