Lisbon is on my mind today. The news from the Elevador da Glória – a funicular we’ve ridden up and down that extremely steep, narrow cobblestone street between Restauradores and Bairro Alto – is heartbreaking. Lives lost, families changed forever.

Charlotte and I have lived and worked in Lisbon long enough to have enjoyed the city’s everyday hustle and bustle. But also the tiled facades, mornings that smelled of freshly ground coffee, the breeze coming off the river, evenings when that steep street came alive with excited voices bouncing off the ancient buildings that line it.

Because I’ve shared a little of Lisbon’s ordinary life, this tragedy lands deeper within me.

That’s why I believe travel matters. Not the checkbox kind. Rather slow travel with time spent, names learned, a few words of the language stumbled through, small routines adopted.

When we let a place get under our skin, empathy isn’t an idea anymore – it’s a reflex. We don’t mourn “the news”; we mourn people, streets, neighborhoods that feel familiar.

Hoje, sinto muito, Lisboa – today, I feel with you. May those lost be held in memory, and may the city I love find strength again.