Category: Thoughts

“The trip of a lifetime” is a dream that many of us share but few of us dare to undertake. What’s the reason? Many times it’s not possible to do – in the best of circumstances – during the month we have off from work. Why? Well, if it were, most of us would have done it already.

When we speak of the trip of our dreams, we imagine surroundings and a routine very different from that which we live daily. It is an exercise which requires, above all, time.

In western society, we believe the biggest obstacle to taking “the trip of our dreams” is “breaking” with our daily lives – work, social relations, etc. Let’s not kid ourselves. Most of us would kill to break with our existing lives. Ten hours of a low-paying job, a 2-hour traffic jam, a  sandwich-on-the-run just to return to a 1.000-euro, heat-less studio where we’ll just gripe to our flat mate that things are going “same-ol’-same-ol’”.

In my opinion, the greatest hindrance to leaving is the fear of coming back. We’re overwhelmed with the scary idea that our “re-insertion in society or at our first job interview we’ll find ourselves facing the following query:

-”I don’t see what you’ve been doing for the last year (or two or three) anywhere on your c.v, could you explain that?”

Unfortunately, many companies won’t find any of the following replies valid:

-”I was exploring an infinity of unexplored corners of the world”; “I was breaking stereotypes”; “I was checking out realities diametrically opposed to mine”; “I was learning to reason things without defining them by the dictates of any one society”. (I’ think that’s important).

Painful as it may seem, this is reality. To come to terms with it, let me propose a solution: try to make your trip be significantly co-related with your profession. Naturally, this will only be possible if your profession is also your favorite pastime. If it isn’t, don’t go and mess up your trip.

Following are some examples to help inspire you:

Iosu López: Journalist by profession, this 29-year-old quit his job to embark on a trip that would take him from Alaska to Ushuaia. His premise was to travel only by land to complete his Panamerican journey and to record the many adventures of his trip on his blog. Upon his return, with all the material collected during his 11-month odyssey, he produced a documentary that caught the attention of Fnac. Today, he is a special envoy for the biggest Spanish media agency in New Delhi.

Kepa Acero: Surfer. He travelled around the world living by the slogan: 5 waves, 5 continents. For five months he spanned the globe searching for the perfect wave on each continent, an adventure which he shared with readers of his blog. When he got back, the Basque Television Network ETB dedicated a program to his trip. He has also published an article in the well-known magazine, Surfer Rule.

Lara Dunston and Terence Carter have been travelling since the late eighties. Together they have visited over 60 countries. It’s an adventure which has allowed them, among other things, to work for Lonely Planet. Their last project, Grantourismo, is a trip around the world which during 12 months will take them to 24 countries. The cool thing about this project is that it came about thanks to collaboration with Home Away Holiday-Rentals, which offered them lodging at the apartments the chain has around the world. In exchange, the couple writes about their travel experiences in their blog,and mentions the apartments they stay at.

As you can see, Internet can be a great ally for making that dream trip of yours not only a memorable travelling experience but one valuable for your professional career as well.

Experiences

During the last few days, I’ve come across picturesque places such as the Chiloé islands, thanks to tips like the one I received from a female traveller in Ushuaia. These islands and their rocky coasts form an unforgettable palate with the sea-blue and verdant fields that surround them. Here, you can savor a wide assortment of fish and shellfish, though Curanto, a traditional dish consisting of shellfish, meat, potatoes and vegetables, deserves special mention. As does the hospitality shown by local folk.

Advice

When you embark on a long trip like the one I’m in the middle of, it’s necessary to know how to cope with local weather conditions. Having updated weather info can make your excursion fly instead of flop especially when rain or clouds are in the forecast. If you get hit with a bad day, perhaps its better to take the day off, something a long-term trip will allow you to do. Try getting a weather update from the nearest toruist office, the hostel you’re staying at or check a few websites belonging to people whose livelihood depends on being in the know about the weather like farmers and forest rangers. If you’re in or around Patagonia, check out http://www.windguru.cz/es/

The Learning Curve

During my trip I’ve gone from rucksack-packing problems which included taking forever to do so to learning how to pack quickly and even having room left over to include a few extras. An economist would dub this evolution: the natural fruits of an experiential learning curve; )

But, more importantly, is learning how to the adventurous ropes of co-existence. During my university days, I had the opportunity to share a flat and make new friends. On this trip, I’m living together with lots of people, but in a different way: I spend 2-3 days on the average with each person. Many come and go leaving behind nothing, others offer good times and a useful tip or two, others you learn quite a bit from, while still others you look forward to meeting up with again, picking up where you left off and preserving a relationship that would be a shame to lose. Which is why I’d like to thank right here and now all those people who it has been my pleasure to know during this trip.

Xabier Albeniz

Will we ever manage to travel in time? Right now, it seems unlikely, but I suppose something similar was thought by the cavemen of yesteryear about space missions. Everything’s impossible until it happens. But there are reasons to think otherwise. As Stephen Hawking correctly pointed out, if in the future we succeed in travelling back to the past, why aren’t we now being invaded by tourists from the future?

