Taṇhā

I have this friend. He is traveling the world right now.

You should look him up at blakehodges.com .

He left early this month to hit the road for an entire year, he won't be back until March of '09. He will be going from Europe to China to Japan to India to Australia and New Zealand ( in more detailed sections than that). He has saved up for some time, to travel for the sake of travel. Or more so, I imagine to travel for the sake of self growth and exploration of self and others. To gain a larger perspective on his life.

When I check out his blog and photos I feel a sense of nausea. At first I wasn't sure why. I thought it might have something to do with missing this person, and that does play a small part. But I was contemplating why this is effecting me so much lately. And I think I may have figured out why:

I know my road in life is going to lead me down something similar to what he is doing. I HAVE TO TRAVEL. I have to have my pilgrimage, my adventure, my expansion of self. I thirst for this experience more than anything I have ever thirsted for before.

After hitting the road last fall with roadtrip nation (which I have not written about nor talked about in length too much, but believe me the effect was so profound I am still figuring out how to digest the trip and convey what happened on the road), I knew that I had to go internationally. I have to see more. I have to meet new people, I have to see other ways of living, I have to become more inquisitive about the world that surrounds me in order to gain a better understanding in the world I surround myself with at home.

There is no option, there is no if, ands, buts involved in this. It will happen and the probability is it will happen next year.

And knowing this and seeing his travels only brings a sense of urgency SO strong that I physically react. I see him living out the dream and I KNOW that if I don't do it, I will have gone unfullfilling part of my life's purpose. Part of what will make me the future, best version of me.

I to some extent am just blabbling, but also feel really strong about all of this.
To anyone who plans on traveling, has traveled, has taught abroad (one of the vehicles and ways in which I will get abroad and fund travels), studies abroad, anything ... throw any advice at me.

For those who want to go too, let me know. I highly recommend a book titled Vagabonding . I is a miracle book that really coaches you on making long term travel and work a realistic venture and really makes you feel like it is something you owe yourself if you really want it.

In the meantime, I am going to work hard in the present moment for this adventure and at the same time, try to live as best as I can while doing this in my current situation. That is all we can do. Reflect, enjoy the present, and dream about the future. Without one, we are unbalanced, lopsided.

I will leave you with a quote from this book, a quote I wrote in my brave friends book before he left:

"We travel initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.
We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowlege, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again - to slow time down an dget taken in, and fall in love once more." - Pico Iyer from "why we travel"