I decided my reentry into the blog world should be a three-part series trying to get down to the Why of My Plan. This is Part Two of that series, The Why of Travel. Check out Part 1: The Why of Arcturus if you haven’t seen that one yet. So, it seemed like a good idea to lay out the key components of my plan and go ahead and explain them. It was pretty straightforward with my sailboat, Arcturus. This week’s topic, The Why of Travel, is so much harder to pin down. Why do I travel? Why is this so key to my entire life plan? Not How do I Travel or Where do I travel. But Why? Ooph. I sat down to write this blog post and missed. I am writing this introduction paragraph almost a week later and I haven’t been able to bring myself to post what I wrote. So I’m not going to:) I tried to pack years of thoughts and ideas into one liners to make sure I covered everything. Each paragraph could easily be its own topic. It is too big for one grand post. I am going to have to chew on this one for quite a while. Maybe forever. Are these even answerable questions? Dad and I had a few great conversations over some tasty beers trying to talk through it all. Fascinating stuff. I have enough blog fuel for a year now. Hell, this could turn out to be the entire theme of the blog. Who knows? Might as well get started, though!
So. Since we have plenty of time now, let’s really try to figure out this question. Why Travel? Why do I Travel? So, first things first. I hesitate to even use the word travel at all. It is such a broad word that can have so many connotations. Travel to me brings to mind a resort, cruise ship style way of visiting a place. Visiting a Travel agent to organize your trip for you. Who doesn’t love to travel, right? Everyone who has been to another country or state is a traveler. But what does that even mean?? Well, that is what Google is for: “Google. Why Wonder?” So, the Google definition of Traveler reads:
“a person who is travelling or who often travels; tourist, vacationer, sightseer.”
Yeeesh, those synonyms are pretty much everything I am trying to avoid when I am visiting a place. OK. Well. What word would I use to describe what I have built my entire life plan around? Explorer?? The Google definition states:
“a person who explores an unfamiliar area, an adventurer. Ex: a polar explorer”.
That brings to mind charting new territories. Shackleton was an explorer. Lewis and Clark, they explored stuff. Early sailors sailing towards blank space on a chart and running the risk of sailing off the edge of the earth. I don’t feel like I can really claim to be an explorer if I am studying up on my cruising guides, paper/electronic charts and forum posts. I feel like I could explore Mars. I have trouble feeling like I am exploring St. Barts or Aruba. Does it need to be unfamiliar to me or new to the world and humanity for me to be considered an explorer?? I’m not doing anything new here. Voyager was a synonym for explorer:
“A voyager is someone who goes on a long trip, especially if he travels in a ship. Historically, voyagers have often been explorers. A voyage is a long trip to a faraway land, and people who go on voyages are called voyagers.”
Sailing by ship happens to be the way I am travelling (voyaging?) currently but what about the four and a half months I spent in New Zealand? Trip to China? Korea? Those fit the plan as well. I could just as easily see myself motorcycling down to Patagonia as I could sailing across the Pacific. All the same plan. Voyaging doesn’t feel right. Maybe the trip across the Pacific or something like that is a voyage. Feels a little pompous to go around calling myself a voyager. “Hello, my name is Daniel. I’m a Voyager. I do voyages and enjoy reading. What do you do? Any hobbies?” I get weird enough looks already. Nomad?? Maybe. A quick Google definition says:
“A nomad is a member of a community of people who live in different locations”. Also, “a person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer”.
That seems more group-themed to me. Sailors are definitely a good group of people and maybe we are all nomads together. I feel like I am flying solo so much of the time, though. I meet lots of people where I am and maybe have people with me at times but I wouldn’t say I am part of a core group (unless we are talking about the human race or something like that but that’s probably a little too deep for this particular post…). Wanderer doesn’t feel right either. I like to think I am travelling with a purpose not just aimlessly wandering around. I just looked up Vagabond:
“a person who wanders from place to place without a job or home”.
Ehh, not quite it:) Adventurer?? Google says:
“1. a person who has, enjoys, or seeks adventures. 2. A seeker of fortune in daring enterprises; soldier of fortune. 3. A person who undertakes great commercial risk; speculator. Synonyms: daredevil, hero, thrill-seeker.”
Not quite the definition I expected. I’ve definitely been labeled as an Adventurer. I mean, sailing in the ocean can be pretty damn treacherous at times. I could probably consider myself an adventurer or having a passion for adventure but it doesn’t sum up the whole plan. I suppose the whole thing could be a big adventure with some parts a little more dangerous than others. One of my classic phrases is that “I am a high-adventure, low adrenaline kind of guy.” Not base jumping (no offense, Baxter;) or anything like that. Taking risks sure, but typically more slow paced and calculated.
So…what the heck does all that mean. I honestly don’t know. Anti-climactic, right? Well, let’s think about this for a minute. Maybe I need a phrase instead of one word. Travel still feels like a good choice maybe because it is such a broad word. But what should be Travel’s partner word in the phrase? Perhaps something like Immersive Travel. Intentional Travel. Not-Touristy Travel. I was able to go up to Montreat Youth Conference as a Back Home Leader with my Dad’s Youth Group for a week this summer. One of the keynote speakers used the phrase Authentic Living. I really liked that. Authentic. I immediately thought of travel and started trying out the phrase Authentic Travel or Travelling Authentically. Back to Google. Authentic means:
“3. Representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified.”
Damn. That’s pretty good. We could chew on that one for a while. Authentic Travel. Not quite sure if this is the one end all phrase yet but it is getting closer to representing the Why of the Plan. So let’s try it on:
I determined that I wanted to create a lifestyle of Authentic Travel and see the world. Daniel Sockwell
I’m OK with that. I think that is a good base to work from. This post doesn’t go very far into Why I am doing any of this. But I think I have to determine What it is I am doing (Authentic Travel) before I can begin to think through Why (…?) I am doing it. OK. That’s it for now. Until next week. Also, I am not going to commit myself to any particular topic next week. Learned that the hard way this time!