Traveling creates an experience that’s on a whole different level. When you are different parts of the world and witnessing how different and similar we are, how privileged life at home can be and yet still seeing equal amount of happiness you learn and grow a lot. I believe that travel (especially solo) is when you truly see the kind of person you are when you totally get away from all influential factors from home. All that is left is what you have learned in life from your time and experiences there that created you who you are. Travel becomes the challenge of letting yourself go in this world and see how you do. You have thrown yourselves into the categories of an explorer, an adventurer and a student of the world. You will meet hundreds of people and hear able different parts of the world, gain new friends across the globe which creates further opportunities to explore more with your friends, new and old.
Its an interesting process to watch and coming up close to a year of this experience called life I have been able to see how this experience progress and you knowledge of the world and self increases. You make friends quickly and find people that will become a part of your life for many years to come even though we come from completely different backgrounds, stories and cultures. It is because of these things though create the feeling that you can connect to as you see how despite the difference the way you present yourself to the world and truly be yourself. Everyone you meet is for a reason whether that be for a brief passing money to sticking with you through the times and journeys to come. You will spend a lot of time with these people, that come latter, and grow closer a lot quicker than you feel you could at home. These become travel buddies; people to visit and explore with, people to discuss things with freely, a companion and even lovers in some occasions.
Another great part of travel is allowing the local people you meet show you the local food, their favorite places to eat, and going on to explore the food and drinks of a region. I have learned to enjoy many new foods and FINALLY learned to use chopsticks after giving up a long time ago. I have eaten bugs, chicken feet porridge, and tons of local Asian foods. I love Pad Thai (Sometimes eating it for breakfast lunch and dinner), Cao Lau, Pho, Mutton Pepper, Curries and the tarantula was the favorite of all the bugs I ate. My favorite thing to do would be to find a small local family’s restaurant and enjoy their meals and company all the time. This is a good way to try many new things and support the local people in the area you are in. I bought a shirt which contains a great slogan of “think global, drink local” its very true and applies to food as well. Beside the people and foods one of the biggest benefit are the places you get to go and see.
I have seen so many sites that I never imagines I would. I have explored Asian cities covered in trash and smog, seen lives in poverty in way worse conditions than at home. You meet people in these conditions and learn about their lives, their country and their culture. You hear stories like a man that sleep in his tuk-tuk (A small Asian open air taxi) and sends most of the money away to his family back home. He is only able to see his wife and son a few times a year when he has the time and money to stop working and go for a visit. Hearing stories such as this shows you how different life can be. You gain these small connections with the most random people around the world and know that you are helping to support them. You learn about the insides of life there instead of just looking out and making judgement or seeing only what you wish to see and making possibly incorrect judgments. Sometimes things get hard and when you see such horrible things it can be hard. An example of this was seeing the costs of warfare in Vietnam had all over South East Asia and the harm that my homeland cause to this area of the world which is still happening to this day. Learning about this has brought me to tears on multiple occasions. Seeing the effects of terrible things to happen in a country creates another view of the world and can very hard to hear such as acts of genocide or the living conditions creates for million. I have seen giant amounts of skulls and graves of peoples slaughtered throughout a dictator’s regime. I have passed trash piles outside small neighborhoods with children playing on them enjoying life or searching through them trying to find something to perhaps sell. Sites such as these make you think a lot more about the world. Both about how lucky you are to have everything you do, and how we should not waste so much. There truly is over-consumption in this world and we are trashing the earth more than cleaning it up.
On the other side of the equation I have seen beautiful scenes of nature in rain forests, on beaches, in mountains, in deserts, overlooking the hill lands. Seeing these sites are truly amazing and allow you to further fall in love with nature. There have been times staring of onto the open ocean on a beach while lying in my hammock, overlooking beautiful mountains covered in jungle for as far as I can see after a hike or drive on the scooter thinking about the beauty of life and how lucky you are to experience this all At one of the best sites, a beautiful waterfall in the jungle that had the view of paradise, I even began to fall in love with something besides nature. But that is a whole other story….
I can go on and on about all my adventures, friends met, and experiences but that is not the purpose of this and I have wandered around in my reminiscing enough. The whole purpose of this is to show why I have loved my experiences as a traveler, how much you can learn, things to truly appreciate and how it can truly show who you are. I have always sought out challenges of live and I believe this is the ultimate. Adventure truly is the test of ones will, not everything that you experience will be easy. You will hit hard times, be low and need some help, and be challenged by life. It is at these times that you prove to yourself all that you can do. I am very thankful for having been given this experience and hope that I will be able to bring experiences to many in my family, friends group, community and as many people in the world as possible. In the meantime I will continue on my adventure and continue to learn how to be a citizen of the world.
