Lovers’ Guide to Traveling on Valentine’s Day

It’s Valentine’s Day today. A special day to spend with your sweetheart; with the love of your life. If you’re single, it’s a day to spend with loved ones and your dearest friends.

Heart’s Day can be spent anywhere; however, there are places where you can sense and feel romantic love the most. Seemingly, they were especially created as perfect settings for Valentine’s day. Indeed, some places are meant to delight lovers to the hilt. Just being in these places spells sweet romance. You know what I mean. It’s when you look at your lover’s eyes, feel like you’ve just been hit with cupid’s arrow, and the next thing you know… everything you see is a BIG RED HEART.

What are those places? We can start with the ‘city of love’ – Paris. This romantic city of France offers lovers a chance to experience a kiss to remember along the river Seine. Next, we go to Venice. Hurry, grab a bottle of champaigne, let’s go gondola riding and enjoy the endless maze of channels in this historical city of Italy. I’d love to tell you more, but I will allow the graphic to do its magic, instead.

A Valentine’s Day Guide for Wandering Hearts | Wood + Sea Co.

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Of both lovers and epilepsy

Saint Valentine is the patron saint of both lovers and epilepsy – sadly, a little known fact.

There is one wonderful example of this divine coupling, however, where the passionate saint appears alongside EEG traces on 1998 postage stamp from Italy.

This description is from a brief 2003 article from the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry on the stamp.

EEG has been illustrated on a number of stamps. An Italian stamp of 1988 shows a pictorial representation of an EEG and St Valentine (Stanley Gibbons no. 1989, Scott no. 1743). St Valentine was the first bishop of Temi in Umbria. Some of the mythology is not entirely clear, but St Valentine was probably a physician who was martyred by the Romans on February 14, 273. He is patron saint of both lovers and epilepsy. There are also other patron saints of epilepsy.

Legend has it that St Valentine miraculously cured a young fiancee, Serapia, afflicted with a mysterious illness, thought now to be epilepsy. Sites where St Valentine was thought to have lived or visited became pilgrimage destinations for cure of the disorder. These destinations included Rome and Temi in Italy, Ruffach in France (where a hospital for epilepsy was later built), Poppel in Belgium, and Passau in Germany. Soon after Valentine’s death young lovers started making pilgrimages to Temi to be blessed by the Bishop on the 14th hour of every month for eternal love.

It’s worth noting that this recounts the traditional story of Saint Valentine although the actual history seems a little fuzzy and there were likely many historical people who have been blended into the image of the love-promoting holy man.

However, this also makes Valentine’s Day the day of both love and epilepsy, or as I like to think of it, lovers with epilepsy.

Link to JNNP article on epilepsy and Valentine stamp.

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How to Read More: A Lover’s Guide

Reading a good book is one of my favorite things in the world.

A novel is a time machine, a worm-hole to different dimensions, a special magic that puts you into the minds and bodies of fascinating people, a transporter that lets you travel the world, a dizzying exploration of love and death and sex and seedy criminal underworlds and fairylands, a creator of new best friends.

All in one.

I read because I love the experience, because it is a powerful teacher of life, because it transforms me.

I am not the world’s most prodigious reader, but I do read daily and with passion.

Lots of people say they want to read more, but don’t know how to start.

Read this. It should help.

1. Don’t read because you should — read for joy. Find books about exciting stories, about people who fascinate you, about new worlds that you’d love to visit. Forget the classics, unless they fit this prescription.

2. Carve out the time. We have no time to read anymore, mostly because we work too much, we overschedule our time, we’re on the Internet all the time (which does have some good reading, but can also suck our attention endlessly), and we watch too much TV. Pick a time, and make it your reading time. Start with just 10 minutes if it’s hard to find time — even 10 minutes is lovely. Try 20 or 30 if you can drop a couple things from your schedule.

3. Do nothing but read. Clear all distractions. Find a quiet, peaceful space. It’s just your book, and you. Notice but let go of the urges to do other things instead of read. If you must do something else, have some tea.

4. Love the hell out of it. You’re not doing this to better yourself. You’re doing it for joy. Reading is magic, and the magic will change everything else in your life. Love the experience, and you’ll look forward to it daily.

5. Make it social. Find friends who love to read, or find them online. There’s a world of readers on the Internet, and they’d be happy to make recommendations and talk about the books you’re all reading. Try a book club as well. Reading is solitary, but is also a social act.

6. Make it a habit. Pick a trigger in your daily routine, and consistently read exactly after that trigger each day. Even if it’s just for 5-10 minutes. The more consistent you are, and the longer you keep the streak going, the stronger the habit will become.

7. Don’t make it a chore. Don’t make it something on your todo list or schedule that you have to check off. It’s not part of your self-improvement plan. It’s a part of your Make Life More Awesome Plan.

8. Give up on a book if it’s boring. Reading isn’t something you do because it’s good for you — it’s not like taking your vitamins. You’re reading because it’s fun. So if a book isn’t fun, dump it. Give it a try for at least a chapter, but if you still don’t love it, move on.

9. Discover amazing books. I talk to other people who are passionate about books, and I’ll read reviews, or just explore an old-fashioned bookstore. Supporting your local bookstores is a great thing, and it’s incredibly fun. Libraries are also amazing places that are underused — get a card today.

10. Don’t worry about speed. Speed reading is fine for some, but slow reading is great too. The number of books, and the rate of reading them, matters not a whit. It’s not a competition. You’re reading to enjoy the books, so take your time. It’s like enjoying good food, or good sex: better savored, not rushed.

Some recommendations.

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