My Favorite Travel Songs

 

I hate to admit it, but my thoughts about pandemic situation enriching our creative lives have changed now after being in isolation mode for almost a year 🙊. Y’all know that Google Photos has this notification feature for showing your photos “same day x year/s ago”, right? So it’s been throwing these travel pics on my face which has me feeling seriously sad about not having hopped on a flight for what seems like ages. So to assuage the desire, I have started revisiting the songs that had been my favourites on my travels.  

I have a few songs that are deeply connected to some of my travels. They are mostly on my business trips understandably so because if you are on personal trips, your evil twin wants to constantly talk and hence no earphones time! Well anyways. Without further ado , here they are – 

1. Stereo Hearts – Gym Class Heroes ft Adam Levine – I remember wearing my 500 rupees fake Dr.Dre’s during one of my walks from the hotel to my workplace in London. Waiting to cross the street and being excited about how beautiful London was despite having seen a glimpse of it in the last 12/13 hours. I had landed just the day before on a rainy day. I hadn’t minded getting drenched and carrying my enormous trolleys by myself to the hotel. I was remembering how perfect the imperfection of the day was when the signal turned green for crossing to the other side while Stereo hearts played in bombass Dr.Dre imitation headphones. The weather, contrasted to the previous day’s and was bright and sunny and it felt supremely pleasant like the song was made for the day. 

2. Yaadon Mein – Jab Harry Met Sejal – This was during one of my business trips to Dubai. I was always accompanied by one of our other team members on all of my previous trips except this one. He had moved to Dubai to take care of and build the UAE business from the ground up. So I had the opportunity to stroll across the city by myself. I remember stepping out of the hotel to go get some Muskmelon juice at a small eatery nearby at around 11pm for I had a deep craving for it. As soon as I got out, I was met by a gorgeous full moon in the night sky in all its glory. I was listening to "Ghar" from the album and then it changed to "Yaadon mein". I hadn’t listened to it before since I don’t think it’s as much popular as the other songs on the album. The song, the night sky, the moon, the empty roads, these big, gorgeous street lights and a stadium light shining from across this school premises opposite the hotel – The song always takes me back to that night. It was surreal for me to be experiencing so much beauty at once. 

By the way the song has stunning Opera-ish quality to it. If you haven't already, give it a listen here - 

3. Perfect – Cover – This was already my favorite song for a year before it left a special mark. I was again walking towards hotel from a small café where I enjoyed some chai at night in Dubai. I am a huge fan of Beyonce’s (yeah I know she was only featured in an Ed Sheeran’s song but still) so when I heard someone covering “Perfect” in this certain venue which I could guess was where a wedding was taking place, it felt … wait for it.. perfect! I stood there for a while and enjoyed the song standing by the sidewalk ! Crazy I know but supremely poetic for me. 

4. Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers -  Oh my my! Firstly, what a beautiful song. I first heard the song in the movie “Ghost” and then .. ashamed to say it but on “Two and a half men” when Holland Taylor’s character sings it for the conman she is about to marry. I personally love the cover by Sonny and Cher but on that fateful day I was listening to the original. It was a few days before Eid and Abu Dhabi was bejewelled with all these rice lights, bottle lights, fairy lights around the city! There were even 2 huge banners which were basically fixed with bright lights created to reflect the shape of a crescent moon. I had had the urge to walk around the city to observe the decorations. Went into this small restaurant to sip some coffee, it had a waiting line so sat outside on the small bench and listened to the song on a loop. Was a top notch experience for me. 

5. Kashmir – I am a huge fan of Led Zeppelin's and so I must have listened to Kashmir about a zillion times. It is the perfect song for me to listen to whenever the plane is about to land. It provides these nice effects and helps keep calm for when the plane starts to descend from its cruising altitude to when the Spoilers (I was about to call it Phalange but then googled for the right word) open on the wings and the wheels touch the ground and you see how other passengers have already removed seat belts to race towards getting their luggage first (Indian travelers obviously) and still continue to chill until they have all raced towards the door to presumably go save the world (I mean that kind of hurry, am I right?). Kashmir is for decluttering, period. 

So there it is. My top 5 travel songs list. Thanks for reading.