The wonders of wandering around
Hey hey wanderers!! My friends from Tag along travellers asked me to write a lill’ blog entry with the aim of giving my 5ml, as part of an inspiration booster that is gonna make you leave everything behind, fall in love with wandering and never look back :P So here we go …
My name is Ryan Abela and I am now based in our beautiful motherland (Malta that is). I had my fair share of wandering, where every few years I would push the reset button and start from scratch. By starting from scratch, I mean that I would buy a one-way ticket to somewhere far from home, and begin a new quest without really knowing what the final outcome will be and, for that matters, what to expect in between. I spent a few years in England, did a trip to South East Asia and Oceana, been on countless road trips in Europe and the Balkans and the latest one – travelled a one year loop around the continent of South America. In my latest travels I discovered a hidden passion for writing, which led me to write a whole book. Right now I am working on this book titled ‘Latin American Dreams’ which should be out soon.
When we start discussing the whys of leaving everything behind … I believe that to start with, no one should ever do anything he/she doesn’t like. If in that situation there is always a way out of it, so there are really no excuses to stay trapped in an imaginary cage. That said, routine could become a killer, and also make you loose interest in your greatest passions. Non-challenging jobs, coupled with the island routine here in Malta will drain your creativity and energy while slowly eating away the grand meaning of your existence. Before you know it, you’re forty years old and looking back, you’ll realise that nothing exciting really happened apart for having worked all your life with some occasional exciting weekend benders.
Very often I find myself questioning if what I am currently doing really challenges me as a person and keeps my life exciting. If not, that’s when I press that goddamn button, and escape my current lifestyle. True … although some might argue that escapism is not the best way to face your problems, for me it works, and the best escape route is an airplane out of our island.
In its pure form travelling and wandering is just exploration of new places, people and cultures. However, everyone has his own definition and reasons for travelling. The nice thing about it is that travelling comes with many added bonuses. The following are my personal favourites. Travelling really boosted my sense of adventure and observation. Even when coming back from a trip, I really look forward to explore every little corner of our island, and engage in daring adventures. It also gave me a wider insight on cultures, opinions, people and behaviours. One tends to become more compassionate and more respectful towards people and nature. Having lots of personal time on my hands has also given me time to think about what I like doing, boosted my creativity, and also helped me discover new hidden passions. Finally while exploring this big world, I also explored the deepest abysses of my personality and learnt how to live happily with myself.
To conclude, this post is but a quick collection of my personal thoughts about how travelling contributes to make the most out of my lifestyle. There are a million more ways to do so. Nevertheless, I think that everyone deserves at least one good trip out of the comfort zone. It can be short, long, far, close, dangerous, comfortable - anything will do.
Peace.
Ryan
Check out my travel blog http://latinamericandreams.tumblr.com and buy the new upcoming book ‘Latin American Dreams’
