What to take, What to leave?

What will I bring? Well as a being to travel, I think that there are necessities that are essential to traveling.  As I begin to pack, for a 10 day excursion of Colorado, there are definitely a few key things I need to bring.  My first thought is adventure.  This generally means comfortable clothes that I can move in.  I want to explore the landscape.  As I have mentioned a few times before, differences in the landscape is the first thing I notice.  Though I am nowhere near the present day environmentalist “hippie”  but I cannot wait to walk through the terrain, breath in the air, and feel a since of freedom! This definitely calls for the appropriate shoes, attire, and equipment.  An old pair of Asics will do the trick I think as well as a pair of warn jeans and an over sized long sleeve shirt. 

Next on my list is a camera. Travelers are often times filled with the excitement, or thrill.  They strive to find the next high on their next adventure.  However, when you find time between your trips extending that trill tends to fade.  I want to capture every moment of my trip.  I want to be able to relive and relive and relive my travels. I could write journals upon journal about my trip but they say a picture is worth a thousand words for a reason. Being able to capture a specific moment in time has always seems so surreal to me. The fact that I can take this very moment, capture every sensation I am seeing and quite possibly feeling, and reproduce it so that in years to come I may be filled with the same excitement  I felt while taking that picture. Amazing.     

The last thing that I want to bring on my trip is openness.  I want to be open minded, I want to be open to the world, I want to be open to others I encounter, but most importantly, I want to be open the thoughts and feelings that I have.  I want to be able to say I am doing this today, and do with. I don’t want to think of risks or a pros and cons list.  I want to take chance and do something just for the simple story of ‘I did that once’.  I want to be able to talk to the locals without a care in the world.  I want to hear their adventures that will hopefully spark mine.  I want to be able to take in the picturesque scenery and feel alive.  I want to look around at the Colorado Mountains and know that the world is a beautiful place.  I want to pack up the person I was and unpack the person I am meant to be. 

Holy Cow, Batman!

              Travel writing is done with some many things in mind.  We travel for various reason and there for we write for just as many.  The two types of traveling I have noticed throughout this class is, people travel for information or they travel for pleasure.  When traveling for pleasure they are doing so to invoke some kind of emotion.  On the other hand, traveling for information is a way to drowned ourselves in another culture. 

We see this type of emotional travel when looking at Pico Iyer.  His piece, “Why We Travel” shows his reflection during his traveling experiences.  He talks frequently about how travel changes who he is, and why he chooses to travel.  Iyer states, ‘The first great joy of traveling is simply the luxury of leaving all my beliefs and certainties at home” Iyer does a wonderful job of bringing a sense of fantasy to his readers through his writings.  He draws his readers in to his writings by allowing them to feel as if they are on the journey with him. 

Unlike the frivolous fantasies that Iyer creates for his readers, Henry Shukman does the exact opposite.  Shukman is driven by facts and is a much more formal writer than Iyer.  Iyer’s writings are filled with emotions where as Shukman’s are emotionless.  Henry Shukman’s rattles off information about events that took place in Chernobly as if he were a scientific statistician.    Each piece of his work is written to provide his readers with the most scientific information that is often reported in a matter of fact manner.  Shukman writes down his experience as they happen, moment by moment.  Shukman writes, “Ivan the son is busy wiping down the table, spreading out sheets of newspaper for all the foodstuffs: eggs from chickens pecking under our feet, tomatoes from the garden, bread, a bowl of tiny forest raspberries, a whole dried river fish, crystallized and orange from its time smoking in a homemade stove.”  Although he is noted as being a very factual writer, Shukman also takes note of his observations of people, places and events that happen around him.  He does so in a manner that allows the reader to fill his shoes and to make their own judgments. 

Though these writers seem to be on the opposite end of the spectrum, they have a lot in common.  Shukman writes of bloodshed in Chernobly, fact by fact by fact, yet allows readers to discover their own feelings.  Iyer, on the other hand, gives his reader a majestic travel that allows them to be filled with the mushy-gushy feelings he feels during his trip.  Overall, though these writers do differ  their types of writings are needed in the travel writing genre.   

Borders & Inspiring Writing

As we dive into a discussion about the different borders, the first to come to mind are both the physical and mental borders we cross while traveling.  The writers we have talked about have definitely faced these same crossing.  Mark Twain wrote about a fictional travel out west where he described every moment of his travels.  As he traveled, he began to discover the world around him. He was engulfed by the undiscovered environment he found himself in.  I am this way when I travel.  I am so consumed by the colors, the landscape, the crops, and the animals in the “new world” around me.  While traveling, I am constantly trying to find the differences in the world I know and the world I’ve just discovered.  Though nowhere is considered undiscovered, each new place I travel to is undiscovered to me.

