My husband, Bradley Gann is no stranger to the blog. He has been putting hours and hours of effort into this blog for years with me; from creating the awesome images on many of my posts, helping me get the site set up initially, helping me proofread posts, and being my biggest fan! He is no stranger to blogging either, you can check out his blog and I also highly recommend his book; Primed: The 4 Minute Start To Taking Over The World. Today I am honored to have him guest post. Enjoy!
Flights of Fancy
It’s not unheard of to spend several thousand dollars on a trip to put your bare feet into the sand and feel the vestiges of a powerful wave finally relent as the cold ocean water crashes into your toes. This walking of places unknown and seeing things unseen draws peoples hearts for more reasons than there are apps on iTunes. John Steinbeck carried us across America in Rocinante with Charley riding shotgun. John Blackthorne showed us the honor and tradition of the Japanese empire in his epic voyage to Japan in Shogun, and Don Quixote tilted with windmills in a foreign land. These loafing legends are popular because they speak to that little voice inside us that wants, for whatever reason, to roam.
Better Imagined
But sometimes, our actual travel experience can be less than what we imagine it will be. In the Duolingo Spanish Podcast episode titled “En el camino,” Fabian Martinez falls in love with travel through literature. When he reads the book, “On the Road”, by Jack Kerouac he dreams of crossing the US from coast to coast like the characters of the book. But when he finally made the journey himself, chugging across the American landscape in a train over the course of three days, he found that the trip he endured was less than he envisioned. Therein lies the contrast between the imagined journey and the actual one. In short there is no substitute for the real deal Holyfield, except sometimes.
Trading Wings
At twenty-two years old I left behind my green Army parachute in pursuit of becoming a commercial pilot. My reasons for flying were not so much the love of travel as the love of aviation itself. The feeling I got from controlling a machine in three dimensions and the effort I had to invest to become what I considered a genuine aviator. As a result of that path, I’ve been a wanderer by necessity for the last twelve years. I’ve jogged up the steep green grass to the Citadel in Halifax, Nova Scotia with spotty snow on the ground and the crisp wind cutting though my inadequate running shorts. I’ve gotten sunburned navigating the awe-inspiring red rocks in The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. And down in Mexico, I’ve walked the streets of Guanajuato during Dia de Los Muertos and been invited inside stranger’s homes to see their sacred ofrenda’s. It’s with deep gratitude that I look on these times. Many travelers will claim, and I among them, that these experiences have an effect on the bearer.
The Beautiful Guanajuato, Mexico
Garden of the Gods- Colorado Springs, CO
The Citadel – Halifax, Nova Scotia
The Altered Traveler
From these circumstances I acknowledge the impact travel has had on my personality. I am less certain about the world than before. The more I see of the world, the more I realize I don’t understand. I believe it takes courage to realize that the complexities that make up the world don’t always lend themselves to a quick and easy “right” answer. Practicing tolerance, love, and seeking to truly understand our fellow humans and their journey is something I value. I didn’t say I was good at it but I think it’s worth the effort. As most folks are, I am always looking for ways to set a good example for my kids and live a life I can be proud of when I’m too old to fix it.
Craving Knowledge
I wasn’t the best pupil in primary school. I was devoted to making it to snack time, PE class, and then lunch time. It was not uncommon to find me inadvertently napping in the afternoon classes. (Sorry Coach Muth) I was interested in the 2:30pm bell and then playing in the woods around my home with my brother and sister. I cherish those times but often wish I had applied myself a little more when my iceberg was bigger and attracting penguins was easier. Since I slacked in geography then or maybe because it’s been a few years since any formal geography class, I set out recently to strengthen this particular skill.
I woke up one day with a new excitement for knowing the physical relationships of places in the world and being able to imagine them clearly when someone says, “I’m from Ecuador” or “If I fly to Indonesia, do I have to connect through Singapore?” If I could just recall the map more clearly, I’ll be able to relate more to others and their stories and furthermore to not feel inadequate when talking about global issues.
