Buy the Ticket Take the Ride

Buy the Ticket and Take the Ride

I am sitting in the living room of a Turkish grad student’s apartment in Eskisehir watching the BBC News reports from around the world. We watch as the news ticker tells us that the president of Sudan has kicked out all of the international aid organizations, that the Madagascar president is being hunted down by the military, and how this and that country are in the midst of a global economic crisis.

I am sitting here just thinking about how precious each day of travel is. I am appreciating the fact that it has become a normal experience to sit in some stranger’s living room in some strange country watching nothing other than the BBC News.

Every day of travel is precious.
—————————-
Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Eskisehir, Turkey- March 18, 2009
Travelogue —Travel Photos –Travel Guide
Click on map to view route.

I wake up early each morning and give thanks that I was given another day on the Road. There is no other way that I would want to live this life.

Every day of travel is precious.

David Livingstone would say that he did not engage upon his African explorations for the benefit of man, but to simply relish God’s beautiful planet. He was a missionary, but his approach to travel was right on.

No matter how difficult a day of travel can be: no matter how many times someone tries to rip me off, no matter how many cars do not pick me up when hitchhiking, no matter how many potential couch surfing hosts turn down my requests, the joys of traveling always outweight the hassles.

I make less than $5,000 a year, but I feel as if I am among the richest men on the planet.

Traveling is not difficult: if fact, it is my impression that it is among the easiest ways to live, if you really want to live this way. I have deep assumptions that most people would not really want to continuously travel, and this is alright. The term “travel and leisure” is a cankerous oxymoron.

But some people are born with an ingrained Wanderlust that cannot be explained – or at least I cannot explain it. If you wake up in the morning and find yourself staring vacantly out the window at make believe foreign lands, then you may be infected. If the Wanderlust has stricken you, there is nothing that you can do about it other than travel it out. So I say that everyone who finds themselves dreaming into maps for hours on end or who spends their days mentally preparing for imaginary journeys, should just buy the ticket and take the ride.

There is no fear that is stronger than the Wanderlust.

Place the litmus paper into the liquid and find out where you stand.

Buy a plane ticket right now, you are obviously on the internet. Buy a one way ticket to an intuitively selected destination, and take the ride. You can always return to where you are sitting right now. You will be alright.

I have found each day of travel to be precious. Maybe you will too.

(Maybe not)

Find out.

Buy the Ticket and Take the Ride