Travel.
Traveling is an absolute necessity. It can open the barriers we hold onto when we get into our daily routines. In traveling, you get to understand how other people view the world, what’s really important in life, and how good you may have it compared to others. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some incredible places, and the common theme I see is that there are so many good people out there. The people that we interact with on the road really make the trips special. I’ve realized if you acknowledge and give respect to the culture in which you are engrossing yourself in, magical things can happen.
For example we went to Barcelona a couple summers back. I thought I had seen beautiful architecture, but walking into the La Sagrada Familia was something I will remember forever. This defies everything I’ve ever known about how a building should look. The architect Antoni Gaudi plays magically off of nature and the divine. Demonstrating they are one in the same by using structural pillars that look like redwoods, and stained glass which changes the environment depending on the time of day. Gaudi was so ahead of his time they couldn’t even begin to construct the majority of it until the software that modern engineers use today was developed. Yet, he exemplifies what it means to be truly passionate and devoted to a craft. The magic in his work is that he followed what he pushed the boundaries of what we think is possible.
Another reason travel is essential is because you get to understand people’s living conditions and what truly is important in this world. If you travel to third world countries the poverty may look horrendous compared to how we have it here in the United States. Yet, what they seem to have figured out more than we do is a sense of community. I’ve been to a handful of these communities and every time I am shocked at how generous people are to take care of each other. On one of my trips to Costa Rica, during one of the tours my friends were on, they had to make a pit stop to pick up some laundry, and in return the tour guide was given a meal for the evening. This happens regularly and it’s amazing to see. As much as I love the US, sometimes greed gets the best of us, particularly because of our consumerist society (not saying it’s a bad thing, it’s just different).
When you travel you also get to figure out a little bit about yourself. What you’re interested in, which types of environments you resonate with, how you act when things don’t go as planned, etc. I love the show Parts Unknown by Anthony Bourdain, who intelligently blends journalism with self discovery. Much of his youth was encompassed by what he had seen on television, often stretching his imagination and ego. Once he started the show he went through his own realization that everything is not as it seems. Often what is preached on the television is a fraction of the whole, leaving most of the story up for interpretation.
The best part of traveling is that you can take what you’ve learned from your adventures and start to implement them in your everyday life. Personally, I have seen myself become much more open minded. Often observing people, places, and cultures depending on the environment in which surrounds them. By looking through the lens of the people that live in these places, I can get a sense of why people do the things they do, which completely strips negative connotations from the equation.
Hope you get the chance to go somewhere you’ve always wanted to someday.
Thanks for reading.
With love,
Kai
Weekly Journal:
Best we lay awake at night embracing
The long day of new adventures
Resting our lungs from laughter
And digesting the feast full of delights
That travel has to offer
