Is this it?!

When I think of today’s prompt, I’m thinking about all the information out there and available to travelers. Even though I co-created the Indie Travel Manifesto with Rolf and colleagues at BootsnAll in February 2012, when I read this value, it makes me think.

“Indie travelers value local information over received information”

I like what the full value says. It doesn’t mean “received” information is bad, it just super duper awesome to get a local view or interaction.

Think about it, do you want to travel the world, and hang out with people from your city/country? It feels safe to do so, but is it as expansive?

For me, I just love and feel loved when I put myself out there in other places and take that risk. Say Hi. Ask a question. Get out of the major tourist hubs where the local interactions are more often “built” for you.

I’m recovering from a quick bout of stret throat, so I’m not able to try the challenge just yet, but I intend to.

QUESTION:
Tell us about an experience you had from information you got from a local.

CHALLENGE: Pretend you’re a first-time visitor to the city/country you are in. Walk up to 5 people on the street and ask them their favourite thing to do in the city (restaurant, park, place to ride bikes, etc).
Now pick one of those things and go do it!
Did you learn somewhere new? How was it asking a stranger for local information? Where did you go and what was it like? Tell us all about your experience and how local information can help you learn about a place.

As I’ve been doing, I’m changing the prompt to suit what I want to write about. 🙂

What is HomeTown Travel?

Simply: Getting out of your comfort zone, ie. doing things that you don’t EVER do, in your hometown. Your more likely to have a travel like experience in this case versus:

– going the same way to and from work
– hanging out with the same people, doing the same things
– watching the same “shows”
– getting into patterns that create comfort, and in my experience, less challenge.

The answer to today’s prompt, is of course, yes.

QUESTION:
Is there an awesome coffee shop, a local festival, or a place to get away that locals know, but many visitors don’t? Tell us a place in your hometown, or in the town you’re in now, that you think more visitors should experience.

1) My way is not the only way
2) Humility
3) Beauty
4) Love
5) Endurance
6) It’s not about the sights, its about the people
7) Breathe, slow down.
8) Everyday is Saturday – Here’s a movie about long-term travel
9) There is not a “wrong” way
10) Let go of control

QUESTION 1:
What has long-term travel taught you?
QUESTION 2:
What do you hope to learn from a long-term or RTW trip?

Today’s question presumes that the reader/writer thinks that options are better than possesion.

QUESTION:
How is having experiences better than having possessions? (From the Indie Travel Challenge)

I do prefer options over possessions. I’m unsure if everyone else in the world, or at least the people that read/participate will think so. 🙂

The discussion on the Indie Travel Manifesto page has a few thoughts on why?

Here are a few pieces about this exact topic:

The Freedom of Travel vs the Paralysis of Stuff
Collect experiences, not things
Thoughts on minimalism

As for me, “stuff” weighs be down, both in a physical and emotional sense. You’ve probably heard this before, but the idea that the more keys one has on their key ring is a sign of how tied down one is to “stuff”

One of the biggest possessions that it appears Americans and many other countries “love” – is Love of home ownership. And in many cases, multiple homes, multiple cars, more clothes, more shoes, more, more, more!

I’m not denying that one needs a home, and the potential benefits of owning some assets. At some point, they can become a yoke.

I read a book in early 2015 that is all about this idea “options over possessions” called Essentialism

I read dozens of books per year, and this book described what I was already thinking and doing in my personal and business life which was.

Simplifying the crap out of it.

As I was in the divorce process, I made a dozen plus trips to Goodwill. The idea being, if I did not LOVE this item, get rid of it. At this point, I don’t LOVE any “thing” – I love people, animals, and the world around me.

Essentialism also justifies the idea of saying “no” more. As the subtitle of the book suggests, “The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”

When I saw the question “Why I Travel” – I immediately thought of the series that BootsnAll published in 2010/11 called How I Travel. Friend of BootsnAll, Steve Bramucci conceived and wrote this series.

And 1 HUGE reason why I travel, is to meet folks like Steve. Passionate, caring and out there in life going for it.

More Why I Travel

– Feeling a sense Freedom
– More exposure to raw experiences
– Stretch myself (physical, mental, social, and emotional)
– To continually learn and re-learn, that my way is not the only way
– It’s fun – often time feels like I’m riding on a “joy train”
– to feel connected to the world
– to learn
– It’s simple (Just me and a backpack or Van Living)

I changed today’s Indie Travel Challenge to “Why I travel”.

The prompts were:

QUESTION 1:
Why did you first start traveling? Why did you continue to travel?

QUESTION 2:
Why do you want to travel?

I will be challenging myself to write a blog post for every day in the month of November via the Indie Travel Challenge.

Earlier this year, I did the Your Turn Challenge for 7 days, and had fun doing and committing to it.

It is a worthwhile investment to spend your hard earned cash on long-term travel.

For 20K USD or less, you can travel around the world for 12 months. Here is a piece on actual costs of long-term travel.

Again, I’m not going to answer the question for #DoYouIndie today, but I will answer with a related thought on money and long-term travel with eight reasons that justify an ROI on your cash.

1) You won’t regret going.

2) Learn about yourself in the context of the world

3) It’s fun

4) With College/Universities costs going up so much, the value proposition of going to see and experience the world yourself makes more and more sense in comparison.

5) Grateful and Appreciative – Leaving home for a while, is often what it takes to appreciate what you had or don’t have in some cases.

6) Spending money on experiences, not things leads to happiness. Is a bigger house or a new Tesla going to bring you more satisfaction in life?

7) It will teach you. Here are some things it continues to teach me.

8) We live in a world that is more connected than ever. You can learn a lot from behind a computer/smart phone. It’s not the same as going, smelling, seeing, feeling your way through a new place. Long-Term travel is a superb way to build more emotional intelligence, which leads to higher wages.

QUESTION 1:
How will you manage your money when traveling? How will you pay bills and stay on budget? If you have done a RTW trip are there tips you can share?

QUESTION 2:
Think about how you manage money now, and how you prepare your monthly budget ahead of time. How would you adapt that to a possible trip?

While speaking with some friends last night about 2015 goals, one of them stated:

“No Drama”.

I’m a proponent of the No Drama philosophy. I made the unfortunate decision of hanging around some people who “Love Drama”.

I remember lives that were filled with huge ups and downs over nothing. I think they thought they had their own reality TV show, but of course, they didn’t.

The smallest perceived slight turned into Drama that lasted hours/days.

How tiring and wasteful.

Drama did not build good vibes between the folks involved. Perhaps it is an ANTI – 7 habits of highly successful people habit.

I don’t have many thoughts on this.

The past 6 of 7 days, I’ve had my 3 kids, who are 4 years old and under all on my own. Just getting the post up everyday felt good and to participate. I would like to have listened in and participated to the daily chats.

I read a few of the posts, they were interesting.

I injoyed committing and getting a blog post out every day for 7 days. Something that I haven’t done in a while (I’ve been blogging/writing online since 1998)

I’m glad that happened and happy to have participated on the small level that I did. I’m feeling the good vibes. Hope you are too.

Day 7: What are you taking with you from this Challenge?