A TRAVELER’S PALETTE: COLOR SERIES—RED

This series titled “A Traveler’s Palette” highlights the colors that make my travels so memorable. Each post focuses on one color and contains a few special photos along with the background story of each. The world is a rainbow, and I am constantly chasing that pot of gold.

RED: energy, power, determination, passion, love, adventure

Chinese Lanterns

I took this photo on the first night I was in China. Two friends, my husband, and I landed in Beijing in the evening, and our hired guide picked us up at the airport. When I was planning the trip, I knew we would be super jet-lagged upon arrival, so I asked the guide to plan some sort of activity to keep us awake until bedtime.

He suggested a Kung Fu show. Kung Fu, I thought. All those “hi-ya”s and sharp movements ought to keep us wide-eyed. Excellent.

We entered the Kung Fu theatre and settled into our seats. Plush seats. Oh, no.

The lights fell, and hushed, trilling music rippled across the stage curtain. I looked upward to the ceiling to see magnificent, bright red Chinese lanterns strung in neat rows around the perimeter of the audience. They suffused a soft glow which grew dimmer as my eyelids dropped and my head fell back into slumber.

I woke about ten minutes before the intermission. Looking down the row, I saw the heads of my three companions cocked to the side or bobbing in an attempt to stay awake. So much for my grand plan.

Luckily, the second half of the show was much more animated, so we did manage to stay awake for some of the Kung Fu experience. But the most memorable part of those first moments in China was the brilliance of the traditional red lanterns.

Cruising in Crimson

Sometimes coincidences are just flat out fun and entertaining.

My aunt invited me to go on a cruise in 2010. It was my first time cruising, and I wasn’t sure what to pack. We were heading to the Mexican Riviera, so I figured as long as I took a swimsuit and some sunscreen, I would be set.

I did end up packing a few more things into my favorite red suitcase before taking off for the airport. There were five of us going on this trip together—two aunts, an uncle, a cousin, and me—and when we met up at the airport, we all had red luggage. Every suitcase, every small bag—all red. We found it so amusing, and we had to point it out to all the workers at the airport security line, at the hotel in L.A., and at the check-in point at the cruise terminal. I’m sure they were just as amused as we were. (Sure.)

The best part is that none of us had coordinated our matching luggage. It was pure happenstance and became a comical memory for us all.

Don’t Miss the Bus

What’s more iconic in London than a red, double-decker bus?

This snapshot came during a stroll down a busy London street. I was leading a group tour and had fourteen people in tow. I had said to my group so many times before our departure, “Don’t get so distracted taking photos that you don’t pay attention to where you are walking or where the group is going.” I failed at taking my own advice.

So often, the double-deckers of London are surrounded by other vehicles or set against a messy backdrop of advertisements and street signs. Sometimes, they even travel in packs and seem to blend together. In my many trips to London, I had never been able to capture a satisfactory photo of one.

When this cherry-red bullet came darting from behind us, I just had to stop for a quick pic. It passed me by and aligned itself perfectly with the alabaster architecture and highlighted the red in the city bikes parked across the street. Click. Perfect.

When I looked up from my camera, I could see my husband but no one else from the group. They had kept following our city guide and were now out of sight. Luckily, my husband and I picked up our pace and caught up to them easily, but my heart did drop for a second when I realized I had lost all of these people for whom I was responsible. But, hey, at least I got my photo, right?