On the Eve of My Journey

On the eve of my journey, it struck me how TAME travel in the late 20th and early 21st century is. When I think of famous historical travelers, so much of their travel was overcoming the danger that lay along the journey. One can't help but admire (the admittedly fabled) Odysseus overcoming a one-eyed giant and other monsters on his way back home; Xuanzang traveling alone on foot across the perilous Taklamakan Desert (1) ; Christopher Columbus sailing due west accompanied by a fearful crew expecting to fall off the edge of the world; or a blind James Holman mounting a horse ready to traverse narrow trails over high mountain ranges.(2)

These days, travel means facing a drag rather than a dragon.

"Aircraft certainly do not provide us with anything resembling the feeling of flight. The sensation of being locked in an ordered enclosure of glass and metal is not comparable to the flight of birds or of angels." (3)

When flying at night, I have the feeling that I enter a metal tube, sleep fitfully to loud background noise, and when I awake and exit the tube, it's as if some one has rearranged all the props on the stage. Any sense of transport is only cerebral. Air travel certainly does not offer the mixed feelings of excitement and fear that Holman must have had, wondering if his horse would lose its footing on the narrow mountain trail high above the roaring stream hundreds of feet below; or Xuanzang worrying if he would find a water source in the desert before he died of thirst.

Certainly there are still plenty of adventurous travel opportunities available in today's world. However, the traveler has to seek them out, rather than encounter them by virtue of the fact that the traveler has simply decided to leave home.

There are several different kinds of travel. Some people think of travel as an opportunity to take a vacation, preferably a luxury vacation. I like those kind of vacations too. I like to go to a wonderful resort, get a massage, bask in the sun by the pool, overeat delicious meals, etc. However, that's not what I have planned this time. A lot of people think of traveling as an opportunity to see "sights." One advantage of this kind of travel is that, upon one's return, one can revel in the joy of the familiar and join Dorothy in her refrain that "there's no place like home."

My hope is to engage in dialogue; to ask people what they think and why they think it; to attempt to learn the cultural context in which they form and express those thoughts. For example, what do they think of the politics of their country, of globalization, their sense of history of their country, and what the future holds for them.
My wife tells me that many people who read this will not be able to understand nor empathize with my reasons for traveling. C'est la vie.

To what purpose, one might ask, do I want to engage people in dialogue? And I must confess I don't have a quick and ready answer. I could turn my nose up somewhat and say that an untraveled life is an unexamined life; e.g., "Viajar es imprescindible y la sed de viaje, un sintoma neto de inteligencia." (4)

I recognize all too well that the task may be daunting. My language skills may be lacking, my sensitivity to cultural differences may be lacking, Lady Luck may deprive me of good encounters, but....I want to give it a try. It's been said that travel is not so much about experiencing what is "out there," as much as it is a spiritual exploration of what's inside. I welcome that as well.

"Let me sail, let me sail, let the Orinoco flow,
Let me reach, let me beach on the shores of Tripoli.
Let me sail, let me sail, let me crash upon your shore.
Let me reach, let me beach far beyond the Yellow Sea...
Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never been.
Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never seen. (5)

"As the bee takes the essence of a flower and flies away without destroying its beauty and perfume, so let the sage wander in this life." (6)

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1. To read the exciting story of Xuanzang, who I aspire to as the ultimate role model traveler, see Sally Hovey Wriggins' Xuanzang
2. Jason Roberts, A Sense of the World.
3. Jorge Luis Borges, Atlas
4. Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
5. Enya, Orinoco Flow
6. Dhammapada.