On the Open Road

Back on the road again. The open road. A well used cliche when referring to the uninhibited freedom of backpacking the globe, but an appropriate one all the same. If we stop to consider the notion of an open road it starts to become an even more suited expression if you take it literally. Open roads are one of the things we all love to get on when we drive our cars. Abandoning the metropolitan hustle and bustle of the roads is a liberating experience when you suddenly find yourself on a back country road and you take a little more control of the way you travel. Minimal signs, a rarely followed speed limit, no one up your backside trying to rush you along. Oh that's a beautiful sunset... ok I'll stop and have a look at it. The open road is something we look forward to because it has limited instructions about how we are supposed to travel along it. It is open and we choose to travel along it to reach our destination. Unlike the opposite, let's call it a structured road, that tells you when to stop, wait, go, merge, slow, speed up and all other things. The structured road is often one that we have to take. It has all this extra signage because if it didn't then things would get chaotic.

In many ways the 'open road' is quite like a metaphor for life. The desire to get onto the open road and control your own movement is similar to the freedom and liberties that travellers work so hard to achieve. As a traveller you long to cross that road in your own fashion and without the restrictions and constraints of life's constant motion. When you're on the open road of travelling you can choose when and where you want to stop, you decide how fast you want to get there and also when you want to leave. You take your time, you slow down and then suddenly you start to see more things. Things aren't rushing past you at 100kmh, but now you're walking past them and seeing intricate detail, you're noticing things you had never seen before. You start to realise that as you slow down and examine this open road, that there are now other roads just like it branching off and heading off in all other directions. Each one offers a new adventure! Each village you come across is as different from the last one, as the last one before that.

The open road now offers you options and lets you decide your own fate. All of a sudden you are in complete control of your life. It is an extremely empowering notion to have your life in front of you and to decide where you want to steer it. Instead of having your life off in the distant horizon dragging you through the routine, you now have it within a comfortable reach. Not enough to forcibly grab it, but enough to sheepdog it into the gates you want to enter. You no longer have life telling you how you're going to get on with it, but you're now telling your life what is happening. The open road has given you this opportunity and there is only one way to give back to it. Give with your head, heart and gut instinct. Don't regret you decisions, but rather learn from the ones that didn't work out how you planned. Be flexible, adapt, take chances, better yourself and most of all make sure you enjoy it. Take control of your life!

When I'm on the open road i feel liberated. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm not working and have all this free time. It's not because I'm no longer in front of a classroom and working 50+ hours a week on school stuff. It's because i am in charge of my destiny and i listen to the universe as it continues to open up more exciting adventures for me. I'm flexible with my travels and i go with my instincts. I'm 'supposed' to be in Europe now if i followed my pre-purchased flight ticket, but what would that have left me with. Certainly not an amazing girlfriend that i now have the pleasure of travelling with and sharing my experiences with. Sure Europe would have offered other exciting adventures, but this is the one I've chosen and i have no regrets. I am happy at this very moment, so that means that everything leading up to this point has made it worthwhile.

Don't hesitate to choose your own destiny. You don't need to be on the open road to start making decisions that impact your life now. Simply think about what you're doing and put some conscious thought into where it will take you. Think about what you want to do, who you want to be and then don't stop in your pursuit to achieve it. Don't look into a mirror and see a reflection of what you should be, but instead look for your own reality. I'd rather see my reality than a preconceived societal reflection.

A lot of people ask me why i write like this; in this mixture of travel writing and attempted travel philosophy. A lot of the time it isn't planned. A lot of the time it's just my mind finding a way to conveniently offload my abundance of thoughts. For me travel hasn't just become a hobby, it has become a way of life. It is so much more than hopping from city to city taking a few snaps. It's living, learning and loving. It's about unlocking the mysteries of life and seeing how cultures all over the world go about their daily business. I've learnt equally insightful life lessons from rich inner city people living in Buenos Aires as i have from farmers in the poorest areas of highland Peru. What I've learnt is that there is no code or pattern that people need to conform to in order to live a specific way. That is what travel has taught me. People live in all sorts of conditions all over the world, yet people still live happy lives in these conditions. Just the same is that people all over the world live unhappily. People live in mansions with fancy cars and never have to work, but they are still crippled by unhappiness. Happiness is a state of mind. It can be made and it can be lost. Happiness is part genetic, part circumstantial and most of the time just how you decide to get on with your life and try to find the positive in what you do.

So this is where i leave it. No travel writing, just travel thoughts. With the next blog I'll actually write about what's been going on. I'm in San Francisco at the moment for the holidays with Christine. In between blogs is the 2 months we spent in Colombia on the 'open road' travelling at our own pace and drifting with the current of the universe. It was an incredible time in the north of Colombia that I'll definitely get into in a few weeks.