Luckily for me, the human mind is a mappers paradise. I learned this in Joshua Foer’s novel, “Moon Walking with Einstein”, where a curious journalist exposes his mind-mapping techniques that won the world memory championships after only a year of practice! The technique takes advantage of the hunter-gatherer portion of our mind that knows how to go past the big tree, take a left at the pile of white rocks and follow the narrow dirt trail to the berry bush. We are wired for spacial orientation.
Using this hack I set out to discover more about the world. When I’m sitting in a hotel room and the weather doesn’t encourage local exploration, I switch it up. I use the internet as my vehicle and learn as much as possible about a new place. Once you start down the rabbit hole, don’t be surprised if you get carried away. I’m always inspired by the dedicated learning of the imprisoned Abbey from “The Count of Monte Cristo.” He devoted three years of his life to hard study and all but memorized 150 of the best books so he’d have a better understanding of the world. Later in life when he was trapped alone in the dungeon of the Chateau D’if he’d recall his knowledge of places and things and mentally transport himself outside of the prison walls and back into liberty.
Finding the World
To learn these new places I use an app called Maps of Our World but I’m sure there are many others. The app has a series of simple quizzes I use to learn more about where places are. You start with the countries and work up to capitals and then other cities and their whereabouts. Take yesterday for example, I woke up and opened the app to review the cites in Europe. This usually takes me a couple minutes. I noticed that Barcelona was quite close to France. I hadn’t paid attention to that before so I opened Google Maps and perused the French and Spanish border with my eye balls. I remembered that someone was just telling me about the Basque region and the insanely good food. Where is that? I thought and I continued down the rabbit hole.
Before you know it I’m back and forth between Google Maps, Air BNB, and Yelp. What’s that little island off the coast of Spain? Ah, Ibiza! How much could I get and Air BNB there for? $35 bucks a night?! Wow! Look at those pics!
On Google Maps you can zoom in and see the red line of traffic in the downtown area. I get the sense that I’m somehow connected to the people sitting there in their cars, breathing salty sea air and jamming to a local station that plays the same 50 songs relentlessly. The city of Ibiza is close to the beach so I check to see what body of water it’s in….The Balearic Sea! Ahhh, these are the Balearic Islands. I’ve heard this name many times I’m my life but I’ve never quite placed it. Google Images here I come. Harbors with crystal clear, blue water lapping rhythmically against sleek sailboats at anchor. The warm orange light caresses the walls of harsh rock that rise up near the shore line. As the eyes travel upwards the rugged terrain eventually gives way to the green blanket of hibiscus bushes and Aleppo Pines. I’m smitten. It’s breath taking.
Ibiza, Spain
I spend a few minutes thinking about how it might feel to be there. I imagine myself there on a boat feeling the gentle rocking of the waves. Pamela with a Tinto de Verano in her hand. The kids swimming close by. My daughter probably arguing about getting splashed by my son. The wheels of my home-grown imaginator machine come to a grinding halt as the alarm on my phone rings out. The walls of my hotel close in and I see that I’m dressed in my uniform. It’s getting dark outside and that means it time to start my day. And just like that I’m back from Ibiza sans jet lag.
On Top of the World
Two hours later I shift in my seat to get the blood flowing in my bottom and lean forward on the armrest. My face is almost touching the reflection of the glowing instruments on the ice cold window. At 40,000 feet the air is smooth. In the darkness below I see another glow. The neon lights of Nashville, Tennessee are gliding smoothly toward us. At this speed we’ll be past it before I can properly reminisce about the night spent dancing at Rippy’s Bar and Grill, staying up too late, and standing very close to a drink with some authority. Another city to be explored. Another people to learn from and understand. Another trip of the imagination.
Your Own Vehicle
The technology of the world is changing faster than a Tesla Roadster can accelerate. We came from Atari’s to Playstation Fours, Rand McNally paper road-maps to Waze, and ordering stuff snail mail out of the back of a magazine to free two-day shipping. It’s up to us to realize for ourselves that we don’t have to do everything like our parents did. It’s time that we use our own generational vehicle to travel. If you want to go, you don’t need a paper ticket and a pocket full of money anymore. All you really need is some WIFI and the imagination of a wanderer.
