Today's post is inspired by a thought I had last night with a title in tribute to the Oscar nominated film Jerry Maguire. What is it that I think but do not say? It is my Chirstopher McCandless complex. I have this internal drive to drop everything, for 12 months, and wander. Here is my plan:
I would work for the first six months off, no spending, save it all. Then purchase an unlimited rail travel pass, and a one-way ticket to London. I figure I could spend about 2 months or so in the UK. I know not all that exciting, the UK. Well, I only speak English, and seeing as how the toaster will be all-alone, being in a country where nobody understands me is not a good idea. ALAS! I will still travel to these territories uncharted by American youth, inconceivable to the voice of reason in you, just much more quickly and i
n smaller doses. I can hit a few big cities where English speaking is more acceptable, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, etc... I also probably speak French about as well as a native 2 year old, so Paris might not work out so bad either. Below is a map depicting my hopeful travel plans, but seeing as how this will be "spontaneous," I will intentionally ignore this map so that I can be "rebellious," "brave," and a "true" backpacker. Everyone knows, in order to be one of the cool/hip kids who is better than everyone else, you have to be a free-spirit and ignore the itinerary. (Psst, I have a secret map that is actually where I plan to go, but don't tell the cool kids!) Also, I have a blog, so that makes me inherently uncool and I need this trip to rescue my image. If I blog about my completely unplanned and ridiculously trite insignificant adventures though, then I might be considered a role model for future travelers, very cool. So in my quest to remove the lame tag off of my back, I need this trip to go off without a hitch. I ask all of you for your advice, on further tips on how to be cool, or good ideas for travel plans. I will promptly delete this post before my trip so that I can validate my complete spontaneity.-Toaster
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i demand credit in some form of this blog entry todd and you know it lol.
ReplyDeleteFood for thought:
ReplyDeleteWhy do we value spontaneity? What is it about the nature of breaking free of order and plans that validates us?
Is it because we feel we're being more "natural", that by breaking free of our quotidian habits we are at one with nature? Are we masochistic creatures?
I personally think it's the former, but that it renders the action of spontaneity futile; nature has an underlying order and only appears chaotic to us because it is in a pattern that we can barely comprehend, and thus is the farthest from spontaneous that it can be. Any time we are "spontaneous" it's still part of an order we have set every day, every month, every year of our lives, and it is therefore not as revolutionary as we'd like to think.
The experiences like the one you suggest are not the ones that shape us, it's the ones that weigh heavily and sink in slowly into the malleable clay of our being.
But, make sure to send me postcards when you go :)
Yeah Kelly I agree, but I care more about what THEY think is cool. I mean I wanna be cool can you blame me?
ReplyDelete-Toaster