Travel Inspires Us All

Travel Inspires Us All

We believe travel is one of the best ways to educate ourselves, get inspiration and broaden our horizons.

While you’re reading this newsletter, we’re setting off on another travel adventure — this time to see some of the ancient Wonders of the World in Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. Our goal is to look at the great monuments of the time and the work of some renowned ancient architects, and see their effect on the times.

What great architecture tells us
This isn’t just for fun. The Greeks, Ephesians, and Egyptians all put a lot of emphasis on great architecture and we can learn from that. For instance, it’s been nearly 4,000 years since the Great Pyramids at Giza were built as monuments to the Pharaohs, yet what also remains is a strong statement from the architects. The Egyptians and other civilizations realized the importance of impressive building:

It reflected on the might and power of the society and its rulers
It made the citizens proud of their culture and more content
It impressed enemies and other cultures with the might, wealth, and capabilities of the builders

When you think about it, our own national monuments do the same thing — The Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, and others.

We’ll see this same effect in Athens at the Acropolis and in Corinth, Greece; in the structures of Ephesus, Turkey; in the Great Pyramids at Giza near Cairo; in the Temples of Luxor and Karnak in Egypt. Time and again we will see how each society created remarkable structures using crude methods and working in extremely tough conditions.

Travel inspires us all
We’ve taken many trips in the past for fun and to learn about other societies, history, architecture, landscape design, and cultures. Those trips opened our minds, inspired us, and made us more creative.

That’s why we recommend that every landscape design/build professional make travel a priority. We know how hard it can be when you’re starting out to have the time or money to make that happen, but it’s so important. We urge you to find that time and money and just Go!

Too often, when there is finally the time and money, some folks are too old to benefit from everything they can learn while travelling. You need it now, as inspiration to fuel your designs, as something to enlighten you, as knowledge to help you create something completely new.

Your own ‘Wonders of the World’
You, too, are a professional who can make a difference with your clients’ properties. You create ‘Wonders of the World’ for each client, so you need to be educated, enlightened, and aware of the history of design, architecture, landscape, and other cultures to do your best.

When you’re lucky enough to have a client who lets you use all those ‘paints in your paint box,’ think of the wonderful projects you can create!

You might think that it’s best to wait to travel until the economy recovers, but this will only be one year. Think about the rest of your career and what some eye-opening education and exposure can do for your creativity.

Traveling, and learning, can’t be quantified as our return on investment immediately. We may buy Bobcats and pay for 3 to 10 years, and feel it is giving us ROI because we are using it. Your brain and your visionary capabilities may be just the things that generate more jobs that require your Bobcat, so don’t neglect them or put off their development until a later date. Now is the time to make your own design talents a priority — travel!

Do you have any travel experiences that have helped your creativity? We’d love to hear about your experiences. Call us at 614-764-0104 or email us at kinman1@aol.com.

Photos courtesy: iStockphoto