What does traveling mean to me?

I've been trying to explain why I travel. What it is that is that indescribable draw captivating all the wanderlusters around the world. It's just so incredibly difficult to explain, it really is. No matter what I say or how exciting the stories I tell it's nearly impossible to convey the feelings that come with traveling the way I do. It's like describing love to someone. Like describing one of the few things I truly truly love in this world. And when it comes to talking about something or someone that is lord and master over my heart I think it's less about what I say and more about how I say it. Which makes it difficult to write. You have to hear the way a voice get's hopeful and see how the eyes stare off into the distance at the thought. How all of a sudden I'm lost and nothing, nothing at all matters. The dark ocean and unknown blackness are nothing. No dazzling heaven, no evanescent woman, no madness could distract me from that call. The only thing that holds my attention is the road I wander. Traveling is a love some of us can't do without. It's certainly something I would be lost without. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that urge. 

The problem remains though, how to say it. How to put into print what it means. How to create a portal on a screen that can teleport anyone at anytime into another place. Of course it will always hold that power over me when I re-read what I've written because I've laced the ink with the memories it took to write it. I know the secret trials undergone when throwing rhyme, reason, and caution to the wind on the other side of the world. But how to build a portal that anyone can take? How to show a stranger that freedom?

Take this trip for instance, though it's only been 10 days and a couple countries in SE Asia, how can I convey to someone what being here means to me? Seriously though, how do I describe what it was like to arrive in Bangkok at one a.m., a foreign country I know nothing about, somewhere I don't read or speak the language, only to follow the breadcrumbs left by Stumbles through a 45 minute cab ride, an hour and a half flight, half hour bus, and 5 minute motortaxi ride? The pure thrill of having no idea whatsoever where I was going other than the knowledge that two old friends and one new were waiting for me at the end of the whirlwind? The first good hug after not being on an adventure with someone since what seems like forever ago. Having breakfast on the beach, foods I've never heard of especially tasted before, and dinghy rides through turquoise waters and betwixt giant, gorgeous haystacks. It's just not describable. Words simply cannot show justice to the way drunk laughter feels on the other side of the world. Which, for the record, sounds exactly the same it just feels exotic, the same way reminiscing can feel like a world away. I just can't describe the difference between exploring miles of coastline by moped with Kiki, a virtual stranger, and what it's like riding an elephant in Shiang Mai. Both are serendipitous in their own individual ways. It's just like, how do I explain what a worry free goodbye is? One with no regrets because everyone knows paths cross and the world is a small small place between friends. Leaving Kiki in Phi Phi with a promise that I'd find her again before leaving the continent, or Stumbles and Mr. Miller flying home, leaving me in Bangkok, knowing that the next adventure we'll share probably isn't too far over the horizon. It's the virtue of letting go and the freedom gained by it. It's seeing the sun rise and set, more often than not, over a foreign horizen when at home I sometimes forget what the stars look like or that there even are stars! Traveling is all those things and more. Traveling for just the past 10 days was all those things and more, traveling for the past four years has been simply soul changing at the very least. 

And here I am in Singapore while I write this, dodging in and out of tropical thunderstorms in order to enjoy coffee and beer amongst the sky scrapers.It just makes me thing that sometimes I made the right choices in life.

Be Happy,

Beacon