Keeping My Trip In Context
"The difference between vacation or travel and an adventure or journey is that of immersion; whereas a vacation is a respite or a nap, the journey is the full night's sleep and the dream"---Derek D. Dissell
This is a very simple way I will keep my own journey in context. Far too often, I see folks going to other places to engage in the same activities they could do in their own city: drinking and partying, seduction of the opposite sex, sight-seeing which inevitably means staring blindly for a few seconds and moving on to the next thing. Is this really worth the money, time, and hassle?
A vacation or journey both involve traversing to a new place. Vacations put far too much emphasis on the "play." They may be fun or relaxing, but what was actually learned? Where was the inspiration? What about that city lives on in you forever?
The journey must have the aspiration to strive for the "-ace" of place; that is, finding the qualities that are so distinctive, so magical, and so wondrous that we've no choice but to immerse as deeply as we can. The "ace"-ness, then, is crucial to the place's greatness. It's what we must snuff out
This is why I have mature to not travel unless I have some certitude that I will learn some new skill, generate the temerity to transform, and genuinely do something I will never be able to do again or anywhere. That place will be a part of me until I die and it will be transferred unto others
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