Vagabonding

I would like to take the time to share with you about a truly amazing travel book called Vagabonding.  There have already been a few times I’ve talked about it, to where some of you are probably beginning to think I’m obsessed.  Maybe I am, but that’s because in my opinion is that it is the greatest book about long-term travel ever written.  Or at least that I have personally read.

I first read this book two years ago as I was preparing for my trip in India.  Through personal experience, I had already learned that the one or two week vacation most Americans take once a year was not the end all be all of traveling.  It is quite easy to take a longer trip and experience your destination more fully.  You don’t have to be rich to pull that off.  I wasn’t rich when I spent a month in India, not even close to it.

The problem with a one week vacation and to a lesser degree, one that is two weeks is simply this : in that short amount of time, you can really only get a cursory glance at the place you’re going.  It’s bad enough if you’re only going to one city, and even worse if you want to see a few.  You won’t be able to experience that country they way the locals do, you’ll almost assuredly only have enough time to see a couple of tourist spots.

I just started reading Vagabonding for the second time.  It’s the kind of book that you can continue to learn new things, or get inspired more than once, even as you grow and change as a traveler.  It really opened my eyes to some of the other options there are for those of us that want to see the world.

Here is an excerpt :

“Vagabonding is about gaining the courage to loosen your grip on the so-called certainties of this world.  Vagabonding is about refusing to exile travel to some other, seemingly more appropriate, time of your life.  Vagabonding is about taking control of your circumstances instead of passively waiting for them to decide your fate.

“Thus the question of how and when to start vagabonding is not really a question at all.  Vagabonding starts now.  Even if the practical reality of travel is still months or years away, vagabonding begins the moment you stop making excuses, start saving money, and begin to look at maps with the narcotic tingle of possibility.  From here, the reality of vagabonding comes into sharper focus as you adjust your worldview and begin to embrace the exhilarating uncertainty that true travel promises.”

This is the most essential book about travel, I think.  If you like traveling, whether or not you are interested in long-term travel like vagabonding, being a nomad, or working overseas; even if you would prefer to take short trips and do package tours, I think you should read this one.  Please check it out.  It might change your life.  At the least it can arm you to be able to do more trips more often.

Inspiration

I have had a bad day for the last few days.  When this happens, I often spend some time reading travel quotes, which is what I did again.  I decided that this time I will share some of them with my readers.  I made it a point to pick out some great quotes from people that I admire, that particularly inspire me.  Hopefully, you guys will like them as much as I do.

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

“”Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”― Jack Kerouac

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharal Nehru

“Take only memories, leave only footprints.” – Chief Seattle

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel – leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks – on your body or on your heart – are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” ― Anthony Bourdain

Perhaps someday I will take the time to explain why these people inspire me and why I find them to be people worth admiring.  We will see.

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The Greatest Lesson I’ve Gotten From Traveling

First off, I would like to offer my apologies to my loyal readers for my recent absence.  I still owe you an answer to the most recent Where Am I? post which I should have made on Sunday.  That will happen tomorrow, I promise.  Tonight, however,  I have something else to say.

My travels have changed me and taught me in many ways, some of which I could explain, and others which are impossible to put my finger on.  There is one lesson I’ve taken away that is paramount above all others : Do good things for other people.  Sure, we’ve all heard of similar phrases, such as the popular “Treat others the way you want to be treated”, but I don’t think most people really think about that concept in the way that most travelers do.

There were two things that happened to me today that reminded me of this simple philosophy.  The first one occurred while I was on my way home from work.  I was low on gas, so I stopped off at the gas station.  While I was there, a man pulled up and asked me for directions to I-90, one of our freeways.  He must have been quite lost, because we were not anywhere near I-90.  For a minute or so, I was at a complete loss, because I honestly couldn’t figure out a quick or easy way of getting there from where we were.  So I asked him if he had pen and paper, because it would end up being complicated directions.  This is something I think pretty much anyone would do.  Then, halfway through writing them down, I stopped and I asked the man if he would like to just follow me.  I was going in a slightly similar direction, and could lead them to a connecting freeway.  At the point where we needed to part ways, I got out of my car and instructed him the rest of the way to go.  There are definitely people who would do this for another person, but I think they are few and far between.  In fact, I wouldn’t go to that much trouble for a stranger before I began traveling.  Now I know what it can be like to be lost somewhere, and having had a lot of people go out of their way to help me out in several countries, I feel I need to pass that on.

The second one was after I got home.  I got a letter today from an organization.  Those of you who have read most or all of my posts are aware that I have been living an extremely frugal lifestyle in order to save up money for traveling.  This is partially due to the fact that I don’t make a lot to begin with, and only work full time.  I’ve been trying to improve my income, but that has been less than successful.  The reason I’m saying this isn’t to whine about my situation, because I’m quite comfortable with it, I can make my ends meet and still save for future traveling.  Meanwhile, I have been donating $15 a month to an international organization that improves the lives of children called Child Fund.  That’s  money that could be put in my travel fund, but after seeing some children in really bad situations in India, I just feel the need to continue my contributions.  It is an important cause, and that is the least I can give.

