Greener Grass is all a Perception
I thought I’d talk about something inspiring for once, which is the great adventure known as travel. When I was younger, I traveled to Canada and Mexico and absolutely loved it because I was finally somewhere where I didn’t have to see the same things that I was used to everyday. Plus, I didn’t have to worry about school. I truly enjoyed the sense of comfort combined with being able to experience new things. I remember being on the plane next to the window seat and being able to look out the window and see the Earth from a totally different perspective. Travelling with both my parents, I felt like royalty and didn’t have to worry about a thing: my parents would take care of my clothes, food, and transportation. At that time, life felt great and it seemed that nothing was ever bothering me. That was until I was brought back to reality when summer vacation finished and I went back to school.
A Taste of Adventure
Later when my parents got a divorce, I was hit with a double whammy. School was never worse than it was then and I never got a chance to travel anymore for those full 3 years of middle school. I constantly thought about another vacation and how it would solve my problems. Of course even if I did go on a vacation it wouldn’t be the same with my parents divorced. So I started getting jealous of all my friends who were still able to go on vacation and my uncles (even though their trips were purely for business). All I could think about was getting away from where I was because things in my life were deteriorating. Not until I finally got out of hell (aka middle school) did I get a chance to go on a vacation with my mom’s side of the family to Cabo and my dad’s side of the family to Vancouver. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t feel the same as when I did it in elementary school as a full nuclear family unit before my parents’ divorce.
Forging My Own Path
Now here’s where the story takes a twist. I always thought that I could never travel by myself. People would say “it’s too dangerous” and “nobody travels by themselves.” I also thought that plane tickets were the most expensive things in the world, as were hotel tickets. Besides, if I went on a vacation alone who would there be to talk to? How could I afford taxis to go everywhere? Could I really rely on myself to take care of everything? I held these doubts until I did a bit of research online and found out about hosteling - specifically a chain of hostels called Hosteling International. So with my newfound knowledge, I did something that requires a lot of courage and an open mind: I decided to travel all by myself.
A Brand New World
Since I didn’t have a passport and just an ID, my first stop was Washington D.C. - the nation's capital. Getting a window seat on the plane and speaking with nice people on the flight - a mom and a daughter - started things off on the right foot. After landing and finding the hostel, I was nervous the first night because I was around unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar place by myself. I was scared people were going to steal my things. After the first night, I mingled among the hostel members and all those fears and anxieties went away and I was able to just enjoyed myself. I never even put a lock on any of my stuff and it was fine. Before I knew it I was having the time of my life exploring a new city. As for transportation I could easily walk everywhere and take a bus if needed. Instead of feeling alone, the hostel turned out to be a social place where I expanded my network. When the time came to leave it was a bittersweet moment because I knew there places yet to be explored and I still craved more even though I exhausted myself for those short 4 days I was there. That single experience sealed the deal for the rest of my solo journeys throughout the world.
Oregon and Italy
The next place I chose to visit was Portland, Oregon. Most of my family didn’t think there was anything to see there and so couldn’t understand why I wanted to visit it. As it turns out, there was plenty to do and had a great week there. I did so many things enjoyable things either for free or for very cheap. I also made more friends and had another exhausting, yet exciting adventure. A while later, my mom said she could finally take me to Europe and I chose Italy as the country I wanted to see because I was thinking of video games and Mario was Italian. The most ironic part of that trip is that even though my mother has been in Europe before, I had better navigation skills than her because I was good at reading maps. This time, as opposed to my childhood, my mom was actually holding me back because I was a seasoned solo traveler and used to harsh conditions but the heat was getting to her and she needed more rest than I did. Overall, it was amazing to finally get my passport and see another continent.
The Holy Land
After that trip, I came to realize that visiting other places/countries wasn’t just about travelling: it was about lifestyle change. However, what my father had in mind was very short -sighted and ignorant. Since I was really bored with my life at the time and a series of unfortunate events happened, my dad had the idea that I should go to Israel and live in a kibbutz (a kibbutz is a farming community where you volunteer on the farm and learn Hebrew). I thought to myself “sure, living in another country is going to be great” (it was supposed to be for 6 months). I went to Israel but as soon I arrived at the kibbutz, my heart sank to my stomach. I didn’t like the accommodations at all or the people I’d be living with. To top it off, the refrigerator kept making noise at night. It was about a week and a half into the program when I felt like I was losing my mind. Luckily for me, I had extended family living in Israel that literally saved me from that place. I had a great time with them and realized that being in a new place, even though it’s novel, isn’t always a good thing.
Saying Aloha
It would seem that after all that I was turning into quite the international traveler, yet it didn’t end there. At the time I got my AA degree I decided to go to Hawaii and spend time with my father’s cousin, who lives there. It was the first time I went hosteling and an extended family member appeared there. In addition, it the first time I went hosteling and did the thing I loved the most. I went on a helicopter/submarine combo tour and had a blast.
