Travel Writer Pico Iyer: "The Place to Visit May Be Nowhere"

No matter how grand of a trip you plan, travel writer Pico Iyer says, it will mean nothing if you don't have an appreciation for where you are at any moment. "In an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still," he writes in his book The Art of Stillness. "You can go on vacation to Paris or Hawaii or New Orleans three months from now, and you will have a tremendous time, I'm sure. But if you want to come back feeling new, alive, full of fresh hope and in love with the world, I think the place to visit may be nowhere."

Pico says anywhere you can be present is exactly where you want to be. "I often think we're most happy when we forget the time, when we're completely absorbed in the conversation or a movie or a piece of music. And what we really crave is intimacy, it seems to me, and kindness," he says. "If you don't have time, you don't have enough kindness in your life. You don't have the chance to open yourself up."

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