It seems important to me to do what you can to make things better for other people.  It’s not a matter of treating them the way you want to, it’s a matter of doing what you can, however much or little that might be.  I’m not looking for praise, or trying to paint a pretty picture of myself, because I could probably do more.  If you take anything from this, just please try to go through your life trying to be there for those around you.  Karma might not exist in the cosmic force some believe in (I don’t), but as a concept, I think your actions will come back to you.  People can read positive and negative vibrations off their fellow humans, and will respond accordingly.  Live positively, and positive things will come to you.

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The Secret to BAD Travel Writing

Like most people, I have grown and changed a lot over the years, but there is one aspect of my personality that has always been a constant.  When I find a new hobby or interest, I dive in headfirst and learn as much about the new subject as I possibly can.  It can often have the effect of taking over my life for brief or long periods of time.  My classmates in culinary school sometimes called me a “food encyclopedia”, because I spent so much time and energy reading about new ingredients & cuisines, and trying as many new dishes as possible.  By the end of my schooling, some of my classmates came to me with certain questions instead of our chef instructor (I think they had a misplaced faith, as I had book knowledge, but not experience).

This same obsessive, wild abandon has followed me into my recent foray into blogging and travel writing.  I have spent a considerable amount of time reading literature, online and off, about the subjects, and talking to anybody I can find who knows about either.  Along the way, I came across Matador Network, which is a great resource.  It is a blog server, similar to WordPress or Blogspot, etc, but it is also a forum and community for travelers, travel writers and travel bloggers.

There were a pair of articles I found a couple weeks ago on that website that I found particularly intriguing.  Between the two of them, they discuss words and phrases that they think should stop being used in travel writing.  The articles can be found here and here Don’t worry, they’re both rather short, but I highly encourage you to read them, even if you don’t intend on doing any travel writing in the future, because you can probably relate.

I can understand why they would say these things shouldn’t appear in travel writing.  They are cheesy, over-used cliches.  And they rarely actually give any important or interesting details.  I was pleased after reading them, because I realized that I had never actually said any of this stuff in any of my blogging on here.  That made me feel fairly proud, since it wasn’t something I had even considered.  I can be prone to hyperbole sometimes, but I stress using my own words, and very rarely rely on cheesy metaphors, choosing instead to paint descriptive pictures or real events and surroundings when I share anecdotes.

These posts have made me think about things that I would like to add to the list.

1. A Study in Contrasts

I have seen this phrase used to describe just about every location in the world I have ever read travel writing about.  The reason for this is simple : You could reasonably say that about anywhere in the world.  Within any given culture, you will find people from all walks of life, with a myriad of personalities and world-views.  Saying a place is a study in contrasts is merely saying that it is a place with a diverse group of people belonging to the same culture.  That is not a description, and it means nothing.

2. Where East Meets West

What the hell does this mean?  Singapore is supposedly where East meets West, because while they have supposedly “westernized” in many ways, they still hold onto the eastern values they have learned from the local Malays, and the Indian and Chinese immigrants that have made Singapore their home.  The same has been said about Malaysia.  I have seen this phrase used to describe Uzbekistan and other places in Central Asia (or even the Middle East) because they lay in between the traditional “eastern” and “western” worlds.  The thought process is that if a place has been influenced by both western and eastern culture to one degree or another, then it is a spot “where east meets west”.  I call bullshit.  By this logic, you could say the same thing about Seattle, Mexico City, Paris, Egypt, and many other places.  There are Asian and European influences in all of these places, which is generally what people mean by East and West.

My problem with this statement is two-fold, and while the geographically ridiculous aspect is one of them, it’s not the most important.  The thing that bothers me the most with this phrase and way of thinking is this : it destroys the autonomy of local culture.  It seems ridiculously offensive to me to say that a country’s culture is really just a collection of the cultures around them.  One could say that Afghanistan is a place “where east meets west” because it is located on the historical spice route and silk road.  You could say that because Indians and Chinese passed through on their way to the Middle East and Europe, and then returned by the same route, Afghanistan is a mix of those cultures.  But that is selling them short.  You are implying that there is nothing unique and original that comes from within their borders, but that they are merely a mix of other places.  There is no way that that concept could be true of anywhere in the world.  Every culture has their own unique aspects, but they have all also been influenced by their surroundings, and those they have made contact with.  Stop selling places short.  Describe in detail some of the cultures that have influenced a place, but then discuss what’s unique about them that didn’t come from those influences.  You will be giving much more credit to the place you are writing about.

