How far was it that you needed to go as a kid? And when you finally got there, where else next? How far do you want to go /trv/?
Left home originally from Los Angeles, California (Wilmington/Compton) when i was 23 and i never went back, I've been crossing road to road ever since, just looking for it, all that is out there for me.
Every person and place, there is something to understand, the fate of which why they are in front of me, speaking to me, just ahead.
>>2681982>How far was it that you needed to go as a kid? I don’t know if I understand this question. When I was a small kid, I was content to go to a beach a couple of hours from my house. When I was about thirteen, I was taken on a whirlwind tour of Western Europe with my parents and brother; I only loved it in retrospect. Much was a lot like home. When I was fifteen, I went on a school trip to the dying embers of the Soviet Union (why yes, I am very old), and that was mind-blowing. Not only was I abroad with friends/peers instead of family, I was somewhere that really felt FOREIGN. >And when you finally got there, where else next? I knew I had to keep going. I’ve been abroad as often as possible ever since, including spending more than a decade living in countries far from where I was born.>How far do you want to go /trv/?Weirdly enough, at the close of an expatriate decade-plus, I feel kind of excited to go “home” to the country of my birth for a while. I’m actually visiting the US right now to look for houses to buy. I may regret coming back; I may not. But either way I expect to be excited to travel again whenever my wheels next leave the ground.
>>2682169Thank you for this post, well said and i can only imagine all the wonderful things you've encountered along the way!I've been taking the time to smell the roses, much to notice, almost scared to leave it because I know it won't be the same again.
>>2681982How is the Philly art museum?
>>2682538Art always speaks for itself eh? I like to think if it fades off into your mind as a natural setting, slightly provocative in that you ponder it as you are passing. It was pretty good!
>>2681982>How far was it that you needed to go as a kid?Explain better retard. Distance "needed to go" for whatever reason is always a moving goalpost
>>2682563Moving goalpost for you and yours (that's for sure). Knew guys that ran away from home, only to be successful when they got away from that environment/people that held em down. So need be is definitely subjective, creating our context and reach.
>>2681982When I was a kid, maybe 5-6 years old, I visited a Chinese restaurant with pictures of mind-blowing mountains going all around its walls. When I grew up, I wanted to go see them. But people always told me, "You can't go. It's too dangerous. Americans are banned from China. It's illegal to visit." So I kind of gave up on it.As an adult, I found out that it's possible, and I found out exactly where those mountains were. They were absolutely stunning to see in real life.I've traveled a lot since then, but Zhangjiajie will always be my favorite. Probably my final goal is a long trip in Antarctica. Costs a fuckload of money, though, especially since I left America a decade ago and salaries here are lower (though quality of life is better).
>>2682691Wow, it all circled back for you, as it always seems to be for us haha and i gotta be thankful that it's the tough times and the no you can't make it there- that is the fuel to where we take step and shape of how we go! Thanks for this!
>>2682691That is absolutely staggering; have to add it to my China list, along with a ton of places in Guizhou and Yunnan. I’ve been to China a couple of times, but only to cities. Never seen any of the natural beauty.
>>2681982My parents always tell me about a story of when I was a child, maybe 8 or 9. We use to live in a small house in a very rural area surrounded by farmland and few homes. They were out working in the yard and I was out there piddling around with them. They looked around suddenly and noticed I had gone missing. They both started looking around, and my father noticed a glimpse of me on the horizon. I was walking alongside an old gravel road that meandered by our house into the rolling farmland speckled with farmhouses. Of course they bolted up there to catch me and I was promptly scolded. My father still jokes about it to this day, "Where were you going? To see the neighbors and countryside? You didn't say a word and just took off!"I guess I was born this way. I still want to go further. I want to find the frontier.
>>2682871It's just time, putting you there, meant to be exactly as is; requires your participation though, so pay attention, the cost is everything!
