Since I can remember my favorite subject in school was Geography. It fascinated my mind to look at a map of so many places and try to imagine what it would be like to see it in person. As I got older my family and I were always into outdoor activities, one of my favorites being riding my dirt bike out in the desert. This also stimulated my mind in unimaginable ways, being able to go anywhere you wanted to and explore so much terrain! Whenever we would go on a group ride I would get separated from the group because I found a new trail nobody else was going on and took off, but always ended up at the same meeting point in the end, everyone wondering how the hell I got there. Through high school I was able to take some trips with friends out of the state camping, snowboarding, surfing, and everything in between.
FollowustoFlorida.blogspot.com |
No maybe I haven't been around the world yet, but through all those days away from home and the normal lifestyle you learn how to adapt and live in different conditions. Most of the nights were not in a comfy mattress nor in anything considered a home/house. I can tell you because I'm weird like this, that in the last 900+ days I have been out of the country 380 days, slept in 65 different beds, and been on 38 flights. In Hawaii I slept on my cousins couch in his 150sq ft backyard shed with no water and hardly electricity. In Indonesia I've slept on floors, hammocks, dirty ferries, on top of a surfboard bag, inside mosquito nets, all in the humid sticky weather of the tropics. In Australia I slept in my van most of the 80 days I was there. For 3 straight weeks living in the van I used beach showers or a random industrial buildings water spicket to shower while the excess soapy water splashed on my clothes for that days laundry. In Sweden I slept on a single size bed with my girlfriend for two months, inside a 700 sq ft cabin with 5 people and a small bathroom. All in all was it all worth it, fuck yes it was! Living thousands of miles from home in another country doing anything you want, learning a new language, figuring how to convert everything into metric, learning a new currency, and much much more.
Van Life, NSW, February 2014 |
Bali, Indo 2014 |
I have met many people from around the world in the last few years, whether its a few minute conversation or a few weeks of camping together. Luckily now a days its much easier to keep in contact with friends from around the world. I love meeting new people from interesting places and asking what it's like in there homeland and where they have traveled to. You can get tips, info, great food places, its like traveling without physically traveling when you meet some new who has been somewhere you haven't. I have friends that I can contact at any moment and go visit in places like Scotland, Spain, France, South Africa, Chile, Australia, and many more. It makes the world seem smaller and more friendly, looking through Facebook and seeing a friend in Israel posting about news going on there, or maybe meeting up with a mate you haven't seen in years when your in Canada and they show you the local spots.
All in all I've found that this is what I want to do for as long as possible. I feel like some of the smartest people I've met in the world were people who have traveled and been in unexplained situations normal people would never experience. These situations you might end up in make you smarter, think outside the box, more resourceful, and have another out look on the outcome. Seeing how other people go about there daily lives, how business is done, or how materials and goods are transported. There is so much to learn just by stepping away from your homeland and having an open mind to what the world is like outside your lil bubble....
New South Wales, Aus, Feb 2014 |