How to Travel to Nowhere
July 21st, 2011
This piece is a guest post/ collaboration with my new good friend Andrew who also writes on his site andrewcaldwell.org/blog
What if I could offer you discount airfares to travel right now? Let’s say zero dollar travel, now, this afternoon or tomorrow?
I’d like to propose that being bohemian is a star candidate for the 80/20 principle. Sure, sitting around in a jungle hut outside of Luang Prabang in Laos with your backpack soaked from the rain is pretty bohemian, but why wait until then?
Let’s be bohemian, right now.
If you’ve already de-cluttered your life you’re probably yearning for some long term travel but enjoy what you have around you. The best parts of travel are the new experiences, meeting new people, the conversations, having time for photography and strolling through markets. Of these, what can’t you do tomorrow?
Travel is glamorised, sexed up and provides a leap of escapism. A travel show on television or in books, glossy magazines of blogs aren’t going to talk about the pitfalls of travel, this wouldn’t do anything for the ratings!
So rejoice in being bohemian in your hometown, with the luxury of coming home to your own bed, putting on clean clothes in the morning, not having to lock your backpack when you leave your room or pop a malaria tablet every morning.
If you still spend your time pining over other people’s travel adventures here are a few tips from the trenches that can add to your locale bohemian experience:
- Wear the same shirt 3 days in a row (Yep, sometimes you’ve only packed one long sleeve shirt, been in transit for two days, and hey, there’s no need to ruin a clean shirt on that slow boat down the mekong?)
- Keep your passport in your pocket or your day pack, and spend most of the day stressing out about whether it’s still there or not
- Eat something terrible, that possibly induces food poisoning, and then force yourself to go sight-seeing.
- Stuff your clothes for the week into a backpack, the more creases the better, no irons allowed.
I came across the above image months ago via Steve McCurry’s blog. I’ve been wanting to use it in a post, but I couldn’t come up with anything that seemed worthy for such a great photograph. Then Andrew sent me an email with this awesome content and post collaboration idea so it all seemed to come together. The above image perfectly captures the western desire of exotic travel, all the while the local takes the same train but gets a much more exciting ride. So travel while you’re at home. Maybe out of necessity, maybe to try new things. But also for all you travelers out there: you may think you’re doing something dangerous and exciting, but your adventure is an every day reality for someone else. And they are probably doing it with greater style.
