We’re already in the hot months of summer, but I’m still enjoying some of my travel songs of spring.
ELO Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky
I heard this song coincidentally when walking down the street on one of the first days where it was 70 degrees in Prague. It was a gorgeous sunny day. I was walking around in a t-shirt for the first time in months and there were tables set up outside cafes where people were having their morning coffee. This is a great song to welcome and celebrate spring almost anywhere.
Kanye West and Jay-Z – Ni**as in Paris
This song came on the radio in the Uber we took from the airport into Bucharest. I can’t think of a better song to encapsulate the excitement of getting to a new city. As a result, it was stuck in my head for the entire trip. And if you know me personally, you know that I am annoying as fuck. When I have an earworm, it very quickly becomes Tourette’s. Imagine having to put up with me saying “Ball so hard” all over Romania. That shit cray.
Andrea Bocelli – Con te Partiro
I love this song with a passion. So I was thrilled when I heard a busker playing a clarinet cover of it right outside my window when I was in Porto. I had just woken up from a drunk nap I had to take to survive the day after a morning of port wine tasting. And this guy definitely gave me life.
Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence
Some artists and songs become inexplicably popular in other countries for decades. And apparently Cusco loves The Sound of Silence. We first heard it during our first lunch there the morning when we arrived. My friend, the first one of us to succumb to the Cusco sickness machine, managed to chuckle at the fact that this was playing while she fought the urge to throw up. The song followed us around all over the Inca ruins of Sacred Valley.
The Beatles – Here Comes the Sun
On our second day in Machu Picchu, we hiked Machu Picchu Mountain at dawn. Despite being exhausted from our Huayna Picchu hike the day before, we tried to rush to get to a clearing in the trees so we could see the morning sun bathe the Machu Picchu ruins before. We kept humming this song all the way to the top, breathlessly between dozens of stone steps while we ascended to the top. We made it.
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee – Despacito ft. Justin Bieber
I generally hate this kind of music because it all sounds the same and these nasty ass reggaeton singers are super lewd and not in a hot way. But throw in Justin Bieber vocals and I’m sold. I heard this for the first time a couple of weeks before I came back to Miami. When I became obsessed with this song, I took it as a sign that I was ready to be home after a few months. I’m already over it, which is a shame, because now I’m in Miami and I can’t stop hearing it.
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