3. A City/Country of Superlatives

Anywhere in the world can be said to be the best at something.  Argentina has the best steak/beef in the world.  Japan has the highest suicide rate / cutest mascots.  Seattle does coffee better than anybody else (Smarter Travel actually lists us as #2, but I will hold my ground until proven wrong), and Norway has the happiest people in the world.  It’s great to the have the most of something, or to be the best at something, and these accomplishments should be mentioned when you’re writing about a location, but saying that a city is a place of superlatives just sounds cheesy.  Mainly because everybody says that about everywhere.  Think of something new.

4. Interesting Dichotomy Found Here

This really isn’t that much different from the concept behind the “Study in Contrasts” concept.  No culture is homogeneous.  There are all sorts of people, and while they can be extremely different from each other, they will be slightly bound by the local culture that they belong to.  There are aspects that will be similar or the same, but there will be a lot of differences.  There will be conservatives, liberals, and those in between.  Some people will be friendly, while others are a little more reserved with strangers.  This does not constitute a dichotomy, because there will be certain cultural aspects that they will share in common.  These people are not contradicting each other, they are just a little bit different.

5. The City / Country Strides into the Future While Holding Hands with the Past, (or similar ways of saying the same thing.)

This might as well be “Where the past meets the future”, which is just as great of a statement as “Where the East meets the West”.  You would be hard pressed to find a place in the world that doesn’t want to grow, learn, progress and improve.  You would just as likely have a difficult time finding a place that has entirely rejected their traditional customs and culture.  People all over the world realize that there are pros and cons to accepting ideas from around the world, as well as to their traditions.  Finding a balance between improving things and respecting what has come before is the norm around the world.  Anywhere you go, you will find new building side by side with really old buildings.  That is not unique.  Stop trying to focus on that, and just give an accurate description of where you are.

Most of these phrases show up in guidebooks, and go a long way to explaining why I have decided that guides are just a waste of time.  They all seem intent on trying to sell places to me, by exaggerating, and trying to blow things up out of proportion.  I don’t care about any of this stuff, and I believe any independent-minded traveler is in agreement with me.  Your focus should no longer be on trying to sell me on a spot, but instead should show an unbiased picture of the positive and negative aspects of a destination.  That way I can make my own decision from concrete information.  That’s what I look for in travel writing.  When I see these phrases, it is just a turn off to me.

I once was really intrigued by the idea of visiting Amsterdam.  Sitting on my bookcase is a guidebook to the city, which I recently decided to read (since I was in between books, and didn’t have anything else to fall back on).  Reading that guide made me decide that Amsterdam doesn’t seem the slightest bit interesting, mainly because they used almost all of these cliches.  I might be making too strong of a jump in the wrong direction, but now somebody will have to prove me wrong.

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Happy Ending

“There’s nothing for me here
I’m starting to get old
Time just ticks on
We’ve all been taking some comfort in repetition …

Well, I’m leaving for a while
I’ll head in some direction
I just don’t know which one I should be taking
And I’m ready and waiting
For the happy ending.” – Phantom Planet, “Happy Ending”

I was listening to this song earlier today, and the lyrics really hit home for me.  It expressed exactly my feelings about this point in my life.  While the early preparations and dreaming of a long epic trip is very exciting, there are also times when it just really wears on me.  I’m bored and starting to get cabin fever from staying at home all the time and refusing to spend money unnecessarily.  Another rapidly growing feeling is the need to just get away.  I have been in Seattle for 11 consecutive months now, and it just feels like it’s time for me to go somewhere, anywhere, just to get away.

Everytime I consider just leaving town for a few days, or a week, just to be gone briefly, I keep coming back to the concept that by doing so, I’m just pushing the main trip further back.  Those kinds of activities cost money, which I don’t exactly have copious amounts of.  It’s eating me up inside a little bit.

They say that you should go somewhere new once a year.  I believe that’s true.  If I stay here longer than, I start to go stir crazy.  I need something to change things up.  But what?  Should I just find a cheap nearby place and go hang out?  It’s too late in the year for camping, and hiking is borderline, the weather is rather cold here right now.  Should I just hop in my car and drive to Montana?  That seems rather promising.  I’ve heard there’s nothing to do, but that it’s gorgeous.  Doesn’t sound like a problem to me.  There are few things more pleasurable than getting lost on the streets of a new city/town, and just wandering in taking in the vibes.

Or should I wait?  And continue to work hard and set aside money, and hop on the cheapest flight overseas sometime early next year?  I certainly know enough people overseas I could go visit, many of which I’m sure would be willing to put me up for a week.  Hell, I could potentially have a trip where I only spend $50 more than the actual airfare if I’m just frugal enough.  I sure would love to visit my good friend in Malaysia, that is high on my list of potential ideas.

The waiting is killing me.

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Follow up to “Vagabond in Training”

I just wanted to check in with the people who enjoyed my Lifestyle post.  Yesterday, while poking around other blogs on WordPress, I came across another travel blog from the UK which is quite interesting.  I have added it to my blogroll, but I wanted to give a little more of a strong hint to check her blog out.  The thing that is really remarkable is that she wrote a post 3 days before “Lifestyle” with an almost creepily similar concept.  Please check it out here.

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