Many times forging ahead without a specific destination brought us to a small shop of interesting wares or a café. A cool restaurant or quaint bookstore with cats loose within the stacks were gems of discovery. To stray, to meander, peaked our curiosity...stimulated a state of wonder. In fact, J.K. Rowling holds a similar sentiment: "The idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss."
First, be careful when selecting one or the other word in your writing. Often people either mean one but then use the other by misspelling or not understanding the difference in meaning.
"Wander" is a verb that means to move about aimlessly; to journey without specific destination. In Old English, wandrian, meant to roam, to fly around.
"Wonder" on the other hand (be careful of the spelling) comes from the Old English word, wundor, meaning marvel, portent, wondrous, even having the aspect of the miraculous associated with it.
When I was a kid we were allowed to wander the streets of the small town of Algonac where I grew up. I got on my bike, and with a friend or two, and we'd go explore. We didn't have an agenda or a destination. But it was through our running around that we'd have fun in the discoveries of something new. We were open to wonder. We meandered and desired to know and be surprise with the possibilities. Our curiosity spurred us on. We marveled at the simplest things.
As we age we often lose the curiosity that piques our possible wandering lust. We become too involved with someone or something like our phones, or internet, which all specifically directs our thinking, our pathway of pondering. How is that independent or fostering curiosity? When was the last time you coveted a quiet time without distraction to allow your mind and thoughts to wander? If we can't literally be on the road, what about the road our imaginations can take us?
When was the last time we allowed our wandering to lead to questioning, speculating, and even ruminating about an idea, insight, or thought by which we can actually learn something?
Get out and ramble through the possibilities. It's difficult to be surprised and stand in awe of the simple, magnificent and magical if we do not allow ourselves to wander. The marvel of finding out something new is the jewel to wandering.
One of my favorite lines of in a Christmas song is: "I wonder as I wander out under the sky..."
Go on, go out and explore--and don't bother with the road map.