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Published: August 10th 2007
Where to begin? I left home both with and without a plan. Both excited and scared. Excited to see new places, meet new people, have new experiences and at the same time scared of the unknown. What would I find on the road? How would I react to the unknown? Could I deal with adversity, the unexpected? How would people perceive me? What would they think of me? How would I perceive them?
The decision to travel was an easy one. I wasn't happy with my life. There are many reasons for this, a feeling of stagnation, of being stuck, stuck in a lease, stuck in a job. I guess the best way to describe this would be stuck in a rut. I said the decision to travel was an easy one, but that was mostly driven by an underlying need to make a change. The realization of a need for change occurred in stages, stretching over a number of years. Like most Americans, the course of our lives are charted, driven, instilled from birth. To me it goes something like this... Elementary school, high school, college/university, job, wife/husband, house with white picket fence, two and a half kids, work until sixty-five, file for social security and retire to enjoy the "Golden Years". This concept has never sat well with me. Honestly it flat out depresses the shit out of me. Even now writing it on paper it depresses me even more. Don't worry I'm not about to start a rant on this. I only bring it up to try and give you a glimpse inside my head, my thoughts. I finished university, went to work, rented a beautiful apartment in Brooklyn, lived alone for three years, paid my taxes, and generally made a positive contribution to society. But I still wasn't happy! How could that be? Was there something wrong with me? I could pay my rent on time, I could afford to buy things, I ate at good restaurants, hung out with my friends anytime I wanted. It was a continuation of the privileged life I've had all along, I have not had to struggle in life. Yet I wasn't happy! After three years I moved to Manhattan, choosing to live with roommates, hoping that would lead to a less sedentary, more social life. And it did. I had tonnes of fun, re-established contact and relationships with people I hadn't seen or hung out with in years. Met new people. Had new experiences. Basically I had a blast. I wouldn't trade those two years living in the East Village for anything. But I still wasn't happy! But it was during those two years it became apparent to me that a change was needed. I went skiing more times during those two winters than ever before. I loved the peace and tranquility I found on the slopes, sitting on the chairlifts, standing on the peaks, breathing the fresh mountain air, enjoying the views. When I couldn't find any friends who could get away I'd hop in my car and go alone. It was during two trips to Colorado this realization of a need for change crystallized in me. I had taken those trips to visit a friend who had given up what many would call a dream job in NYC, hopped in the car and moved west. The stress free life I found during my visits sealed the deal for me. It was during the second trip I decided I wouldn't re-sign my lease the following November. It felt like a load had been lifted. So I started thinking, scheming, pondering about what I would do in ten months when I'd be free of the one major obligation in my life. About a month had passed since I'd made this decision when Brian, one of my closest friends told be he was going to to quit his job and go traveling with another buddy of ours. He asked if I wanted to come. The decision took about three minutes...YES!!! And that's where it all began, my life on the road.
Six Hundred and Twenty days have past since I boarded a plane at JFK. I'm sitting in front of a computer in Bali on the eve of my return that I post this last and final installment of my blog. At times this blog has been easy to write, at times it's been hard. Looking back writing the blog has been one of my best decisions in life. Years from now I will go back and re-read and re-live what I've written and it will instantly bring a smile to my face. All the hours spent uploading pictures, the hours spent toiling at the computer trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. And I know it was worth it! Even as recently as two days ago the blog stressed me out when I first signed on to try and type this entry I found that six of my blogs entries were lost during the recent server crash at Travelblog.org. I spent a few hours over the last couple of days recovering these entries, luckily I was able to recover every word I had written. Don't know what I would have done if I had lost all those words. Writing the blog has served as an outlet for me. A way to reflect upon, pass along, share what I've done, seen, experienced, felt. And that's what life is all about... establishing relationships. Some last a lifetime, some a few months, some a few days, some merely hours. But they all affect you. You learn from each and every one of them. Some people you meet make a profound impact on you, cause you to question ideas you never took the time to ponder, or give you a opinion differing from yours on ideas you had pondered causing you to go back and re-evaluate your own opinions, at times causing you to change your views. Even the people you meet that provide you with nothing but empty conversation serve a purpose helping to pass the time. But each and every encounter with a person, no matter how long or how short, how full or how empty provides us with the opportunity to learn. And that's another thing life's all about, learning. Picking up bits here and pieces there. Taking these small pieces of information gathered, combining them with things we've seen, experiences we've had, to shape, develop, build the person we are. Traveling these past twenty months has provided me with the perfect opportunity to work on both of the above ideas, establishing relationships and learning. Don't think I could have found a better place to continue my development as a person. I been exposed to countless different cultures, religions, types of societies (socialist, communist, etc), cultures both Western and Eastern, developed nations, second-world nations, and third-world nations. I've been to big cities, from Sydney, to Delhi, to Bejing, to Bangkok, to Singapore to Madrid, to Hong Kong, to Kolkota, to Kuala Lumpur, to Paris. At the same time I've spent time in tiny villages, from Pak Bang, Laos, to Vasishst, India, to Nagarkot, Nepal, to Pai, Thailand and on, and on, and on. Each provided me an opportunity to soak up something different no matter how large or how small. No matter how developed or how backward. Exposing me to different foods, music, movies, languages, sights, sounds, smells. I've breathed air at 5416 meters above sea-level and dived to 39 meters below sea-level. Traveling has provided me with endless moments I will never forget. I've gained perspective. Seeing people who have to struggle each and every day for just a bit of food to eat. Sitting in bamboo huts sharing drinks and stories with people who own nothing but one piece of furniture yet have the biggest smiles plastered across their faces. Watching old ladies digging holes, hauling bricks, building roads. This perspective gained is not only due to things I've seen but experiences I've had. Walking through the Himalayas, taking uncomfortable overnight bus and train rides, sleeping in sweltering rooms with no fan, no air, just sweating. There are too many things to even list. The point is I'll never be the same person I was before I hit the road. How could I be? I've now seen way too much, experienced way too much to be the same person as before. I've had a chance to answer the questions that lingered in my mind before I left, what would I find on the road? How would I react to the unknown? Could I deal with adversity, the unexpected? How would people perceive me? What would they think of me? How would I perceive them? And the end result...I'm happy! Generally Happy!
To answer a few questions I'm sure everyone has... No I don't have a favorite place, though some places do stand out more than others. No, I don't know what I'll be doing when I get home. I'm extremely excited to see my family, friends, my city. To sit in Central Park people watching. To go to the library and take out all the books I've been meaning to read. To catch up on TV and movies I've missed. To walk the streets of Manhattan taking pictures. To eat a hot dog, slice of pizza, pastrami on rye with mustard. To drive my car. Just to live. After sleeping in sixteen different countries on three continents, boarding thirty-seven planes, traveled by bus, plane, train, car, truck, boat, rickshaw, tuk-tuk, mikrolet, horse-cart, motorbike, camel, elephant, covering who knows how many thousands of miles, meeting hundreds of people, taking close to 20,000 pictures, sleeping in over a hundred different cities, reading fifty-eight books, doing seventy-eight dives in five different countries. I can finally end a blog with something other than "stay tuned"...SEE YOU SOON!!!
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TravelGoon
Brian Moskowitz
"Positive contribution to society", that's a laugh.. you must have forgotten what our lives were like.. haha. P.S. the pastrami at Katz's is just as amazing as you remember it.