October has always meant autumn to me: the slow unfurling of golden leaves along quiet canals in Holland; or the vineyards turning to amber under softer skies and the long shadows on the beach in Mallorca; or Central Park glowing in fiery shades of red, orange, and gold. Each place carried its own palette, its own rhythm of change.

This October feels different. Here in the UAE, there are no red canopies or crisp winds. Instead, I watch summer soften into its gentler version — the scorching heat giving way to milder days, the sky turning into a deeper shade of blue. The shift here is less visible, yet no less profound.

It reminds me that change does not always announce itself in bold colors. Sometimes it is subtle, almost invisible, revealed only in the way we move through our days. October, wherever we are, remains a threshold — a quiet passage from one rhythm to another. Perhaps this is the essence of travel and of life itself: to notice the seasons, even when they do not look the way we once knew them. To find beauty not only in what is familiar, but in what is newly unfolding.

This month, I invite you to reflect on the transitions in your own journey — whether loud and vivid, or quiet and understated. For in the end, October is not about the leaves that fall, but about the ways we choose to turn our own pages.