The Beginning

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Hi there! So as I was looking around the site and reading different blogs and such I realized, hardly anyone has a good first entry that talks about them, why they are travelling yadayadayada. Since I am interested in what started people's journeys' I will have a great first post explaining who I am and my plan. In ten days from now I will be seventeen with just over a year left in highschool, and as of now I have many ideas on what I would like to do with my life but no definite plan that is set in stone. All I know is that I have three main passions in life; learning, travelling, and the outdoors (I am an avid soccer player and backpacker). At somepoint in my life I need to go to university, that is one of my main goals, it doesn't matter what i'm studying as long as I am happy doing it. Secondly, I want to see as much of the world as I possibly can in my lifetime. Somewhere down the road I obviously want to have kids and all that fun stuff, but right now I am trying not to think so far ahead.

Travelling the world...

All these blogs of everyone travelling all over the world is to a traveller like cake is to a fat kid. It is just plain torture when your sitting in front of the computer infected with the travel bug.

I have been to alot of place for someone my age, I think. My first trip was a train trip through the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver when I was about nine. Then over to England (mainly London) when I was about ten. To Saskatchewan right after that to visit some relatives (I think it was really just a reason to go for a plane ride :D ). Then Scotland in grade eight (Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Inverness along with some beautiful train rides). Back to London for a soccer camp I worked so hard to save up for (The David Beckham Academy :D). Then back to England yet again to Stroud where my Grandad showed me my ancestry with some amazing walks through the countryside and some stunningly old cemeteries. All of those trips staying in hostels and b&b's with my Grandad, who is probably the most interesting, inspiring, amazing guy who pulls it all off so humbly have molded me into the person I am today. Whoever says that travelling is not an educational experience has obviously never travelled, not only is it educational in the school sense, but in the sense that you find who you really are when you get into those certain situations travelling sometimes gets you into.

Now with yet another trip planned to Germany in May with him, I think its the beginning of a new chapter of travelling for me and I just can't wait for what's instore.

I am now in the process of thinking about a year long around the world trip, where I am most interested in going, solo or try and get a group... anything related to the topic really. I would appreciate if anyone with any experience, tips, or knowledge could leave a comment or send me a message or anything.

Thanks,

Clint.

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Photos

Top o' the World...Almost
Summit of Wapiti, the taller "mountain" was all scree so it was impossible to climb safely. - Summer 08, Sat Camp, Kootenai.

Comments

[anthony]

Just Beginning
Well Clint, to begin with, for someone your age, I think you have the right spirit. Today the majority of teenagers are usually set on material gain with little thought of seeking to understand and appreciate different cultures first hand or of broadening their minds by seeing “how the other half lives” so to speak. It sounds as though you will likely avoid conventional travelling and go for the adventurous unexpected unplanned expedition and since you say you want this travel experience to be educational then you will be avoiding like the plague any place which has a MacDonalds or Starbucks - right?. I would say - look for the “non-tourist -off the beaten track” destinations. They are the ones which will challenge you both mentally and physically and give you rich memories with which to take you through the middle years and on to the very end! Your Grandad was probably glad to have a young companion like you with whom to go places. After all when he was your age the kind of travel which you can do today (continent to continent in a few hours) was unknown to him, so the simple conventional trips to England and Scotland which you have described must have been, for him, doing what he wished he could have done all those years ago yet at the same time seeing those same places through the eyes of a contemporary young man. Complimenting this however, it looks as though, through your adolescent years, he has inadvertently kindled in you a desire to broaden your horizons, bringing you now at age seventeen to the point of confidently launching out into the world on your own. In other words it turns out that your travels together have been mutually beneficial. But your journey has only just begun. Follow through on your dreams in the belief that many years from now you will be able to tell your children and grandchildren of your adventures and thus encourage them to live their lives to the full as you intend to live yours. Best of luck in all that you endeavour and remember the old saying: “The World is Your Oyster”.