 I have been to a handful of places and each new one is always better than the last.  My most memorable border crossing is when we physically cross the border from Ohio into Kentucky, on our way to Florida.  I am from a small town where corn fields, back roads, and the slight hum of old country music coming through the radio brightens my soul.  Once I hit the terrain of Kentucky, there is a calming feeling that frees my soul.  When this happens, I don’t have a care in the world.  My only worry is taking in as much of the beauty in the world around me. Though Mark Twain’s adventure is a little more rigorous then a roads trip to Florida through the winding roads of Kentucky,    I believe he felt this feeling as well.  Though there were fears in traveling to an unknown world, looking and taking in the terrain around you is impossible to miss. Russell also talks about these types of adventures in her travels.  Though her writings tend to be in a league all of their own, she is always searching for the next big adventure.  She does mention the fears she encounters but nothings will stop her from traveling.  These are all ideas that I hope to bring into my own travelogue. I really want to highlight what I am feeling as I am taking in the beautiful Colorado terrain within my writings. 

 

The other border that I think is very important to mention is the crossing of mental borders.  These borders are the ones that are based on reflection, discovering a new area that makes you reflect. We see this, especially when we look at  Kapuscinski.  He does not care about where or how he crosses a border,  it was about simply taking the steps to do so. He refers to crossing the border as a transcendent act. For him, crossing all sorts of borders was something that he has always wanted to do. Simply for the sake of doing it. He was always looking for the next adventure to claim.   Crossing mental borders often times makes me feel uneasy. As I mentioned, I am from a small town and I am a huge Cincinnati Reds' fan.  No matter how many times I find myself in Great American Ball Park, there is always a culture shock, when I cross the mental border into Cincinnati.  Seeing a large amount of people flood the sidewalks and streets always makes me feel agitated. I automatically become more cautious of my personal belongings and become more aware of my surroundings. The same goes when I see panhandlers and homeless on the streets.  This sight isn’t one that I am familiar with; I’m use to seeing tractors and hay flooding the streets.  The occasional animal may come to my back door step looking for a snack, but never a human.  Crossing mental borders is very important to my writing as wells.  Being a self-proclaimed newbie to traveling, and writing for that matter, understanding how this may affect me both emotional and spiritually is very important. 

Peace, Love, and Travel More.

Competing for the Win

Traveling writing is a league all of its own.  It’s true life: The World through a Traveler’s eyes.  Every piece of writing is unique and is filled with fear, laughter, adventure, reflection, and most importantly detail.  The most important part of travel writing to the readers is the thrill.  They want to immerse themselves into your writing and ride the wave of your adventure right alongside you.  They want to feel the thorns pulling at their own skin as they walk through the humid jungle with you.  They want to feel the frost bite nipping at their noses while they are trying to sleep, in what is left of your tent, with you. These thrill-seeking readers are looking for the next best travel that they can get their hands on.  Is this making the travel writers take it to the next level? Are they competing for the next most outrageous trip?

Competition is in our lives daily.  We compete for jobs, for grades, even the best lunch seat in the Scherv. I think that there is a thrill in travel writing for both the readers and the writers.  Looking back in time, the first travelers such as Lewis and Clark, Christopher Columbus, Herodotus, to name a few, are not only known as travelers but as renowned pioneers in history.  Every traveler after them was trying to find the next best destination.  Is this something that we are just programmed to do? History is showing us that the next travel experience will always be better than the last. 

I do think that competition is good for us as writers and as readers.  It allows us as writers to develop new techniques of writing, new ways of traveling, and new ways of reflecting to “one up” our competitors.  As readers, it allows us to push our beloved travel writers one more step to show us their thrills and it allows us to keep searching for that next article that will finally fill that need for adventure.  This brings up one more issue, is this bringing travel writers to push the envelope and try dangerous trips.  I don’t think so.  Although these writers are travel junkies, they are about what they can gain from their experience and what a particular trip brings to them.  I think they are more concerned with the idea of reflection and awareness of where they are in a particular moment of traveling.  According to Dave George in his article The New World of Travel Writing, “This world was a reflection of me, of course, and of my thinking about my readership—but my desire to engage, inform, and inspire that readership was what fueled my editorial decisions each day.” We, as readers are what drive these writers to continue their work, but their reflection of the world is what keeps them traveling. 

