Not All Who Wander Are Lost

I'm on the road again.

And as I ramble along, I'm reflecting on why I find myself traveling; What it does for me, what it can do for you, and why it really matters.

I don't know much about my parents. I wish I knew more.

I could have asked more questions. They could have shared more. Thank God there is still time left for both.

But of the things I do know, I know about their study-abroad experience in University. Stories that captured me when I was young, and shaped my future more than I knew when they told me those tales as a boy.

In fact, it was one of the few things that my parents directly recommend that I do with my life. They were laissez faire otherwise, but on this they were fairly insistent. They did not care so much what I studied at Uni, but that I did find myself abroad for at least one semester.

Outside of the adventure stories, exposure to out heritage and culture, the beauty of Europe, etc. the reason I locked in on it was their conviction. I could feel that they meant it. I could see the spark in my father's eyes when he cast himself backward in time to reminisce. A spark that was more rare to see than I would like.

So I went.

We landed in Paris, and from there saw Venice, Florence, Rome, Vienna, Munich, Prague, Brugge, Oxford and more. I took a girl on a first date in London. Our second date was the south of France. Just a bit more romantic than the suburbs back home. I studied at Oxford, and ate full-English breakfasts wishing I was wearing my Ravenclaw robes.

I moved around a lot, slept very little, drank more than I could fathom now, laughed, loved, and altered my life forever.

Traveling does something to you. It's hard to define, even harder to describe, and best experienced for yourself. The magic on the other side of a cheap plane ticket is something even Merlin can respect.

In some sense, almost nothing changes.

You are the same as you were 11 hours before your flight, only tired and dehydrated. The bag of clothes is the same as how packed it. Your shoes fit the same, and your fashion sense did not magically catch up to the Europeans while you slept-watched shitty movies on an 8-inch screen.

But somehow, everything is different.

The smell, the sounds, the people, the buildings, the money, but above all the energy. It's palpable.

You feel it in the Parisian pastry shop, the German Raw milk dispensary, and as you crane your neck up to gaze upon The Angels and Saints of St. Peter's Basilica. It's in the dirt as you walk barefoot in South America, and in the overhead waves on the cliffside coasts of Bali.

All God's Beauty declares his majesty, and for some reason, just like Santiago, we have to leave our homes to realize we had Magic at home as well.

Mathematics tells us that a point on a cartesian plane changes it's characteristics and behavior simply by placing it at different X,Y,Z coordinates.

Stated outright: Your location changes you.

Literally and fundamentally you become different. Your brain functions differently than it did before. New synapses are firing and old ones get to finally take a break. It's a little scary, very exciting, and altogether strange.

It's hard to get lost on public transportation at home where you can read all the signs. But pulling an all-nighter to avoid paying for an extra night in the hostel is a rite of passage. The American mind especially benefits from flanuering the streets with no plan, a few coffees, and accidentally ending the day with over 35,000 steps.

To be clear, I've met many wanderers who are lost, most of them, in fact. There is nothing to find out there that will fix what you've got going on inside.

But I have yet to discover a better way to find yourself. The world is a mirror, and travel let's you adjust the lighting.

The grass will always be greenest where you water it. Traveling is no panacea. But for every 10 farmers there is 1 ranch hand who yearns to take his bronco past the barbed wire fence, and go where the railroad won't take him.

So if you also yearn for the steppe, book the ticket.

Go West Young Man.

“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.”

Thanks for reading, share if you feel called. Otherwise talk soon.

p.s. Vlogs of my travel are live and upcoming on YouTube ;)

Mythologize Yourself; Be The Renaissance.