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.