We certainly had our fair share of encounters that made our heart rate increase more than just a little bit on The World by Road, but usually these situations resolved themselves one way or another and actually turned into some of the most memorable experiences on the expedition.
“However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day.”
Those of you who travel know that it can result in countless benefits, both tangible and intangible, but it can often be hard to convince those who don’t travel that there is much more to traveling than just taking a break, going on holiday or avoiding reality.
When you travel to a place, you develop a connection with that place and the people who call that place home. Regardless of whether or not one’s personal experiences in a place are positive or negative, a connection is still made, and its often the case that the more random the place and the more unique the experience, the more powerful the connection. Personally, I feel all of these connections are positive, even the negative ones, because they are all learning experiences; it might just take a while for the dust to settle in order for one to find the good in something that was bad. As one continues to travel and continues to make more and more connections, it can become difficult to watch or read the news. The news is often focused on the negative; wars, natural disasters, politics, etc., so when a headline flashes across the television or scrolls across the computer screen and the location of that headline is a place with which you have made a connection, it can be emotional and frustrating and depending on how far away you are from that place you have connected with, can make you feel quite helpless.
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For many people who travel, trying to sum up their experiences, and more importantly, trying to sum up the value of travel in and of itself, is a difficult to do. Fortunately, someone who is used to speaking their mind, telling it like it is and doing so in a way that is simple, yet thought provoking has done just that. So thanks to Henry Rollins for laying it out. Now if only more people can pick up what he’s putting down… and be sure to check out this interesting interview by WorldHum in which Henry relates the following words of wisdom.
It goes without saying that we here at The World by Road Collective love travel and everything related to it, so it is only natural when we hear someone or something mention something even remotely tangential to the subject of travel, our ears perk up. Such was the case when earlier today I was driving back to my house and my ears caught a commercial on the radio advertising the new exhibit, Elephant Passage at the Denver Zoo. It wasn’t the grand opening of this $50 million exhibit featuring Asian elephants, which one only picks up on at the end of the advert, it was how they went about promoting the attraction.
As a backpacker, vacationer or tourist, travels are often not as affected when it comes to corruption. Without your own personal transportation, in many cases the wheels are already greased by the bus company, tour operator, or tout that is helping to get you through the craziness of less developed countries.
When traveling, vacationing or just going on a short trip somewhere, one of the first considerations that needs to be made after the plane tickets have been bought is what luggage to bring. In an age where people duke it out for premium overhead bin space and checked bags can set you back as much as the actual ticket, deciding what to bring and what to bring it in can be challenging. One versatile piece of luggage that has proven to be one of my go to bags is The North Face Base Camp Duffel.
Muammar Gaddafi waves goodbye (photo from PressTV)
2011 was a year of unprecedented change around the world. Grassroots protests topped longstanding dictatorships while others succumbed to natural causes. Time magazine selected The Protester as its person of the year for 2011 and with all the change protesters helped bring about in the world in 2011, 2012 is shaping up to be a year for travelers. In 2008, The World by Road was stopped dead in its tracks; barred entry to Libya because we were Americans. Three years later, the Arab Spring saw the forced resignations of long serving authoritarians in Tunisia and Egypt. Libya’s Col. Muammar Gaddafi didn’t go as willingly and was later captured and killed by rebel forces ending a bloody six month civil war. Protests have also gained momentum in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and most recently Russia, and if the events of North Africa are any indication, change is on the horizon in those countries as well.
