“Random travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god.” -Vonnegut
I believe Simms sent me that before my trip to Israel, isn’t it perfect?
I’ve been thinking a lot about momentum and chutzpah. Both are important to me, but lately I’ve let work and day to day hum drum living dull me. My friend Amy recently packed up and moved to Paris (Amy in Paris, naturally!), and her emails have inspired me to…well, think seriously about how engaged I am in my life.
One of the best answers I’ve given to a learning-about-you question was on a date, and it was one of those that surprises you as it comes out of your own mouth.
Matthew: “What trait are you are most proud of?”
Me: “Saying yes to every major adventure that has come my way.”
It’s true. I went to Israel last October on a whim when a friend did a house swap, and Croatia the summer before that with family, and Italy for the Winter Olympics before that with another friend and her family, and to stay at a private villa in Italy and live off limoncelo the summer before that, then ditch out on the party to wander Sorrento and Pompeii with a bag of red cherries. Pompeii is pictured above.
Each time a friend or family member has said, “hey, here’s this opportunity” I’ve dropped everything to go. With zero regrets. Sure, I lost my wallet and got stranded in Lucca without a euro to my name, thank god for nice taxi drivers and awaiting friends with cash. And there was the time I got really sick, missed a flight, and had to sleep on the floor (marble, that stuff will suck the life out of you) in the Rome train station waiting room. In Pompeii they locked the gates and I nearly spent the night in the ruins. My derailleur broke on my bike trip across Croatia, I spent way too much money in Israel, etc etc.
In nearly every case it was not the perfect trip, things went awry, and I still had a ball. But returned home nearly broke, and that’s the bummer. Living a life of travel, sustainable travel, in the monetary and environmental sense, is what I want. Difficult, yes. But it’s doable, I know it.
One of the reasons I enjoy writing is learning new things, about people and places, so if I play it right, a successful writing career could allow me to move all over the world and constantly learn.
But getting to that point, that’s what is confusing me. The Winter Olympics trip turned into my first major writing piece being published in the LA Times, but can I expect that kind of luck my whole life? Or, better put, can I plan in a way that brings opportunities like that?
So, move abroad? Go to grad school for digital media? Go to journalism school? What am I doing?
Maybe while you’re getting your journalism degree, you could also take some courses on black smithing. Both very cutting edge fields.
more about your adventures… there’s something
about that voyeuristic perspective on escapism, i
think, that appeals to people.
do you think that the times piece was luck or a good
situation that you created for yourself? it seems
like by getting yourself out into the world in a different
way than you are familiar with, whether at home or
abroad, you create situations for interesting things
like that to come your way.