Pico Iyer pretty much perfected the response to the question, “why do we travel?”, so I won’t bother getting much into that. I will, though, discuss why we don’t travel. I was reminded of this by my wife the other day.
We were having a coffee — as you do in Melbourne — discussing our upcoming travels. I was talking about the website I want to build us and how I’ve been reading about SEO and monetizing the blog. I was coming up with all these grand ideas of how we’ll run the website, the content, and how best to build it.
I was thinking ahead to Cuba, to New York, to Germany, to…well, wherever we find ourselves, and planning how it would all fit into the website. Then Yvonne brought me back down to earth with one sentence:
“Carlo. This is not why we’re traveling.”
I stopped mid-sentence, mouth open, the next idea about to escape my lips. I closed my mouth, thought for a second (I think it was, “huh”), and then handed it to her. She was 100% correct.
I’ve been so caught up in writing lately and the thought of earning some money with it and through blogging that I completely lost the plot for a bit. I’d truly and honestly forgot why it is we travel. She went on to tell me that she could see me now, taking all Internet opportunities to go online. Sad, but true.
I’ve taken my writing more seriously in the past year and a half, and all this time I’ve been settled in one spot. Other than a few little trips here and there, I haven’t had much new material to write about. I’ve never traveled extensively as “a writer” and I look forward to the experience of it. Writing gives me a fresh outlook on places and makes me focus on the little details.
But this isn’t the reason we’re traveling either and it certainly wasn’t the reason when we set out a few years ago. Back to the basics. Back to the roots. I love writing and I am quite excited to get thrown into the unknown again, while having the voice and the medium to share, but I need to stay grounded and keep in mind why we do what we do.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Preach it, Yvonne!
So, so, so true, Carlo. I feel nearly manical sometimes with the way I obsess over writing, and making money from it. I met a guy this summer who has travelled through every continent and has had some incredible journeys, but has not taken a single photograph or written anything about it. The whole notion of not doing so was ASTOUNDING to me, but then he said, “I travel for me. I’m selfish like that.” Totally not selfish. Totally freaking awesome.
Totally Candice.
Thanks for a great post–I can totally relate. I’m in a really similar place with my writing (looking at blowing shit up), and it’s hard not to get swept away in the excitement/grand plotting. It’s awesome when your passions overlap, but this post was a great reminder than a) I’d still travel if I couldn’t write about it, and b) I’d still write if I couldn’t travel.
And thanks for blogging about, well, blogging and writing. I’m always hesitant to write a post about writing, but you’ve totally motivated me.
Thanks Lauren. I have no qualms about it…what you actually find out when you write about things is how many people are in the same boat as you…sometimes when you think you’re alone on something it feels good to find out others are thinking the same thing.
Now let’s go blow shit up!
I can relate to this, too, Carlos. I’m trying to decide now. Do I really want to do this? Do I really want to make my passion my job so that I’m thinking about it and looking for hotspots when at the same time missing what’s around me? Am I realistically going to walk away from some amazing festival in a far off land to meet a deadline? Travel has defined my life up to now. I work to travel. But work while travelling?
Twice I thought about becoming a chef because I love cooking so much, but I stopped myself because I didn’t want to make my passion my job and take the fun out of it. That’s probably not true at all, but I was always afraid to risk it. Instead, as a teacher, I constantly force my students to write, read about other cultures, take photos, and cook. It’s like I’m dabbling with letting my biggest loves into my work, but too afraid to let it take over in case it turns a good thing bad. Let us know when you’ve found the balance (ie. the answer).
Haha…the answer. Right. If I ever find that I’ll make a million bucks teaching others! But then again, the answer would become my job, so maybe it wouldn’t be the answer after all.