The Truth About Travelers
Written by Stephanie Dandan of infinitesatori.org We have been called many things. Travelers, by default. But we like to be called nomads. Explorers. Vagabonds. Adventurers. Wayfarers. Modern gypsies. Wanderers. We’ve adopted them all. A growing breed of humans with restless feet and the inability to stay still, the inability to stay in one place. That is who we are. And that’s just the gist of it. We come from all walks of life, from bustling gray colored cities, sleepy beach towns, snow-covered metropolises, small villages nestled in between lush green mountains, we come from everywhere. But our inner gravity always brings us to the same place… the road. We deem courage weighs more than money when it comes to travel. We’re not rich, not financially well-off and we don’t travel for luxury. Our money does not come from rich parents, trust funds, or whatever privileges you think we have in order to maintain a life of travel. We work hard, or work while we travel and save whatever means we make. We travel at the cost of sacrifices. We’re happy living with just barely enough as long as we’re on the road. This means that we have given up plenty of comforts for the sake of travel. We would rather choose a dorm bed in a cheap hostel, a couch, a hammock, a tent, or concrete floor. We’ve slept in night boats, century old huts, train stations, in bamboo huts with indigenous tribes, in a house built on stilts in shantytowns and god knows where else. We have learned to live in depth without comforts. The uncomfortable becomes comfortable to us. Most of us don’t own homes, or if some of us do, they’re probably renting it out to use that money to travel & explore. We don’t spend our money lavishly on things we don’t need. We don’t buy many things, we don’t let things own us. We’ve learned that the less things we have, the better we live. We feel the most alive when we’re out there. Living nomadically with nothing but our possessions in a backpack and moving as our only constant. Anything is possible when we are given a brand new day in a place we have never been as we surrender ourselves to the currents of the universe. We are mesmerized by every culture. We act like sponges when we go to a new country we’ve never been to, we immerse ourselves into every experience and soak our souls with its depth. We believe that smiles are universal and no matter what language fills our ears, we can see people’s stories through a smile. We’ve learned to not let small annoyances, adversities, and misadventures get the best of us and we don’t let it ruin our days. We believe that in any given moment, we have the choice to suffer from whatever problems come our way, or just simply accept it. We’ve grown to choose the latter. We’re not afraid of troubles coming our way even if we are traveling alone most of the time. We’ve learned to face our fears and unlearn them so we grace through our days with courage. No matter whatever fears people project on us, we smile and look right past it. We have learned that if we constantly keep a sunny disposition and keep our light bright then we won’t see the shadows. We follow wherever the next sunrise and sunset takes us. We are guided by moon cycles and stardusts. We look up at the night sky, gaze up at the cosmos, and know that wherever we are and whoever we’re without, we are never really alone. And we are comforted by this very notion. We have dedicated our hearts to the road. Even when we’re not on it we’re working to save up for our next trip, every time we hear an airplane, we look up, smile and imagine ourselves on it. We know that the day is coming soon, and we are fueled by that thought. We go to bookstores to browse through the travel section, pick out travel guides and sit there skimming through the pages and daydreaming about our future travels. Our minds constantly drift away to the next destination on our list. Our wanderlust is insatiable and even when we feel it’s slaked, it doesn’t take long at all until we’re hungry again. And we’re hungry all the time. We travel not just to go, we travel to evolve. Embracing new experiences, endlessly changing horizons, and each brand new day as a way of living. We live for airports, planes, buses, boats, trains, road trips. We find clarity in the blur of the places zooming past us as we look through the window. This is our home. This will always be our home. These are the stories we will tell people, the ones we love, the ones we just met, the ones who come and ago, the perfect strangers. We will keep showing the others that we were born wanderers, that wanderlust resides within every single one of us. And that no matter who we are, where we are, what we do, and what we have, we can always choose to follow it. We’re not saying that you should give up everything in your life this second, buy a ticket, and pack your backpack. Although you can if really want to, if everything inside of you is telling you to do so you should listen. But we’re saying that when you choose to strip away years of unnecessary baggage, you’ll find freedom. We’re not saying that you should take the risk and leap, then everything will always be peachy and perfect. It’s never like that. But what we’re saying is, you should allow yourself to be free. You should allow yourself to stand on the fringes of life, and dive into its alluring ambiguity. Even if it means facing your fears. Even if it means making sacrifices. Even if it means letting go of things you’ve held onto for so long. Even if it means having to let go of people you love. Even if it all terrifies you. We’re saying open yourself up to the world. Embrace all of its worth. Let its teachings seep into all that you are. When you do that, all your layers will peel off and you will discover your true self. And so here’s the truth. We travel not just to travel and marvel at people, places, things. That’s not just it. That was never just it for us. We travel to learn, to experience, and to feel all the spectrums of being human in this world. One day, when we are old with silver hair, freckles, creases, and laugh wrinkles from many years of wandering drenched under sunlight. Our children’s children will lay out with us under the stars by a campfire on a moonlit beach elsewhere. We will tell them stories of wild adventures, of lived dreams, of enchanting places, of conquered fears, of lessons that turned into gold, lessons that we’ve learned from the road, and a full life lived. Our journeys will inspire their own. Our journey is our truth. It’s the truth that illuminates us, as we continue on where we thrive and wander, on the road we call our home.
