New Yorkers' favorite day of the year

Happy T.O. day!

Welcome to Travel Onist featuring travel recommendations, personal growth stories, and inspiring content for your travels.

Experience in New York, New York

NYC Marathon

Many of you have likely heard about the New York City Marathon, the largest marathon in the world.

What you may not have heard, is that Marathon Day is considered by many New Yorkers to be their favorite day of the year.

For the record, I haven’t run it.

But this past year, I did have the privilege of spectating as my girlfriend completed the marathon for the first time.

It truly is an amazing and inspiring sight.

Marathon Day brings people to New York City from all over the world —representatives from 148 countries participated in 2023, turning the New York City streets into even more of a melting pot than they already are.

But the coolest part is the New Yorkers who come out to cheer on complete strangers.

Sure, many of those spectating have family or friends competing, but many don’t.

And that’s something special.

Navigating the city throughout the day is an extreme sport in and of itself, but the energy you receive from the runners and fans alike is inspiring enough to make the trip for that reason alone.

Weekly Write-up

The average person spends 47% of their day on autopilot.

Wild right?

It may not always feel like it, but throughout your regular day, many of your decisions are made subconsciously.

A good example: On your most common commutes, you may notice that you’ve gotten from A to B, safely, without ever really making conscious decisions along the way.

You’ve done it numerous times, so your brain takes care of the rest.

This is a great thing in theory. It helps open up some space in our brains for other more taxing tasks, but we don’t want auto-pilot to take over our lives.

At least I don’t.

So how can we combat this you may ask?

One of the reasons I love to travel so much and chose to write about this topic, is that travel is an incredible opportunity to get off auto-pilot

Dropping yourself into new environments shakes up your brain.

All of a sudden you go from knowing and being comfortable with nearly everything around you, to being forced to actively observe and process new information.

This phenomenon is why travel can be so exhausting. There are so many simple tasks that now require conscious thought and effort.

But that’s also why it is so valuable.

You see the world in a new light.

Airplane Content

Greenlights

Matthew McConaughey’s book Greenlights is an excellent memoir filled with adventure, reflection, and l-i-v-i-n. For those looking to gain a different perspective on life, love, and travel, Greenlights will give you that and more. It’s a really fun read packed with personal stories, reflections, and even journal entries. If you’ve got a love for travel and self-improvement, I’d highly recommend you check it out!

AI Travel Art Piece of the Week

Cheers ‘til next week,

T.O.