Get up, and go.
Notes from a mini adventure
Go where you are unique
Oh my gosh, where are you from?!
These are the cries from yet another excited stranger, as I place my order for an enormous Ice Cream Sundae at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. As the words tumbled out of my mouth, I had forgotten just how in love with the British accent foreigners can be. Back in the UK my voice meant little, other than as a marker of my social class or where I grew up. Out here, it’s music to people’s ears.
Tap into the power of crowds
As I stepped up to the rim of Crater Lake, my footsteps gently crunching in the fresh snow, the ground dropped away to reveal the sublime expanse of this extinct volcano.
The beauty of unplanned travel is that you can go anywhere. But where is that? Follow the advice of others. On the road, the people you meet tend to be on similar, but unique, journeys. A single recommendation is worth a shot if it’s on the way, but five mentions of the same place is a definite must see. Go out of your way for the things that matter the most. You won’t be disappointed.
Face your fears
As I drove deeper into forests, alone, on unpaved roads covered in jagged rocks, and no bars on my phone, I often wondered whether I was making a bad move.
We can be paralyzed by fear. It stops us in our tracks. Most of this is a fear of the unknown.
‘What will happen if […insert terrifying event…]?!’
Every day you face this fear, it will diminish. When you listen to this fear, you end up with nothing. If you can overcome this fear, you open up a world of possibilities. Try flipping your fear on its head
‘What will I miss out on if I’m too afraid to face […insert terrifying event…]?!’
Bathe in nature
Immerse yourself in hot springs and cold rivers. Explore exposed mountaintops and sheltered forests. Soak in the bird calls of the forest, and the waves crashing on rocks by the shore. Feel the wet morning dew and the warmth of the sunshine upon your body. Fill your eyes, your ears and your soul with these moments. Humankind wasn’t born to be stuck in an air-conditioned office or in front of a computer screen, and these won’t be the moments you remember when your life has passed you by.
Connect with humans
There are 7.6 billion people in the world. That means you haven’t met almost 100% of them. That’s a lot of potential best friends you’re missing out. Take great care to bump into these people along your way. Share your stories and listen intently to theirs. Join them for part of their journey. Be thankful when you walk away with memories. Be grateful when you walk away as friends.
Travel links you to the people of the past, as well as the present. You walk in the footsteps of others, from historic writers and movie makers, to lost family members. Small moments can bring greater clarity to the lives of others, through the power of a shared experience. I have no doubt it will link you to strangers in the future too.
Take comfort in the uncomfortable
Hiking mountain peaks is hard work. Long days, steep ascents, heavy backpacks. It strains the mind and body. The reward for this pain is twofold. The first is the serene beauty of the landscape. Views stretching for miles in every direction. The second reward is, the sense of accomplishment. The power to say “I did this. I was strong.”
Together these rewards are more than the sum of their parts. You are rewarded for your strength with the beauty, and the beauty is amplified because of your strength. For this reason, it’s always worth going that little bit higher. Pushing for the top. That extra miler. Every step reaps a greater reward, until the peak. Resting on top of the world-it really doesn’t get better than this!
Make yourself
It’s a cliche to disappear off into the wilderness to ‘find ourselves’. Thinking the answers to our internal problems can be discovered far away from their origin location. The hiccup, however, is that we tend to bring ourselves with us when we travel. Same person, different place.
What we are…who we are…is defined by the things we do — our actions. You cannot merely think yourself to a different person. Travel, then, should not be the chance to find ourselves, as if this alternative version of us is waiting to plucked from a strange land and swapped out at will. Travel is the chance to make ourselves. Testing our limits, pushing out boundaries, trying new experiences and learning new things.
Above all else
You have one life, one chance, so make the most of what you have.
Please, enjoy it. 😃