Travelling back to the past could be good or bad depending on how those doing the travelling decided to rewrite history. Imagine convincing Hitler to dedicate himself to disseminating Jewish culture throughout the West, thus avoiding the millions nassacred during World War II, or another traveller introducing John Lennon to techno music and leaving us bereft of excellent Beatle music.

Even though the problems of travelling back to the past do not end here, sometimes temporary paradoxes emerge such as that of “the grandad” — a hypothetical case in which a traveller travels back in time to kill his grandfather, an eventuality which couldn’t happen since he wouldn’t be around to travel anyway. Travelling back in time has more than mere technological implications, as you’ve no doubt come to realize.

Travelling to the future, on the other hand, is significantly easier. All you have to do is sit back and wait since our position is constantly changing. That is, if we exclude the case of the Swede who travelled to the future hiding himself under the sink in his kitchen and discovering himself, obviously somewhat older. Check out the following video to see how it happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBUv4j3DINE

The U.S. government has recently alerted its citizens — those travelling to Europe as well as those living there — to exercise extraordinary precautions in the event of possible terrorist attacks. Emotional terror is a story which sadly repeats itself. This perverse use of fear is nothing new. And I, for one, am dead against it.

First of all, because I don’t feel these kinds of alarms do much for the population at large. The risk of some fanatics committing a macabre act is always there, as is the possibility of sllipping beside your neighbor’s pool or having a car accident on the way to work. The only sure things in life, as the saying goes, are death and taxes, and one of these we’ll never know when it will hit or how.

Secondly, some governments use these warnings as a smokescreen for ulterior motives. Historically, the propagation of fear has been the trademark of tyrants. The present example perhaps notwithstanding, fear continues to have economic and political motives. Could this not be a way of deviating attention from the debate regarding more serious problems like unemployment? Or, taking this a step further, as a way of increasing tourism at home? Let us not allow ourselves to be ruled by fear. This thought alone is liberating.

When you ask someone what they would do if they won the lottery and they say: party or go on a shopping spree, I kind of feel pity for them. Travelling is the ideal combination of having fun and learning. A form of learning that is both good for your personal as well as your professional life.

No one will argue that travelling helps you grow as an individual. When we visit foreign countries we get to know new cultures, new customs, but we also become aware of how much we have in common with them. Travelling always helps to eliminate stereotypes and foments tolerance. Ignorance and a lack of knowledge, in turn, are the ideal ingredients for a broth of fanaticism.

Travelling also offers multiple advantages for our professional lives. It enables us to develop different takes on things, from products not available in our countries to new advertising approaches. When we travel we become genuine trend hunters. In addition, we get to practice and improve our oral expression in other languages, make new contacts, break routines…

Which is why I think it’s super-cool that in some countries, especially those of Anglo-Saxon ilk, young people are encouraged to take a year off before beginning their university studies or right after completing them. It’s an investment guaranteed to pay off handsome dividends. People don’t think twice about spending 10.000 euros on a car, but they do hesitate to spend money on a trip that can change their lives for the better.

Today I’d like to talk about “pintxos”, one of the stellar attractions for visitors to the Basque Country, especially those visiting San Sebastián. For those of you who are novices, a “pintxo” is composed of a small slice of bread with a food delicacy piled on top. The variety of toppings is infinite, ranging from a basic potato omelette to a more elaborate cream of spider crab to red peppers. For first-timers, the sight of a bar counter covered with these miniature epicurean creations is truly mind-boggling.

As a local, I have to admit that I don’t usually go out bar-hopping on pintxo crawls. In fact, I only do so when I receive a friend who is not from San Sebastián and who specifically requests it. Thus, I must confess that when I have a visit, I indulge and do those “typical” things one only does when one has a visit. How’s that for a paradox? The main reason I don’t go on pintxo crawls is that bars charge you an arm and a leg, and the quality is not always commensurate with what you pay. I also think it’s a bit of a paradox that something so “typical” can be so overpriced (let’s define “typical” as something that locals enjoy on a regular basis).

So for me, at least, pintxos are not that typical, even if they can provide with you memorable moments if you go to the right place. A few great places for eating pintxos and their specialties: Alustiza (order the “Gavilla”); Zeruko (try the “Hoguera”); Goiz Argi (sample the “Brocheta de gambas”, a skewered prawn delight). Can you think of any special places that you’d like others to know about or would like to share through trourist?

The moment I read a review of The Art of Travel in Hellen Todd’s blog (Hellen’s Travel Corner), I was sure I had a new candidate for my summer reading list.

The Art of Travel is a brilliant work by Alain de Botton. Normally, when we travel to a destination, we tend to accumulate tonloads of information on where we should go and what we should do; rarely do we hear anything about the “why’s” and “how’s” of these trips. In his 254-page book, De Botton invites us to think about the real motivations people have when purchasing a plane ticket to places unknown.

Throughout The Art of Travel, we are treated to a philosophical approach to travel in an entertaining way via a perusal of some of the greatest thinkers, writers and artists. Icons of the caliber of Gustave Flaubert and Vincent van Gogh act as our guides in the journey to get in touch with the deepest feelings of our travels.

