All who wander are not lost ...
As someone who has always been a seeker that later developed into a true traveler, that expression has always rang true for me. I know some who don’t follow that path often consider those like me to be lost. To be sure, we who seek may be on a quest of sorts, but it doesn’t always mean we are missing something or incomplete. From a young age I used to spend hours perusing the pages of National Geographic just to get a small taste of what the world outside my own was like. So it was no surprise that I became the traveler I am today filled with wanderlust and always eagerly awaiting the next great adventure.
My first trip abroad is not what I call wandering - college spring break in Mexico where the only cultural experience we had was wearing sombreros and downing shots of tequila at Señor Frogs with a bunch of other folks who looked, sounded and thought just like we did. This is not being a traveler. But it’s a start. The true test is when you morph from tourist to traveler. It wouldn’t be until my thirties that I’d start to experience exotic foods in their native lands prepared by native hands. By all means book a safari tour in Kenya. But also meet a local family and experience the world through their eyes. Enjoy a cooking class in Thailand. Then eat with a local Thai family rather than the other tourists in your group. Get away from the safety of your tour bus and spend a day in a rickshaw in India. Opt to live with a family in Guatemala while you study Spanish rather than sit in a classroom in your hometown or with an app on your phone.
Wherever you go, whether it be Nepal, Nigeria or Napa, take home with you a bit of the local culture, their story of hardship, life and love, and leave behind some small token of your culture and story. Wherever you go, whether it be solo or in a group, take home with you the memories and leave behind your gratitude and grace so that the next will be so well received. To be a traveler is to be curious, gracious and often times a bit fearless.
From the words of a traveler we won’t soon forget -
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
Anthony Bourdain, from “No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach”
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Editor's Note
FLM
Michele