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This article from Relevant Magazine is dead on. There is so much more to Africa and the countries it encompasses than disease, war and extreme poverty. Understand that what is portrayed in the media isn't a full representation of the continent, and that you should come to your own conclusions through your own experiences. While I have only spent time in Tanzania, and a brief amount in Kenya, I know that people don't see a lot of what really matters from abroad. I have never been surrounded by such friendly, inspiring, loving and joyful people than when I was in Tanzania and Kenya. While there are struggles, there is also a lot of hope. From these experiences, I look forward to the day that I travel more extensively in Africa and further define the continent on my own terms. I hope you will, too.
There's More to Africa Than Just Problems to Solve Written by Kola Olaosebikan As a young child growing up in West Africa, one of my favorite pastimes was explaining to my parents the latest thing I had learned about Americans from watching TV. One of my favorite things to watch was New York Fashion week. I would catwalk around the living room, sashaying and swaying my boney 7-year-old hips from side to side. I would tell my parents all about the funny way Americans talked. American accents were cute but difficult to understand, I’d explain. As a 7-year-old in Nigeria, I didn’t know any Americans. I didn’t even have any white friends. It hadn’t yet occurred to me that Americans could be anything other than what I saw on television. Imagine my wonderment when I finally had the opportunity to visit the United States. Many of the people I saw looked nothing like the models in New York Fashion week. They looked different, walked differently, talked differently. It was all so fascinating. I realized I had a completely skewed and one-dimensional perception of America and the people who lived there. And as I began watching American TV and listening to conversations about my home country, I realized many Americans also had a skewed view of Africa. Between charity ads featuring children with swollen bellies, news reports about things like Ebola, warlords and famines, I observed that most conversations about my continent were in the context of one of three things: disease, war or extreme poverty. At first, I was quite indifferent about this. Over time, however, several questions began to form in my mind. How had I managed to grow up in Africa without knowing that every picture of me and my friends required us to sit in the sand, looking dusty with crusty saliva on our faces? How did I not know that my family was desperately sad and needed immediate help from people on the other side of the world? Maybe I had grown up without witnessing the full harshness of Africa simply because I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe if I paid attention, I would see these things a little clearer. So I started paying attention. When I traveled back home to Nigeria, I visited an orphanage. I saw plenty of need there, but it wasn’t like what I had heard people describe in America. My experience was similar in Ghana. I also had the opportunity to travel to other developing countries, so I kept my eyes open there too. When I traveled to India, I saw and learned of many needs. However, like in Nigeria, the appearance of the suffering was different from the perspective that many Americans seemed to have. The Western perception seemed to be filled with urgent need, suffering and hardship—people waiting for someone to come “save” them. In real life, I saw these things balanced with equal doses of optimism, hope and laughter. In the Western perception, people in developing nations were desperately waiting for rescue. In real life, they were smart and resourceful, going about their business and making the best of their circumstances. The Western perception seemed to be that those in need were sad and melancholy. Those I met in real life, however, had adapted to the environment and found ways to be joyful even when there were no obvious reasons to be happy. Without realizing it, many of us rely on television and other third-hand media sources to learn about people who are not like us. Just like the 7-year-old me watching New York Fashion week, we soak it all in and form perceptions based on very tiny fragments of a much bigger picture. Obviously, not everyone in America looks like fashion models. And in the same way, even though it is true that there is great need in Africa, there is also an abundance of joy, hope, prosperity and innovation there as well. The point here is not to say that there is one universal perception of Africa that every person must hold. Rather, it is to illustrate that there is a lot more to Africa than the typical stereotypes may suggest. A better way forward is to ask more questions about what we think we know, seek opportunities to learn firsthand and dialogue with people who come from different backgrounds, and to share the things we have learned with others. |
If you know me, you likely know that I love a good TED talk, keynote or thought-provoking article. I've included this page to share some of my favourites, or just those that I think provide interesting perspectives worth considering. I don't necessarily agree with everything being said in all of them, but I think it's important to challenge your thinking and be exposed to different perspectives.
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