That has been my advice to those who share their travel dreams with me. This month marks my 56th birthday, and though some might say I am neither young nor good-looking, I know that inside, that 20-year-old who ventured abroad on his first trip to Europe — armed only with his innocence — is alive and well. During that summer of '72 I hitchhiked all over Western Europe, living out of a sleeping bag with my world in a backpack and a budget of $5 a day.
'I wa-wa-wa-wander…'
The need to wander is perhaps as much a part of the hierarchy of human needs as food, clothing and shelter. The Germans even invented a word for it: wanderlust. If you accept that human beings have been around for at least 100,000 years, and that civilization only goes back about 5,000 years, then we have spent at least 95% of our existence as wanderers. People eventually settled into towns, and anyone still out wandering about was labeled a barbarian — because the ancient Greeks thought anyone who didn't speak Greek sounded like he was going 'bah, bah, bah.' Not wanting to be ostracized, pretty soon everyone settled into towns, with the result that the majority of people lived and died within 20 miles of where they were born. The very root of the word 'travel' is the French word travail, which means hard work. Back then you had two choices of transportation — on foot or on horseback — neither one comfortable.
'Leaving on a jet plane…'
Ask most people what the most significant advances of the last century are, and most will mention computers, telecommunications or medicine — but seldom will you hear transportation. I am in awe every time I get on a jumbo jet and fly around the world in a few short hours to destinations that used to take months. And still people moan about the rigors of flying. On my first trip to Europe in 1972 my ticket cost about $400. The amazing thing is that you can still fly to Europe for about that — or what I'd spend on a good weekend at home.
'Explore. Dream. Discover.'
Travel is the one investment that will always appreciate, never go down, and enrich your life till the end of your days. Mark Twain said, 'Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'
