Creativity Loves A Change Of Scenery

how travel reignites my creativity, and a toolkit for inspiration-hunting on your next trip

As you read this, I am mere hours away from departing on an international flight for Norway! But for me now, as I write this, I’m knee deep in the buzzy beginnings of pre-travel excitement. There’s just something about packing a bag. As I prepare for our upcoming travels, I feel that familiar twittering of wanderlust starting to spark up again.

Travel, for me, isn’t about ticking off destinations. (Truth be told, I’m kind of an anti-bucket list type of gal! Go to the places that speak to you. Don’t feel pressured to do it all. But that’s a conversation for another day…) Travel, for me, is about permission. Permission to observe more slowly. To be a little out of place. To notice the color of morning light on new windows, or how the coffee smells different across time zones. It’s about unlearning what I thought was routine and remembering that creativity loves unfamiliarity.

Wandering new neighborhoods, watching strangers order their morning breakfast, reading street signs in another language—it all feels like fuel for my creative spirit. This is how I refill my well. Not through pressure or performance, but through gentle presence.

When I travel, I become softer. Less rigid. More receptive. I become a better listener… to myself, to the world, and to inspiration. There’s a certain magic of exploring new places, and the creativity that always meets us there.

I do believe that creativity loves a change of scenery. It thrives and blooms and grows in my travels. I also firmly believe that creatives can use travel to refuel their creative spark. Here’s why…

1. Creativity craves contrast.
Routine is necessary, and for me, helps me develop a greater sense of gratitude. But it definitely dulls the senses over time. Travel jolts us awake. Suddenly we’re seeing, tasting, and feeling things differently… and that shift is deeply sensory and generative.

2. Movement makes space for new ideas.
Planes, trains, autombolies, walks through unfamiliar neighborhoods—all of it disconnects us from the world and slows our mind just enough to make space for the ideas that were knocking but couldn’t get in.

3. Inspiration is everywhere when we’re paying attention.
A quiet morning in a different city, a change in shapes through architecture, announcements made in another lilting language, the pattern on a café plate… all the details we observe more deeply through travel reminds us how alive and textured the world is.

4. Getting away helps us hear our own voice again.
Distance from our obligations and responsibilities can make our inner creative voice ring out more clearly. When we’re not constantnly performing, and checking off to-do lists… we can just be.

5. Beauty leads to energy.
Beauty doesn’t just sit still… it’s buzzy, and it in turn energizes us. Being immersed in it (whether it’s a mountain, a marketplace, or a city square) reminds us why we make art, why we care, and what moves us.

is there anything better than paris on film?!

If you’re heading somewhere soon (or just dreaming of it) I’ve put together a few tools to help you capture the magic of your travels while getting creatively inspired.

Whether you’re sitting by a window seat or wandering a weekend market, these prompts are designed to help you romanticize the moment and gather creative sparks to bring back home with you.

Inside the subscriber-only section, you’ll find:

• My favorite travel-friendly journaling prompts

• A short list of what I pack to stay creatively connected on the go

• Mini photo challenge ideas to help you see beauty in small moments

• A playlist of romantic instrumentals to play while you wander

✨ Join me as a paid subscriber to unlock this travel-inspired toolkit and support my little corner of the internet. I’d love to have you!