In a few days we'll be boarding an overnight flight to Dublin, Ireland. It will be a whirlwind from the beginning, immediately after landing we pick up the rental car and drive to Galway on Ireland’s picturesque west coast. We’ll have ten days in Ireland which will be divided between the cities of Galway, Killarney, and Cork.
No trip is without its worries, and for this one I have only two: 1. Driving on the narrow, twisting, sheep littered Irish country roads with both the lane and the steering wheel on the opposite side from what I’m used to; and 2. Getting enough sleep on the flight over because I know this will determine if #1 goes smoothly or if it's a shit show of epic proportions.
With each trip I realize more and more how travel is a great metaphor for life. Both of these things can be a complex interplay between curiosities, desires, and fears. If our main motivation is to seek, we're often richly rewarded (mostly in unplanned ways) but if we’re running away from something then the outcome is rarely good or even memorable.
Seeking is far from easy. Growth and healing are inherently scary and painful in the beginning they require courage and sacrifice. Still, all things considered, this path is far easier than running away.
When it comes to travel, I have two people to thank for my wanderlust, Verlo Walton (my dad) and Anthony Bourdain.
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s my father hitch-hiked across America stopping only to work odd jobs when he ran out of money. The stories my dad told about his travels were both inspiring and harrowing. You could clearly see the pain written across his face in the pictures of him before that trip. In the end he must’ve found what he was looking for because he came back home to Ohio, settled down, and married my mom. He left Ohio a wild, unruly boy and came back as a responsible man who understood himself a bit better.
My dad, just a few years before he set out on his travels.
The inspiration "Uncle Tony" Bourdain provided me was immeasurable. Like me, he was a late bloomer whose fate changed with a lot of luck and smattering of persistence. To me Tony was like the cool uncle I always wish I’d had. In reality he and I only had a handful of things in common – appreciation for excellence, good literature and film, and cool wrist watches but the main thing we had in common is a burning curiosity. In fact, his Twitter profile contained one word, Enthusiast. This succinctly sums up how I feel about life.
Enthusiast. I’m interested in so many things I feel like one lifetime isn’t enough, especially now that I find myself in my fifties.
You see, I was once a runner, for half my life actually. Then one day I hit rock bottom. I think I just got tired of the self-loathing that running inherently caused me so I became a seeker. Every once in a while I still have to check myself. In the quiet hours before the world begins to stir I ask myself -- am I running or seeking?
My absolute greatest fear is to go back to a life of least resistance.
Wander Lost (Original Poem) - When the routines of life shroud my peace and cause me to wander lost… / I long to be a small fish in a big pond, / to lose myself in the bright spot of the next road’s vanishing and to be born again in foreign eyes, / Only then do I awaken in remembrance that happiness isn’t meant to be rationed out like thin, grey gruel. / Each day's dawn is a sweet symphony and as long as I hear the music my dreams will have to die another day. -EVW-
The days leading up to a big trip like this have always been as exciting to me as the trip itself. As I’m preparing, I can’t help but think of the ways the next journey will change me. This will be our son’s very first overseas trip so I’m even more excited to see the ways in which the experience will transform him.
Travel isn’t about accumulating passport stamps or bragging rights, afterall. It's about transformation. It's about returning home with new memories, a mind broadened by experiences, and a soul enriched by the people you've met along the way.
Travel changes you, there’s no way around it. It makes you more open-minded, more compassionate, and more appreciative of the incredible diversity that defines our world. It teaches you that there's no 'us' and 'them'; there's only 'we.' It reminds you that, in the grand tapestry of humanity, we're all interconnected threads.
Each of us who tread this path are just students and travel is our teacher, our muse, and our guide. Be open to letting it change you for the better, just as it did for my dad and Anthony Bourdain, and leave your marks on the world, however small.
I'm convinced that the sole purpose of this crazy journey were all on is just to learn all we can about ourselves and simply become better. There's no quicker way to do this than to travel. It's my belief that each of us are physical manifestations of a universe that’s trying desperately to understand itself, one trip at a time.
Are you a Runner or are You a Seeker?
~Eric Vance Walton~
Thanks for reading! All for now. Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com. Photos are original.)
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