One impetus for me was seeing a couple ride off into the desert.

During a flight from India to Frankfurt, the plane made an unexpected stop in the Middle East. (They never told us why.) While waiting for the plane to depart again, I was walking around the airport and outside it. A couple unloaded and assembled their bikes and rode off into the desert.

There was something beautifully self-sufficient and independent about it.

No taxis, no noise, no hotels, etc. -- just the beauty and silence of the desert.

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And the couple seemed happy in some deeper way than usual. (Maybe 'aware' is a better word than 'happy' here -- there was something quiet about them, and very together.) There was something about the space they were in that appealed to me.