Jokes or No Jokes That is the Question....

 

          I believe that humor is important in life itself. Humor is something that brings joy and laughter not only to our lives but also to those around us.  Humor is something that is universal and has tons of versatility to it, based on the personality of the person showing humor. Humor has been a huge part of my own life as I am usually caught goofing off in class, telling jokes to  the person next to me, and I have even been part of Improv shows in the past.  I tend to be the jokester among my classmates and friends.   I can usually zip out a few one-liners that will leave your abs hurting and the tears rolling.   Though there are times where my humor was the talk of the night, there have been just as many where it failed miserably. Execution is key, and sometimes my jokes haven’t always been executed at the most appropriate times. I can remember one time in high school my best friend’s grandfather was having surgery to amputate one of his legs.  She was worried about him and had been sad and gloomy all day.  I thought this was the perfect time to cheer her up.  I told her to look on the bright side; "one pair of socks will last twice as long!"  Though we laugh about it now, she was not very happy with me that day. 

`           So is humor important to travel writing? Does a bear poop in the woods? As I have mention before I think humor is essential to everything, even travel writing.  I think that when humor is delivered properly it can make things ten times more enjoyable. I think that not all people are funny.  They should probably stay away from humor.  The purpose of travel writing is to give vivid details about your experience while traveling. I would much rather write, and read for that matter, something that has slight humor than a research article.  As a travel writer, you are writing to share an experience, not simply throw out information at your reader. You want your reader to experience every living detail you experience while on your trip.  (Even if that means the funny comments that are rolling through your mind) Now, as much as I love humor, it isn’t appropriate at all times (as I have shown in the previous paragraph) Some travelers are searching for those 'research article' types of blogs to inform them.  These types of travelers are looking for a more knowledge-based environment to learn about an area rather than relive the adventures of a fellow traveler.    
               Maybe your travel writing experience went extremely well with little humor.  I think that is fantastic.  There are many ways to execute an excellent travel writing piece.  However, I think that a good balance of vivid detail, slight humor, and a good story is the best combination to an excellent travel writing piece. 

Borders, borders, & more borders

While reading many travel riders, one hot topic that is discussed is borders.  Often we encounter many types of borders, but the two major types or mental and physical borders.  Physical borders are often thought of.  These are types of borders such as sea to land, land to air, air to sea, and so on. 

Often times, in my own travels, I have crossed many physical boarders. A huge physical border I love to look for is that of the land.  When traveling across the United States, the change in the land is one of the first physical border is the first that I notice.  For example, as soon as the roads begin to curve and the land becomes hillier, I know we are in Southern Ohio making our way into Kentucky. This is my favorite part in my travels.  This is where I become the most excited about my trips.  I become unattached to everything that is normal in my life, looking for all of the details that are different.  Clearly, these types of borders matter to me.  This is what makes it so easy to connect with the writers as they share some of the similar events. 

Though I love the crossing of physical borders, flying, boating, or driving to new places, mental borders have a great impact on me.  Though I love the changing atmosphere and pin pointing the differences between wear I am going and where I have been, mental borders are a whole other ‘high’ for me when traveling.  Crossing mental borders for me, consist of social boarders.  The term can have multiple meanings but for me it is changing economic statuses.  As the roads get hillier, I also notice that the houses become smaller and more scarce.  The houses that you can see are small with the classical broken down rustic car and a barn.  The barn’s wood is usually scared by the harsh sun’s heat and old man winter’s ice and snow.   The people of these mental borders are wearing clothing from two decades ago that has as many miles on them as a car from the same year.  These types of boarders are the ones that make you find yourself and evaluate your life. Whereas crossing physical boarders allow you to lose yourself in the ever changing beauty of your surroundings, crossing mental boarders are the ones that allow you to lose yourself inside your mind.  Crossing any type of boarder makes traveling that more awesome. Get out there, cross borders, make changes, and challenge yourself.  What are you waiting for?

Who is influencing MY travel?

My idea of travel has always been some kind of fantasy for me.  It has been a constant dream that never seems to get closer to me.  Like driving down the highway, to a place you have never been.  You are alert and patiently waiting for the exit the GPS is screaming at you to take.  Although no matter how long you drive, you never find the exit.  You just keep saying, “a little bit further, it has to be coming up.”  Traveling is something I love the thought of doing, and I think that a few authors we have talked about in class has made this seem more real to me than ever before. 

