When I was first introduced to traveling, I was about 11 years old. My aunt and uncle in New York offered to pay half my airline ticket if I wanted to come to visit. I thought that was quite the deal and I saved up my allowance and lawnmower money and went. I was hooked from a young age. I continued to take advantage of my families generous offer many times as a teenager. I found a great appreciation for New York City as a young man.
My immediate family did not travel all that much. We did take a few vacations in my memory, but most of the trips were road trips. I think that is because I grew up in a family that had a scarcity view of life. Traveling did not give my parents a sense of abundance, until I grew up and out of the house when they felt they could travel. My parents did most of their travel through group tours where some travel agency took care of everything. A personal preference for sure.
Having an agency plan a group tour means that everything is planned out for you. Airline tickets, hotels, meals, private tours with guides who can do the translating… even with bathroom stops along the way <wink>. There is a peace of mind just knowing where you are going to and the places to see. There is a stop and start date and all you have to do is show up. A Club-Med vacation has never really been a thing for me. Group tours planned by an agency has a time and a place for sure.
For example, I found out I could swim with the sea turtles, penguins, sea lions and the hammerhead sharks… and the Galapagos Islands were the second largest marine reserves on the planet, I just had to go while I was in Ecuador. When I discovered all the rules for the Galapagos National Park, I realized the way I like to travel might possibly be a hinderance in seeing all that I could possibly see in a reasonable time frame. Sure, I could make my way to one of the main Galapagos islands and the town of Santa Cruz and plan something from there, like a woman I met on the airplane was going to do. However, a registered guide is required to accompany you everywhere in the national park. Plus, there are many islands, and you have to hire a boat to get there. It just didn’t seem very practical or economical to do it that way to get the best possible experience. I found an outfitter and a small cruise with 12 people and decided that would be the best way to do it. I did have some resistance to it which required my surrender. In the long run, I thought it was worth it.
Another example would be a rafting trip down Colorado River in the Grand Canyon which cannot be done on your own, unless you win a weighted lottery for a private permit and have your own equipment and hire your own guide. The bottom of the Grand Canyon is a harsh desert environment and many people have died making the attempt on their own. A Grand Canyon rafting trip I would recommend to everyone.
On the other side of the coin, there is something deeply satisfying for me having a chunk of time (weeks – months) to travel and buying a one-way ticket. With only a place to stay for a short time with ideas of where to go and what you want to be doing. Being your own tour guide by researching on the internet the history of the towns you are going and the places you want to see. Sometimes hiring a government registered guide for those places is beneficial, like in Varanasi, India.
Traveling this way, with a one-way ticket with not much of an itinerary brings its own set of challenges. You need to be self-motivated to do the research, face into any language barriers, get your own local transportation and find your drive to get up and go get ‘em every day. What it also comes with is a great amount of freedom. A kind of freedom that allows you to flow with what the universe puts in front of you. You never where the road may take you in life, you only have to be open to the opportunity and the possibilities.
Some of the best parts of this way of traveling is how you can reside at home-stays, hostels and meet many people you had no idea you’d cross paths with. I am typically one of the oldest people in the bunch because I think as people age, they appreciate their creature comforts of home and prefer things to be more predictable, rather than facing some of the challenges to be out of their comfort zone. When you meet different people, you never know where the roads might take you. Someone may be going somewhere you haven’t thought of going and you could pick up a travel companion for a while. Staying open and surrendering to what is in front of you, is the practice.
I arrived in Colombia after an unexpected detour in my plan and felt I needed a break. To take the day off and reflect and go grocery shopping and make a home cooked meal and settle into my new digs. I had to really force myself to stay put. There were many a voice in my head whispering… you must get out and explore because you only have so much time to do that… the feelings of loneliness creeps in as it would at times being home alone… the ambivalence and fears of the unknown, the language barriers… only to mention a few. There is not a group tour with a schedule that forces you out or gets you out of a funk… that is all up for you to get over.
Another example… I was in Quito, Ecuador and there was an outbreak of civil unrest. Roads were blocked, fires preventing travel, transportation strikes. I could not make it to the places I had wanted to go. Some people would even say it was a scary situation. Because I did not have a round trip ticket or any formal travel arrangements, I was able to adjust my plans and leave Ecuador and find another place I would like to go. I did not have to rely on travel insurance or have to deal with cancellation or change fees for hotels or airlines. It made it much easier to go with the flow. I know this is a bit of an extreme example, but it makes my point.
I am happy to talk about this with anyone and I encourage all my students that travel is the best form of education. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn every time I step out of my comfort zone and into another grand adventure.
God Speed y’all!
Leave a Reply