The later comment always instigates another interesting conversation. It is a conversation where I find myself having to clarify the purpose of the trip a little more. When I ask why they want to come with us, the response is always something like: “I want to escape” or “My job is too stressful and/or I am tired of the rat-race.”
These may be valid reasons for a vacation and I will not go into commenting about the stresses people face in every-day life, but our trip has an entirely different purpose. If we were truly trying to escape the “rat-race” and the realities of modern society, I think we would have designed a trip where we spent most of our time on a white sandy beach somewhere in the South Pacific.
To borrow from a passage in Harold Stephens’ book Who Needs A Road, there are two types of travelers: those running from something and those running towards something. I’d like to think we are the latter of the two. The purpose of our trip is to satisfy our curiosity about other peoples and cultures of the world and to then share what we learned with others. Sure, you can turn on the T.V or go to an IMAX film and find out more about the world we live in, but I think there is obviously a lot more to gain through experiencing the world first-hand on your own.
True, we will being traveling to some amazing places and doing some amazing things along the way, but a trip of this nature also involves a LOT of work. We are in charge of our own logistics and finances, not to mention our own health and well-being. We will undoubtedly face obstacles and potential dangers: there are a significant number of countries and regions on our itinerary that the U.S. State Department warns against traveling to for one reason or another. But these are all risks and work that we are willing to undertake to truly satisfy our thirst for knowledge about the world we live in. This is the core of what our trip is about. If you are looking for an escape, there are plenty of resorts and drinks with tiny umbrellas out there waiting…
Steve B