De Botton’s book has made me think and contemplate not only on the trips that i have taken to date, but also the most common day-to-day events that occur along the way.Often we travel imagining that we are going to discover and experience things which we could never find at home, but this is not necessarily true. Sometimes our daily routines blind and preclude us from enjoying all the beauty that surrounds us, small details that abound everywhere but are ignored. With that in mind, I’d like to finish my thoughts on this book with a sentence which Hellen Todd includes in her post;

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes” – Marcel Proust

Heaven knows why, but as I showered this morning I began wondering about the five things one should do in any new city. Following is my handful of ideas, though I’m sure you can come up with many more.

Taste a new dish. Even though we often eat more with our sense of sight than our sense of taste, sampling the local gastronomy is a great way to bond with the culture of the place we’re visiting. Besides, it can be a source of inspiration and creativity and way of astounding others when you return home.

Knock back a few pints at the local pub. You know the kind: small, divey, off the beaten path, where beer still can be found for under 1,5€, the sort of place locals hit after a long working day. These are the types of haunts where you’re likely to meet that bizarre someone who’ll offer you conversation that is priceless.

Take the metro-subway-underground (take your pick, assuming they have one). Each time you make one of these subterranean voyages it’s like an intensive course in sociology. Personally, I love observing the variety of people that make up a city, checking out their assorted fashions and unpredictable behavior …

Get lost. Yeah, no kidding. Some of life’s best experiences come from discovering small niches we happen on by chance, be it the result of taking the wrong road or catching a bus in the opposite direction. As they say: many times the right way to go is the wrong way.

Catch a sunrise. That special instant when the city is waking up while you still haven’t gone to sleep. It’s as though the universe were frozen for a few seconds, only to go into triple overdrive seconds later. It’s a can’t-miss moment, particularly if the company and setting is right.

If you’re travelling across the U.S., sooner or later, like it or not, you’re going to end up eating a burger or two. In some cases, it’ll be because nothing else on the menu catches your attention. Picture it: you’re on the road, hunger’s got the best of you and your choice of “eats” is a circular piece of meat on a bun or a couple of slices of pizza. Tough choice, especially if its the fifth day in a row you’re facing it. Sometimes, even when you do have alternatives, your travel mates — native or otherwise — will drive you to some joint that only offers the Terrible Two. Yeah, life can be like that.

Like they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, so the most sensible thing is to find an emporium which serves quality burgers. In a perfect world, this hamburger haven would be located in some quality brewery or someplace a tad more homey where you’d savor the taste of a juicy burger buried under a heaping pile of onions, layers of blue cheese and other culinary delights. Time for a reality check. In all likelihood, the place in question will be some fast-food chain, so why not know for sure which of these are the best.

A couple of years ago, I spent six months in California . Many of my university mates raved with absolute devotion about IN-N-OUT, a fast-food outlet where cheeseburgers, fries and shakes were the only fare. I got so sick of hearing about the friggin place that I finally went and, to my surprise, liked it, though I was left with a disturbing existential dilemma: Can one truly experience something genuinely life-enrichening at a fast-food chain? What’s your opinion? Do you know of eateries, fast-food franchise or otherwise, which could be considered an Experience?

Temperatures which plummeted to 40 below at night. Threatening avalanches capable of uprooting anything in its path. Hardly any food or water. The constant menace of death to family, friends and colleagues, all the while feeling powerless to do something on their behalf. And the cruelest cut of all, hearing over the radio that all rescue attempts from this frigid sentence had been abandoned. Death seemed a macabre certainty that would be delivered by the icy temperatures and shortage of food supplies.

This was the reality faced by a group of Uruguayan students at more than 4000 meteres during 72 days when their Chile-bound plane crashed into the Andes Mountains. For those of you familiar with the story, naturally I am speaking of “Alive”, the moving novel and equally moving feature film. It is one of those stories of superhuman sacrifice and courage that leave you spellbound. A story which I had the privilege of listening to directly from one of the survivors, Nando Parrando. Without a doubt, it is the lecture which has had the greatest impact on me not only because of the events therein but also due to its inspirational message.

Nando Parrado was, along with Roberto Canessa, a survivor of the plane crash, who following two months of being trapped in the Andes, decided to challenge the surrounding peaks in search of liberating themselves and their companions from this overwhelming tragedy. It was a challenging journey they decided to undertake only because they had no choice; the alternative was sure death. It was an odyssey that would require 12 arduous days of non-stop trekking through ice and snow, uphill over steep summits.

What most impressed be about the encounter with Nando Parrado was a photograph he showed us taken the first day he scaled the nearest summit. Picture it: two months of having barely eaten at all, your energy-meter is beyond empty and when you finally muster the courage to do the impossible, i.e. leave this ivory tundra, all that lies before you as far as the eye can see is an endless topographical map of snow-capped peaks with no signs of civilization in sight. A similar photo follows:

Total desolation, is it not? For sure, but life is about having courage and believing. A hero can be the person who remains standing or the person who falls, but never one who abandons the fight. That’s the moral of this tale. One which enabled Nando Parrado to escape from a situation much more complicated that any of us has ever known.