The Grand Tour of the Pacific
Then back at home when I got my AA degree the job opportunities were scarce and I was started to get really frustrated. Like I explained in the first post I made that’s when I got the McDonalds job and decided to pursue a BA while having that job. From the money I managed to save from that job, I decided to take my next trip to Japan one winter vacation and a trip to New Zealand and Australia the other winter vacation. It’s safe to say that these trips had a major impact on me. First of all, most people go to Europe and make a transatlantic trip I decided to go to Australasia and make a transpacific trip. I finally got to meet my Skype friends, whom I had known for several years, in person. One lived in Japan and the other lived in New Zealand. My trip to Japan was one of my all-time favorite adventures. It felt like an entirely new world. I was enjoying every moment of it. Even though most people in Japan didn’t speak very good English, I had a translator app on my phone that made it easier to communicate. I did a helicopter ride over part of Tokyo, which was unforgettable. As for my New Zealand and Australia trips I had a blast in those place too. I took a risk in Auckland and took an uber to the last place that my friend over there gave me an address to without even knowing if he’d be there or not. As fate would have it he showed up a few minutes later with his mom and recognized me. At that exact moment I felt amazing that I was in a far away land and yet I found someone who was like a brother to me. He even told me I was a part of the family now. I had a great time with him and his mother driving us around and showing us amazing things. The best part of it was doing a seaplane ride in Auckland and a helicopter ride in Sydney. I got back to LA with one more semester of University to go for my degree.
Northward Bound
Now that I’ve been to so many places my wanderlust started to subside. I wanted to do something that would impact the world (such as starting this blog to share my experiences and philosophies with the world). On the other hand there was a nagging feeling that I needed to see Scandinavia - particularly Sweden. I felt that in Scandinavia the people were happier because of the education system. You might say I felt that the grass was greener. I continued to work on my YouTube page, my blog and my destiny so-to-speak to get exposure. However, the call of Scandinavia kept getting stronger. Two and a half years after the Australia and New Zealand trips (they were back in early 2016), I was dead set on going to Sweden. That feeling only got stronger after I started to get a bit disgruntled since my videos and blog posts weren’t really getting the attention I wanted them to get. So in late August I decided to book my tickets to not only Sweden but, England as well.
Expectations vs. Reality
The significance was that England was a country I learned a lot about in history class and is basically where the colonists came from to settle the US so I wanted to know more about it. The journey begun in September 2018 with my trip to London. Let’s just say I marginally enjoyed it. It was much more expensive than I thought it would be. Additionally, I was hoping to meet a London-based YouTuber, who wrote a book called “Screw the System” that I bought, but couldn’t since he was too busy. After having seen much of London, it was time to leave for Stockholm. I was so excited and got the chance to sit next to a very friendly and helpful Swedish local on the plane and we shared a lot of our philosophies in common. I got there, enjoyed myself and explored as much as I could. Unfortunately though I realized that I had a much better time in the Pacific than I did in the Atlantic. For one the helicopter and plane rides from the air bases in London are so far off the beaten path that you hardly get to spend any time in the air because by the time you’re over the city you have to go back. There was a helicopter tour in Stockholm yet they told me it was off-season and super expensive to do a longer flight with only me in the helicopter. There was also the fact that everything was more expensive in those two cities (and Western Europe in general) than in the Pacific. Additionally unlike in Japan and New Zealand where I met my Skype friends that I had been talking to for a couple of years, in England I didn’t even get a chance to meet Joe and in Stockholm I got contacted by Jewish friends I met a long time ago in Israel saying we would meet up but he never followed through. Then there was a deeper realization after this one was deeper than James Cameron’s solo dive to the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.
The Great Awakening
EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING BETTER AND WANTS TO FIND THE SECRET OF GETTING THERE. Normal doesn’t exist - only perception does. I longed for those days of being on vacation because of the facade of a happy life with no problems that it gave me. I have no idea what it’s like to live in those areas that I visited. The fact is that the major cities of the Earth are becoming more and more of a melting pot because the ease and speed of air travel has greatly increased globalization. There is no such thing in the world as a “true Scotsman” when it comes to defining cultures or societies. With globalization comes a merging of ideas, cultures, and philosophies. For the most part the city I live in, Los Angeles, has spread its ideological tentacles of materialism throughout all the major cities of the Earth. All major cities are, to some degree, infected with this materialistic paradigm. As for Scandinavians being happier, that’s also just a perception. From what I’ve seen, they are only marginally happier and of course no one can tell what’s in a person's heart just by looking at their face. Some people put on a mask in public and are totally different people at home. To dive even deeper than that, countries are a perception as well. It’s just people on a landmass in one area of the Earth. That’s all. Some people can even live in the same building but share nothing in common and never even talk once to each other. Yet here we are as naive stooges thinking that everyone in a certain country shares something in common. After going on many vacations in search of novel ideas and experiences, I want to create that novelty myself and change the world. I think that it’s not enough just to be inspired, but to actually create inspiration by sharing your dreams and talents to help make the world a better place.