I would like to share here my view on travelling, on the goals and reasons we choose doing it for and on the experience as a whole.
First of all, let's take the modern concept of travelling and analyze it. It basically goes like this : someone is tired of the 9 to 5 daily routine, buys some plane tickets 6 months early for a place he/she always wanted to visit, after the 6 months he/she goes there being happy of the place he/she wanted to see, then comes back and takes his/hers place back in the routine and maybe also posting some photos from the holiday on Facebook.
One mistake that I can see here is the lack of flexibility. Someone will plan the whole thing out a few months before actually happening, taking away most of the spontaneity a journey could bring. Also, the choice of a fixed destination might again ruin the experience. If you set a fixed destination, you will start having high expectations of how great it's going to be and your mind will only be satisfied if the expectations are met. Thus, a small rain, a closed museum or some dirty beach could ruin your expensive and beloved holiday. A journey should not only be about the destination, and this gets me to the next mistake of modern travelling : transportation.
Some people think they enjoy travelling because it allows them to visit places they always wanted to see. This may be true, but it's not only the place itself that makes you happy, it's the fact that you are doing something else, it's not the same routine, and that gives you a sense of living. So why not maximize that feeling? It shouldn't be about the destination, but the journey itself, and regular transportation will just skip you through one of the best parts of travelling : the road. When you start spending days, weeks on the road, you will start appreciating the spontaneity of every second and thus, the destination will become just a mere epilogue to your great adventure. Forget about your car and throw away your plane tickets (actually don't do that, they are expensive; just sell them back), get on the road and start hitchhiking...or even better : walk!
I know, some people are fine with hitchhiking, I mean you get to know different people and that is awesome! But walking? Bleah! Although it is true it can take you a looong time to get from one place to another, so if you are in a hurry it might not be the best option, I believe that it is the best way (and maybe even the only way) to experience real travelling. You can take the plane for a few hours to visit some tropical island and it will be fun, but if you walk for a day or two just to see a tree several kilometres outside your city, when you will reach it, that tree will become the most amazing thing you could be standing in front of, better than any exotic island or famous city. The sense of appreciation that regular hiking brings is incredible, not to mention the road, which will never cease to amaze you. Every road will be different, just like every destination is.
So, I would like to use this occasion to challenge any kind of reader that has stumbled upon this blog and is interested in this idea of alternative travelling. The challenge goes like this: search on Google for some interesting places (maybe a waterfall, a fortress, church etc.) near your house (about 20-30 km), choose one you would like to visit, and do so the following weekend...on foot. No car, no hitchhiking, no train, just your two legs moving back and forth. Take a camera and enjoy all the small things along the way, from flowers, wild fruits you can eat (make sure to know the edible ones ) to other hikers with whom you might cross way. When you return home after the exhausting 40-60 km just think about your day, see what you have learned and how you feel about spending your day in such a way. I think you will come to some great conclusions after this experience, whether your whole idea of travelling will change or you will absolutely hate it and never want to try it again, I think it's worth spending one day to see how you feel about it.
That will be it for now, thank you for the patience of reading the entire article (except, of course, if you haven't read anything and you just skipped here). Don't forget that it is a normal thig for people to love journies, because we were biologically and psychologically made to seek new places and experiences. But we also have to ask ourselves: are we really experiencing a journey?
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-> Nonsense of an ordinary person <-