Pico Iyer’s description of traveling could not be truer.  In the first line of his article ‘Why We Travel’, Iyer states, “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.” I cannot agree more with this statement.  I feel that for me, traveling is just that, an escape from my reality.  Anytime I would dream of a new destination, more time than not it is to drive me from where I am.  I seek for adventure.  I want to feel that feeling you get when you finally know who you are, where you are suppose to be, and what you are suppose to be doing.  I want to feel the magical ‘aha’ moment.   I think this is why I love reading and analyzing Iyer, he talks of these types of moments.  In every place he finds himself, Iyer is always going in to great detail over every aspect in the atmosphere. This is what makes traveling writing work.  You want your readers to feel like they are experiencing every moment right alongside you. Most importantly, you want them to develop a feeling inside themselves that makes them remember you; you need to give them something to connect with.  In travel writing, you must give your readers something to feel, Iyer does just that. 

            I really enjoyed Twain.  I’m not sure if it was his actual writing technique or the story he created.  Because traveling is fantasy to me, I become overwhelmed with the descriptions. In Roughing it, Twain discusses his travels to a new place that was undiscovered.  In today’s society, the reality of finding undiscovered land is impossible.  However, reading Twain’s chapters really stuck with me.  This is how I feel when traveling myself.  Though our world has been discovered, it is all new to me.  That is exactly how I want to do my own travelogue.  Every inch of what I encounter will be new and different from the area that I have grown up. 

"A belief is not merely an idea the mind possess; it is an idea that possess the mind." - Robert Oxton Bolton

I believe I am a people watcher. You know the type, the person that sits on a Wal-Mart bench watching the various types of people strolling through the store. I love to watch what people do in public, what they wear, what they buy. (This may classify me as a stalker however, that is another story) For instance, the young mother whose hair is a mess, kids screaming, and her biggest worry is getting the candy bars her children want onto the counter and paid for.  I believe I am also one that others would group me with someone who judges others, a judger if you will. This is not my most favorite quality about myself, but realistically it is.  It is a quality, if you can call it that, which I carry. I notice the woman carrying the Michael Kors purse, nails freshly manicured, stacking her groceries into her Escalade. I am also waiting for that same young mother, whose hair is a wreck, to pay for her groceries with tax dollars.  In reality, the woman in the Escalade is stealing money from the non-profit organization she works for and the young mother has two jobs, husband has three, and they are not on assistance.  I believe I can recognize this because I have been there.  I have been part of a family that looks elegant, classy, and wealthy as we were scrounging to pay our bills each month.

Though the thought of judging is frowned upon morally, it is pushed upon us every single day by the media.  We are asked to judge each person doing something wrong in the news, make judgment on those who are protesting, and we are asked to publish our opinions via votes on issues about race, gender, and equality.  The Grammys are on tonight and every other commercial is “Check in with us tomorrow for best and worsted dressed at the Grammys”, “go online and vote your best and worsted dressed and see it aired tomorrow”. My favorite of all is the Nutrisystem commercials, they reel you in by showing you before and after pictures, expecting you to judge if someone has gotten skinny enough in an appropriate amount of time that suits you. 

Now how in the world is all this talk about judging related to traveling. For me, I have never really traveled.  I have been on a few family vacations where my main priority was focused on the time with my family, usually around some sort of water, and pondering when I was getting my next drink.  In every one of those instances, I was a tourist, or was I a traveler? I was in a certain place at a certain time to enjoy the weather and the town I was visiting. I was not looking to get to know the locals, understands the culture, or taste local delicacies.  Those are the judgments I have made on what a traveler is.  There are others who have a differing definition of a traveler than I do, a traveler is what you decide.  Each of the readings have given us small glimpses into the idea of a traveler, however how can I make judgment if I am still trying to decide which category I fit into. 