>>2681982I think, from a very young age, I valued travelling in a novel way to an expected destination more than I valued travelling somewhere completely new and unknown. There were two ways to get into town, one took the highway and was mostly flat and straight, one was the "long way" - a long, twisty road that slowly took you down the mountain and took you through some age-old subdivisions before coming out near the interstate.I remember distinctly requesting that my mother drive the "long way" on some occasions. When I had my own drivers license, years later, I would drive to towns and cities around me, purposely trying to take out of the way routes or trying to go places I hadn't been before, but always trying to ensure some degree of familiarity remained.It's not that I don't like travelling to new places. I only left the country for the first time last year, to visit England, so you could even claim I didn't really travel all that far, culturally speaking. It's just more innate and powerful to me to discover where side roads in my hometown go to, what's beyond the hill but not more than an hour or so away.
>>2681982Interesting angle.I didn't really feel the need to travel before i turned around 27 and had a stable job.As a kid i dreamed about adventure, but most of the films/tv shows/books were either set in the US or Europe, or in the past. I never really wached anime, i wasn't a weaboo.So i didn't dream about travelling the world. I dreamed about being a wizard, a cowboy, Napoleon or whatever. We also never traveled abroad when i was a kid.Then, at the begining of my adult life i was a dirt poor neet, so it didn't occur to me that i could have traveled or worked abroad, i was more stuck in a situation. At this lowest point of my life, i played Shogun 2 Total War, it was the escapism i needed and started my interest for Japan (i already knew the history of Japan before, but somehow had no interest in it before that).Fast forward, found a job/money, found a girl who already traveled to Asia and knew all the pratical stuff. We travelled to Japan together, then other countries for 5 years. Then we parted ways and i travelled alone since then (last time was Hong Kong) and already saw most of what i wanted to see. The destination is not the most important for me right now. I know i can go anywhere even alone. What's more of a challenge is to find the good person to travel with
>>2683689There's a great song by a band Nana Grizol, it's called Mississippi SwellsYour story reminds me of it, and it is very comforting to wanna know all the mysteries of home (which there are many, imagine having dinner each night with a neighbor and discovering their home). I am going to take that in, i am home now of all places (after many years away) i will go down a road that I've never taken before!
>>2683760Having to let go, and just continue, forward, above all else, in course of reaching yourself, your bravery is truly inspiring, i need that courage right now, thanks!
>>2681982I just wanted to go the distance
>>2684589Go get after it
my family would take at least one road trip every year from Colorado to either Texas or to Chicago to visit family and for as long as I can remember I was basically the navigator, I loved looking at the maps and figuring out which highways to take and I loved just being on the road. while my mom and siblings slept I would stay up with my dad who was driving, just watching the landscape zip by, my favorite was watching storms in the distance at night. when I was a little older my parents would often let me choose longer routes and detours to see new cities and places.despite growing up in Colorado no one in my family was outdoorsy and it wasn't until I went to college that I got into hiking and camping and now all my travel is focused on outdoor stuff, mostly road trips in the western US.
>>2685018Colorado is beautiful country, lived there for 5 years or so, but that cannabis bringing everyone in (being an early legal state) really curbed things for awhile, hopefully they got it figured out now!
When you're tired, how often do you get lost or turned around?
>>2685856Has nothing to do with weed. Fit and prosperous people are flooding Colorado because of America's outdoors & sunshine craze, and the state has plenty of both. Same goes for Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona...all states with rugged unique topography which have seen extreme growth pressure in recent decades.Michigan has no rugged topography, but it has amazing nature nonetheless. Unlike Colorado, I have entire forests to myself up here, and the sandy roads are kind to low-clearance 2WD vehicles. To top that off, the summer weather is milder up here than it is in the Rockies, which have been getting awfully hot over the last few years. Last July averaged 87 F high temp at 8000 feet elevation in Colorado. On top of the mitten, the average high has been 77 F so far this summer, with more days in the 60s than over 85.
>>2686758I rarely get tired and never get lost. Only inclement weather turns me around.
>>2686783People are starting to realize they can create opportunities by spreading around abit further from what they know and take a chance on a whole new place (worked wonders for me).
>>2686860Awareness level 100!I, howbeit, get turned around quite often, and i get mad at first but laugh about all the interesting roads less traveled that i got to be on.
