Blog: What is Travel?
Be a tourist. Be a traveler. Experience anything. Plan each day or freewheel it. Museums are cool. So are mountains. Take photos, or don’t. Journal. Talk to locals. Eat fresh food. Don’t ask what’s in your dish. Meat can mean different things in different places. There may not be silver, or plastic, ware. Drink bottled water. Not sorry. Dysentery is not just from the Oregon Trail computer game. Dehydration can take you down several pegs, but you’ll have a story to tell. Make sure you know the vaccine requirements of your destination. I didn’t and was removed from a plane and given papers “authorizing” (read, mandating) me to leave the airport through the front doors.
If you’re in college, study abroad. You’ll do the same thing you’d do at your home University but in another country. I probably won’t be nearly as rigorous, and you may meet a girl you’d love to still be in love with, and have sex on the beach at night. There will be food. You’ll yearn for home until it’s almost over, then you’ll wish you had more time.
Take a train around the US. It may be slow. If so, you’re in luck. You’be been given the gift of time. Sit upright for 3 weeks rather than reserve a sleeper cabin. It’s cheaper and you won’t sleep much, but you’ll hear some epic snoring. I ate Snickers at every hour of the day on my train ride and they haven’t tasted as good since.
Ride buses in town for local transit. You’ll be in traffic either way if you drive or take the bus.
Ride a bus long distance. See the desert. I met newly released inmates. There are some desolate bus stops out there. That is, until you visit. Then that bus stop is lucky to be populated by a beautiful soul who might one day speak of the cigarette she smoked at 3am there while her boyfriend slept and the bus driver evicted a passenger and their belongings after repeatedly harassing other riders.
If any of this does not sound romantic or ideal, you are right. There are a range of experiences that can be had anywhere while life is on full display on the road. There is no way to predict what will happen to you. I hope you can go get you some and tell me about it so I can pretend to understand. But then we’ll swap stories and both feel richer because of it, and motivated to create the next memory.
Stay at a rustic Costa Rican hostel. Wash dishes for someone 20 years your junior. Communities work by doing a little more than your part. The hostel may be “dirty” but you might be do for a little dirt. The staff will be generous and insist on Pura Vida, just like everyone else you meet. You’ll get it.
Sleep in a 5 star hotel and resort. I haven’t. They look alright. Tell me about it when you do.
Take an airline based in another country, and hope they make announcements in a language you don’t know well or at all. I bet you can figure out what they are saying. In Greece the passengers cheered and yelled “Opa!” when our plane landed in Thessaloniki. Maybe they cheer every time the plane lands, or maybe they cheered because we had lost a wing or a pilot died and I was the dope who didn’t stress or cheer because I had no idea and everything was fine to me all along because I didn’t speak the language. But we made it. (shrug)
Go on a safari. See big animals. I have nightmares about ostrich from a childhood encounter because they approached the car I was in and stuck their necks inside. I have nightmares about the ostriches I saw in Kenya. There was one male about 9’ tall encompassed by 20 females about 6’ tall moving in a direct, yet erratic and chaotic manner. They cut across the road in front of our safari vehicle, the Ramshackle, without a care about us, or maybe in spite of us. Dinosaur ancestors don’t give a fuck about us.
Go to the equator. Looking at the equator in person isn’t whelming, or overwhelming. Sorry to break it to you but there isn’t a physical line. That’s only on maps. Someone may approach you to sell the following experience which you should pay for because you would have just walked the line without much fanfare, or straddled it so your body exists in both hemispheres simultaneously. If no one is there to show you this special phenomenon, here are instructions on how to witness the coriolis’ effect, effect on water. Cut the bottom off a gallon water jug to use as a funnel. Pour water from one bucket into another through your funnel. 20 paces north of the equator you can see the water spin in one direction as it funnels. 20 paces south of the equator the water funnels the opposite direction. When you stand directly on the equator and pour the water through the funnel it doesn’t spin at all. It’s a trip to see. Side note: I’m not a doctor but I think when you cross the equator your blood starts pumping in the opposite direction so be careful. Why wouldn’t it? There’s a lot of water in our bodies. I don’t know. When you try it, let me know how it goes.
Sleep in an airport. Don’t try to sleep in an airport, but accept circumstances that lead to sleeping in an airport, or attempt to sleep. It’s a lesson in, if you’re tired you will sleep. Many airports are not hustle and bustle 24/7. There are various last calls, and service is non-existent as are staff for most of the wee hours. It is an unceremonious side of life unseen by many. Pull yourself up a nice spot of floor, preferably carpet. You’ll know you are in the throes of this inactivity when the floor cleaning staff see you and leave you be, working around you in a silent begrudging acknowledgement of your semi-permanence for the evening. Your night may not be long but could feel like an eternity.
I’ve, of course, had plenty of good experiences where travel went well and I remember those moments fondly. Lunch in a winemaker's house in Tuscany on my 40th birthday. Close encounters with moose, bears, and eagles in Alaska. Circling Mr. McKinley in a bi-plane wearing an oxygen mask. I’ve had plenty of glorious experiences too but the unforeseen circumstances seem to shine a little brighter. The unexpected rises to the surface; the wild, the unbelievable, the inconceivable. Sharing food with new friends. Eating with your hands. Not knowing what you are eating. Beaches, mountains, rivers, restaurants, shopping, shows, churches, disaster relief. Whatever you’re into is great. Just go do it. Without making a plan you wouldn’t know what is unusual and ends up filling your heart, notebook, and memories as plans develop and change.
Or don’t travel. Rationalize against it. There are bills, time constraints, responsibilities. We’ll go next year, or find a better deal, you’ll say. There are TV shows to stream, junk emails to delete, self pity to wallow in. Maybe you’re like me. For years I wasn’t able to pull the trigger. I’d do the research, get excited, add the trip to the cart, and back at when it came time to enter payment. I didn’t want to go alone. The internal critic was strong in this head. Why would “I” actually go to “x”? I’d be such a loser for traveling alone. Would I even enjoy myself? I’ll just have fun at home. I didn’t want to spend the money, or use my PTO. I’ll be productive at home, save money, and keep planning. I’m not saying spend a fortune but it costs what it costs. But screw that. Take trips. Have fun. Eat fruit. Smell the beach. Dodge monkey pee in the Amazon. Swat at mosquitoes. Navigate subways in other languages. Enjoy your breath. Get some. I will.
This could be your life, friends, but please go make your own.