Traveling: A Sacred Place

“The road journey is an epic quest, a pilgrimage, a romance, a ritual that helps explain where Americans have been and where they think they might be going (Primeau).” I believe that this is the truest statement yet about travel.  Think about a time when you have been on a family trip.  Even if you have not I am sure you have seen at least one of the Griswold’s family vacation movies.  My family vacations usually consist of miles and miles spent on the interstates. They consist of gas station stops, breakfast on the road, and those “you had to be there” jokes. The grumbling of my sister asking, “Are we there yet? “ “I have to pee? “ “I need to stretch?” will be permanently recorded in my mind until my own children mumble it in the backseat of the car.   I can remember the long trips to Iowa visiting family or even the once in a lifetime trip to Mexico.  Both of these trips included endless hours in the back seat of my Mom’s latest addition Honda and my sister asleep on my shoulder, drooling.  I was always the kid (I am still to this day) that was always wide-awake the entire trip.  My favorite part is the arrival, it is like this excitement that builds up inside me that I cannot wait to reveal.  I am always observing.  I am waiting for the scenery to get mountainous, maybe for things to look dry and dead, or maybe for it to look like the place I left before.  I am constantly awaiting the arrival to see where I end up looks as what I imagined. However my favorite part about traveling, especially on the highway is when you reach silence.  That point in the ride when I can no longer hear my sister’s breath screeching across her teeth.  The constant rocking of the 80’s classic hair bands on the radio have finally been hushed by your mind, when you finally hit the silence of the road and can begin feeling your travel.  My favorite part of traveling, especially on the highway, is when I finally arrive to a sacred place within my surrounds, when perceiving the world around you becomes the focus of your mind.

The idea of traveling being a sacred place to traveler is not a new idea, not by a long shot.  We first get glimpses of this idea through writers such as Mark Twain.  In his book, Roughing It, Twain highlights a stagecoach trip with his brother Orion Clemens, the newly appointed secretary of the Nevada Territory, from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Carson City, Nevada his stagecoach trip with his brother Orion Clemens, the newly appointed secretary of the Nevada Territory, from Missouri to Nevada. From the beginning, Twain talks about his jealousy of his brother.  Orion has had so many opportunities, but Twain was going to experience traveling with him! He jumps into writing about his expectations of what he will see when he is miles and miles away. He writes,

     “Pretty soon we would be hundreds and hundreds of miles away on the great plains and deserts, and among the mountains of the Far West, and would see buffaloes and Indians, and prairie dogs, and antelopes, and have all kinds of adventures, and maybe get hanged or scalped, and have ever such a fine time, and write home and tell everyone all about it, and be a hero.”

I think that throughout Twains journey he experienced many of the things we think about traveling. Though Twain didn’t jump on interstate 80 to begin his trip, he was experiencing many of the same emotions; the excitement of arrival.  Twain may have had the most authentic traveling experience ever written about.  He chose to travel an unpaved path across the United States into areas where there was very little, if any, civilization at all.  Can you imagine the sensory overload he was flooded by? I can only imagine a sense of calmness, focusing your mind on the world around you, a sacred place.  stagecoach trip with his brother Orion Clemens, the newly appointed secretary of the Nevada Territory, from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Carson City, Nevadastagecoach trip with his brother Orion Clemens, the newly appointed secretary of the Nevada Territory, from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Carson City, Nevada

 

 

 

 

Why do I need to read Herodotus to learn about travel writing?

         The difference between a traveler and a tourist, I believe, can be distinguished by one thing: knowing the culture. Herodotus shows us that in his writings. He explains vivid detail about all of the things he encounters. For example, Herodotus goes into great detail talking about the process of mummification, the tombs and the process of building the pyramids. Which makes him the first true travel writer.
         I believe that in order to truly immerse yourself in a culture you must know something. For example I really have no interest in traveling to North Dakota. I can only categorize it as a ‘fly over state”, a place in which you drive through or fly over without a single thought of stopping.  However, after a very quick Google search I was able to find many places that I would love to see in a state that I previously declared a drive through state. For example did you know that in North Dakota there is a Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a dinosaur museum, and countless zoos?  A simple Google search, the minutest amount of information has now lead me to want to make meaningful stop in a meaningful state in a state that I previously labeled as a “fly over state”. Imagine if I did more research? The endless mom and pop shops, small towns, and hidden adventures are the true excitements that drive travelers. 
        Herodotus makes this same point when he is explaining Egypt. Learning the history of a place can really inspire a traveler to immerse themselves into the culture of the place they are visiting.  It is with documents like that of Herodotus that allow travelers to begin to develop great expectations of the glorious places they choose to visit. Once you allow yourself to open your mind into other place, that is when you will find the true beauty and excitement within the various places you travel. Traveling is something that comes from deep within a person. It allows them to dream, become daring, but most importantly it allows a person to find adventure.  I believe that so many times we are caught up in our technological world and trying to force our minds into certain molds set by our society.  Traveling allows us to break free and explore the deeps of every inch of our mind, if we allow it.  Herodotus was the first to set the bar on how to not only examine his surrounds but immerse himself with in it and dream of so much more. Who would have thought that the beginnings of an amazing adventure could all be started with a simple Google search?