Why We Travel (Cathy’s Take)
Until next time, San Francisco! Catching the sunset at Fort Mason, San Francisco.
Hola!! As the decade counts down, Allen and I are spending NYE at home packing up our lives into cardboard boxes for storage. It seems a good as time as any to take stock of what changed in our lives this past year, and our intentions for 2020.
On the surface, our story is pretty straightforward. Allen was prepared to quit his job to travel in 2020. I immediately matched his ante and raised his bet. We were both feeling stuck in our careers, “and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom” (Anais Nin). We recognized this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fill our eyes with beauty, fill our bellies with deliciousness, and walk down some truly luscious beaches.
But I’d be lying if I claimed it was that simple. An intuitive leap on the onset spiraled into countless tiny steps that all wrapped up into a Goliath undertaking. There was fear in deciding what we do with our home, our careers, our families, our friends, our belongings, our houseplants (OK, just my houseplants). What carried me through the endless transition logistics was the “why” driving this decision.
My intention for travel is to question the assumptions underlying my life, so that I am freed to make active choices in the direction of my dreams. Travel, for me, is an inquiry into the ubiquitous assumptions underpinning how we define “happiness,” “love,” “success” and “worth.” It gives the open-minded a chance to test-drive a different life in a different place and culture. It opens my eyes to realize that there are countless different places, cultures, and ways of “being” that are all legitimate, all happening at once. Experiencing a new place through the fresh eyes of a traveler wears down the layers of who “I” am down to the universal core.
What I’d like to avoid with this trip (that I’ve been SO guilty of in the past) is the constant hustle that keeps me stuck in my head! My generation takes travel seriously. We go into it with lists and agendas and research. There’s a scarcity to the approach, a need to conquer every item on the bucket list, squeeze out every last drop, and bring back a quota of photos and stories for audiences at home. I suppose this is because travel demands time and money, and we’re short on both. We’re trying to get our values’ worth. This is SO American. I am motivated to travel in a different, unhurried way, with all the time in the world. To sink into fewer places and give back in some way.
I hope we give, take and build our characters while we’re malleable to it. I hope it changes the trajectory of who we are and where our lives go. I hope it ups my creative game. To me right now, all these things are putting my career on hold, and so much more.
Anyways, I’m so excited! Beyond excited! Next year is so wild in my imagination, that I’m not making New Years’ resolutions because I’m confident that reality will blow any expectations out of the water!
