Traveling Well
“IT IS BETTER TO TRAVEL WELL THAN TO ARRIVE”
Sunday, April 17 was a bittersweet day. You could call it an inflection point, a commencement, or something more profound; it brought into abrupt focus the closure of one part of life (a career on Wall St that my teenage self would by all accounts have considered successful) and the beginning of adventure. Although I've been planning my trip around the world for months and looking forward to it like a fat kid looks forward to a smorgasborg, there were still a few kick-myself moments of, "What am I getting myself into?" It's kinda like that moment when you reach the tip of the first climb on an old wooden roller coaster and you think, "Man, I don't know if I should have done this" but it's too late to turn back and you're going down the other side whether your shorts stay dry or not.
I read this quote by Buddha and it struck me -- partly because I'm traveling to Southeast Asia, aka land of a thousand Buddhas -- and partly because life, for me, has always been more rewarding during the journey than at the destination.
To some, traveling well may mean flying first class (which I didn't do) or staying in an amazing hotel (this all depends on your standards) but to me, traveling well means being mindful of your intentions and constantly moving forward with purpose. I don't know exactly where the next 9 months of planes, trains, and automobiles will take me, but my greatest wish for my own travels is to stay open minded, listen more than I talk, and be mindful of this extraordinary opportunity.
What does traveling well mean to you?