saving ink

It’s ridiculously easy to get stuck in one place. Human nature dictates it. Think about it - if your hunter-gatherer ancestor found a cushy spot where she could raise her children without constant fear of them being eaten or starving to death, she wouldn’t budge from that location for the rest of her life as long as that remained the case. Why venture into the unknown when the known is comfortable, or at least safe?

That worked then, and it still works now, but often to our detriment. The easy strategy is to err on the side of safety, to remain in one place until outside conditions necessitate a move. That’s true in work, in relationships, and most obviously in physical location. And I think it’s absurd. 

Most often, the best (and sometimes worst but most educational) experiences happen when you’re far from home and completely out of your comfort zone; when there is no safety net and you have no previous experience to guide you in a situation. That’s how mental growth happens, and though it’s a frequent occurrence in childhood, modern adult life is geared towards preventing these situations.

Sign a work contract. Sign a lease. Take out a mortgage. Get married. But for the love of god, stay put and do nothing unpredictable.

No thanks.

Every couple of years or so, I like to fill out one of those stupid “where in the world have you been” maps on Facebook, partly for bragging rights, partly out of curiosity. Here’s my latest one:

Impressive, huh? I honestly don’t think so. Granted, compared to the average American, it might be on the right end of the bell curve (Though what’s average? Maybe for my age, and definitely for my income level, but it’s hardly exceptional). But if you look at the other 159 countries of the world (that’s 82%), the parts I haven’t seen, and then add in the huge swaths of land I haven’t stepped foot on in countries I’ve been to like Russia and China (or even the U.S.), it’s miniscule. Then there’s whole continents my toes haven’t touched (South America, Antarctica), and those I’ve only scratched the surface of (Africa, Australia). Really, the only places I can truly say I know with some confidence are Europe and the United States, but even they have parts still well worth exploring.

So where am I going with all of this? Given that for my age, income, and nationality, I have explored an above-average chunk of this planet and I’m nowhere near satisfied with my accomplishments, how do other people with far better means than I have manage to stay put? How is it possible to lack this natural, one would say human, curiosity for lands unknown?

An estimated two-thirds of Americans do not possess a passport (source). Travel stopped being prohibitively expensive several decades ago, so lack of money is no longer an excuse. Of course, if you can’t afford a roof over your head, your priority probably won’t be to book a cheap flight to a new location. But taking into account only those who meet at least the first few of Maslow’s requirements, that’s still a sizable chunk of the population that actively chooses to remain in one country (and often one state) for most of their lives. And I can’t wrap my head around that. It’s absurd.

That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of people choosing to make seeing the world a part of their lives. I’ve read countless blogs over the past year of people doing just that, usually while making a living on the Interwebs writing about their travels - though not always. One of my favorite blogs these days is Afford Anything, which is partly the story of one woman who made travel a priority, and worked her ass off to be able to spend two years exploring the world without needing a job. Oh, and she has a lot of good advice for anyone else who wants to do the same.

Perhaps my frustration lies with the fact that travel is an afterthought in American culture. A “vacation” is two weeks per year if you’re lucky, and even the first visual most people get when they hear the word “trip” is of a tropical beach where drinks have umbrellas and no assumptions are challenged, no world-views are tested. Changing your scenery but maintaining your cultural surroundings is not travel, not really. The kind of travel I crave and can’t live too long without involves staying with locals, avoiding other tourists, living out of a single carry-on for weeks or even months, getting kicked off Russian trains, smoking shisha and playing cards for hours with students in Fez, showing up with no plans and a single map and still learning more about a culture in a few days than any guided tours could teach you. It also means nearly getting arrested, bribing Russian doctors, getting harassed by “tour guides”, repeatedly getting lost, taking care of your own visa documents, going for a week without a shower, sleeping on floors, getting stuck at borders for hours, and sometimes missing flights. It’s not always pretty, but you learn a hell of a lot. 

All of the above happened to me, by the way, as I was working on adding more blue to my map, and I don’t regret a second of it, even the unpleasant ones. I just wish such experiences were looked upon as the necessary education they are, rather than as youthful folly or a waste of time that could be spent more “productively”. The sooner the illusion that real travel is just for the rich, the young or the nonconformists is shattered, the better off our society as a whole will be.

UPDATE:

Minutes after posting this, I ran across this incredible obit on the NYT: John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74. How’s that for inspirational?

One thing I hadn’t really noticed since I’ve been freelance is my usually ever-present wanderlust. When I was working regularly, I would constantly dream of travel. Some of my most epic trips took place in the last few years - the Trans-siberian/China/Australia trip, Iceland on my birthday, several Scandinavian adventures. This summer I stayed relatively close to home. I only left Poland for a few days, and only to neighboring countries - the Czech Republic, Germany, and Ukraine (though that last one was a first and quite an adventure). 

Part of it is because I’ve been watching the excellent Long Way Round and Long Way Down series on the recommendation of a friend. Part of it is that my 29th birthday is approaching, adding some urgency to my goal of stepping on all of the continents except Antarctica by the time I’m 30. Either way, I have two very massive undertakings in the next year - Africa and South America - and I really need to get started on the planning stages.

So this is partly my asking for advice, particularly when it comes to Africa. That’s probably the first trip I’ll take, and the one that requires the most planning and security considerations. Oh, and I have to do all of this dirt cheap, on account of my constant near-poverty, which is probably another reason why I haven’t travelled much since going freelance - though hopefully with another writing gig or two that will change. It would be great to spend time working in Africa to at least pay for the travel there, so that’s something I’ll definitely look into. Oh, and going by boat would be awesome. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all the thought I’ve put into this so far.

Help?

I’ve barely posted recently as freelance translation and proofreading work has kept me incredibly busy, which is a good thing considering that over the years I’ve grown accustomed to purchasing and consuming food, and would like to continue that habit. However, while I credit this mad rush that began the second I left my previous job on a general desire to wrap everything up by the end of the year as well as sheer luck, hopefully come January I’ll have the time to develop a regular posting habit as well.

Until then, I’ll just post my new goal that, as most of the crazy ideas I usually end up accomplishing begin (see: Iceland), came to me mid-conversation and completely out of the blue. By the time I’m 30, I want to have set foot on all of the continents except Antarctica. It seems poetic given that I have two years and two continents to go; I’ve already travelled to North America and Europe (obviously), as well as Asia and Australia. All that remain are Africa (totally doable) and South America, which will be the trickiest to accomplish given sheer distance. Luckily, I’ve got plenty of time to plan, and if the money keeps coming in, I might end up riding a motorcycle through the Argentinian plains sooner than I expected (note to self: learn how to ride a motorcycle first).

Granted, by the time I die I would absolutely love to visit Antarctica as well, but considering that the logistical planning and necessary funding is exponentially higher, that one might have to wait awhile.