The reasons why

So, time to tell you a little bit about me and the reasons behind me wanting to travel so badly.
I decided to wait for a bit before moving on to a new blog post as I think the topic of Auschwitz deserved some time to 'let the dust settle' before moving on straight away.
But now it's time to talk about what this blog was made for: travel!

Traveling is something I want to do for various reasons.
I don't feel satisfied with my current life. I finished college a year or so ago and after that I've had several jobs that were pretty mediocre (with one exception) and they were certainly not what I went to school for either.
I have friends but I see them just occasionally as they live a short while away and I can't just pop in when I feel like it, and if I'm there all I can see them for is a few hours each time.
That's all fine and I'm not complaining about that, as I love my friends. But a man needs something to occupy his days with, something that gives him satisfaction and allows him to lean back and say "I love my life."
If your days suck, visiting your friends is a bandaid to stop the bleeding. I don't mean this at all in a negative way, but they can't fill your days, your job does.

These days my job consists of standing at a factory line like a robot. I hate every single minute of it.
Every hour feels like two. When I get home, all I want to do is sit back alone and do nothing.
I feel like a piece of machinery. All the while I'm left thinking, is this life? Is this all there is to it?
But I know there is a difference between being alive and feeling alive, and I currently spend my days on auto-pilot.
Every day you get up at the same time, go to work, get home, watch tv or sit behind your pc and go to sleep again. Rinse repeat.
I want to, I need to feel alive. And this just does not cut it. I want surprises, adventure, something new and unexpected.
Now there are many people who do enjoy having a routine and spending their days in relative safety, and I don't want to or mean to judge or put it down, but it's just not for me.

On top of that, I feel as if all my life I have only been doing what I have had to do, not necessarily that what I want to do.
Take school for instance. For years you are obligated to attend school, and this is not at all bad by the way. But if you want to make something of your life, you need to attend school.
So there is something you HAVE to do. But if you want anything else in life, you need money. So you need to work. This is all very logical, but all this time I feel like I'm forced into these things.
Now that I have saved up a bit of money, I want to be able to break free for a while and just do the things that I want to do.
I don't want to take into account that what others expect of me for a while.
If I want to relax, I can relax. If I want to move on, I move on. If I want to change plans and do something else for a while, I don't want to have to check in with anyone.
I want to be free.

But ofcourse there is also a genuine desire to see the world, which is the most important factor.
As Eddie Vedder sang in Guaranteed, "I've got my indignations but I'm pure in all my thoughts."
I'm genuinely interested to see how other people live their life in various parts of the world.
Sometimes I sit out in the dark at night in other places, towns or cities, just looking at the lights.
And I often think to myself that each light represents another person's life. Behind those closed curtains, another person lives. Another person with his or her own sorrows, dreams and ambitions.
And often I marvel at the fact that no matter where you are in the world, there are people living their life in their own unique way. They don't just fade in or fade out as you pass by, and it interests me immensely to see how they live and what they think.

Culture is a very interesting thing, and you don't get to see it by just visiting tourist hotspots.
You learn about a country through it's people and the environment that shapes them.
You need to get in there and live among the people, work among the people, talk to the people.
All things your ordinary tourist does not do. He simply checks off a list of 'been there's'.
To him, the destination is all that matters, and he'll stick to the well-trodden path.
Lao Tzu said "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
And I think there is some real truth to that.

Currently I'm looking into obtaining a Canadian Work-Holiday Visa.
This visa would allow me to travel and work for a year within the Canadian border, without pre-made plans or finding a place to work before arrival.
And this suits me perfectly fine, because apart from a very loose idea of where I want to go, I don't want to plan my trips into perfection.
I have a couple of places I'd love to see on the North-American continent, but no plan on how to get there other than to hitchhike and see where life takes me.
I want adventure, to not know what to expect every day, "For each day to have a new and different sun."

My next blog will go into a bit more detail on my current plans, both for travel as well as this blog.
I hope to see you back then!