I whine/complain to Randy constantly about how everything good (and even some not so good) has been corporatized and the soul sucked out of previously wonderful establishments and societies created by real people and serendipity- not TikTok.
It’s truly heartbreaking. 💔 It eviscerates all the joy of travel and discovery.
It’s funny bc my late father travelled all over the Middle East and South America after almost dying in WWII. When he finally recovered from his horrific injuries, he decided to see the world. He was a cartographer, draftsman and explosives expert and worked for the oil companies doing “exploration” (more like exploitation) for oil in all of the places he went. It’s how he ultimately met my mother in Rio de Janeiro.
Anyway, when I started my worldwide travel in 1973, he used to say I had it easy compared to his stint on the road of discovery. He’d be utterly incensed and dispirited by the state of “travel” today.
I, like you, have been around the proverbial block. You are right, we have changed. And it is very different traveling with no money, and no safety net, save other than our youthful bravado.
But that was travel to discover me. To find my likes, dislikes, where I begin and end.
Now that I am older, I wont travel for me. I know me. I want to hear the stories of others. With each new connection there is a story. On my previous journey I met thousands of people. Heard their stories, shared their dreams and nightmares. There in lies the seduction of travel for me. The aromas of markets. The quiet places in the far corners where capitalism has not yet reached.
That, my friend, is the never-ending story.
Those insta kids, they are just a sign of the times. Neither good, nor bad. They are just another part of the story. Their quixotic hopes of “going viral” in order to make a living in this new digital age.
The type of adventure you seek is still there. Give me a holler when you decide the take up the backpack again.
I whine/complain to Randy constantly about how everything good (and even some not so good) has been corporatized and the soul sucked out of previously wonderful establishments and societies created by real people and serendipity- not TikTok.
It’s truly heartbreaking. 💔 It eviscerates all the joy of travel and discovery.
It’s funny bc my late father travelled all over the Middle East and South America after almost dying in WWII. When he finally recovered from his horrific injuries, he decided to see the world. He was a cartographer, draftsman and explosives expert and worked for the oil companies doing “exploration” (more like exploitation) for oil in all of the places he went. It’s how he ultimately met my mother in Rio de Janeiro.
Anyway, when I started my worldwide travel in 1973, he used to say I had it easy compared to his stint on the road of discovery. He’d be utterly incensed and dispirited by the state of “travel” today.
I'm sure he saw things that could fill books. Having it easy is OK. Having it instagrammed, that's another thing altogether.
Im getting for a long trip.
I, like you, have been around the proverbial block. You are right, we have changed. And it is very different traveling with no money, and no safety net, save other than our youthful bravado.
But that was travel to discover me. To find my likes, dislikes, where I begin and end.
Now that I am older, I wont travel for me. I know me. I want to hear the stories of others. With each new connection there is a story. On my previous journey I met thousands of people. Heard their stories, shared their dreams and nightmares. There in lies the seduction of travel for me. The aromas of markets. The quiet places in the far corners where capitalism has not yet reached.
That, my friend, is the never-ending story.
Those insta kids, they are just a sign of the times. Neither good, nor bad. They are just another part of the story. Their quixotic hopes of “going viral” in order to make a living in this new digital age.
The type of adventure you seek is still there. Give me a holler when you decide the take up the backpack again.
The kids can’t fathom travel without a phone. They can’t comprehend how it was even possible.
Sometimes I can’t quite remember or believe it myself.