Why do I travel, and Why Should You

I grew up reading books filled with characters brave enough to dare life itself — most of those characters submerged themselves into adventures far beyond the expected. While on their journey, they were all exposed to different cultures, traditions, and various foods. They listened to songs that tell stories from centuries past, along with new blends and instruments. Some characters danced to songs about love clichés that detailed some sacrifice in the name of love. However, only a few welcomed others’ lifestyles that challenged the foreigner’s perceptions about the true meaning of life and humanity’s expectations.

Many embraced what made each other different, such as foreign languages, social statuses, skin color, eyes, and hair texture. They laughed at their accents and added hand gestures as part of every other conversation or as the primary translator. They also learned to listen, sympathize, and empathize. They realized they could immortalize those moments as a mental picture of the story. They discovered that it is important to comprehend their country’s past and others’ histories.

Some play the game or cope, while others get along by building friendships and families. Some discover the greatness of life as a teacher, while others endure its bitter side. Many understood that there’s more to life than what meets the eye. A few characters realize that breathing doesn’t mean living and that dying doesn’t imply the lack of a pulse. Traveling taught them that knowing ourselves can happen in the blink of an eye, or it can take a lifetime to discover, but the only way to sharpen our footprint is by not letting go of what matters, which many didn’t figure out until the end.

I travel because nothing fulfills me, like my desire to explore the unknown. I began my journey around the world because the 9 to 5 is the death penalty to anybody’s soul and spirit, condemned to exist until their time expires. Like many of the characters in the books I’ve read, adventures call my name and dare me to expose myself beyond what meets the eye. To better explain what life means to me, I must expand my horizons, and it is because of that I invite you to join my flock all around the world following every moon and every sunset.