Category Archives: Philosophy of the Traveler

PROMPT: Stress

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How do you manage stress?

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Through the realization that one packs one’s own load.

Everything is passing weather, how one dials up (or down) the significance of the present situation is up to one (even if the situation, itself, is completely out of one’s hands.) As the Stoics said, either you can or can’t do something about a given event — either way, it’s not worth one’s worry. If you can’t do anything about it, worry is futile. If you can, do the virtuous thing and you can feel content even if it doesn’t seem to work out for you.

PROMPT: Bucket list

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What’s a country that’s at the top of your bucket list?

To travel to, or to take over and rule with an iron fist? “Bucket list” seems a bit intense for the former. You make a plan and pack a bag. No one has to die here. [Unless one’s dream destination is North Korea, in which case, maybe.]

PROMPT: While Traveling

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What’s the best way to meet new people while traveling?

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Don’t travel in a big tour group or cruise. As a single or a couple, one can’t help but interact with locals. Stay where nationals of that country stay; eat where they eat.

PROMPT: Aliens

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If aliens arrived tomorrow, what’s the first thing you’d ask them?

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Do you speak English? 你会说普通话吗？¿Hablas español?

Alternatively, do you have a spare Babel Fish?

Anything else seems pretentious. I certainly don’t speak Alpha Centaurian.

PROMPT: Mantra or Philosophy

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What’s a personal mantra or philosophy you live by?

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First, I don’t have a mantra. While I believe Transcendental Meditation to be a fine approach, other meditative techniques have resonated with me more on a personal level. Unless by “mantra” one is looking for a soundbite that encapsulates the entirety of one’s philosophical thinking — which I also do not have. (At least not a stable one.) Philosophically, I am a Traveler (or, identically – I would argue, a Student.) Epistemologically, this requires a humility about what can and can’t know (though, admittedly, not necessarily humility — generally speaking,) a willingness to empty one’s cup to allow for consideration of new information, and an openness to adopting foreign and unfamiliar ideas where they prove useful.

PROMPT: Explore

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What’s the best way to explore a new city?

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On foot, with few objectives locked in, and with a willingness to adjust to opportunity.

In other words, you should never be so obsessed with what a place once was that you miss that it still is — i.e. jumping around from ruin to ruin and never interacting with living natives.

PROMPT: Like Home

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a place you visited that felt like home?
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My bar for a place to feel like home is that I don’t have to think every time about where I will eat or do my laundry. So, I’ve had this a number of times in a number of countries in which I had access to a kitchen(ette) and a washing machine.

PROMPT: Longest Trip

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the longest trip you’ve ever taken?
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So far, life is the longest trip I’ve ever taken. The challenge of this question is knowing what counts as a “trip.” I lived in India for over 12 years? Was that a trip? It didn’t feel like it. It felt like my home was in a different country. I think I once spent about two months one Summer in Hungary back in the 90’s? Was that a trip or family time? I’ve spent about a month (just under what would be required to do a “visa run” — more of a fresh stamp run) in Thailand. I suspect the latter is what the question aims at. While I’m pretty far toward the traveler end of the Traveler – Tribesman continuum, 30 days moving about without being someplace that feels home-like is where it starts to wear on me. (Of course, being a traveler, any place can feel homelike if I don’t need to think about where to eat on a daily basis or how to do laundry on a weekly basis.)

Of course, maybe the question is drug related. In which case, I once had psilocybe mushroom tea, and that trip lasted about five hours?

PROMPT: Budget Travel

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What’s your best tip for budget travel?

Learn to love living lean.

PROMPT: Most Annoying Trope

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What’s the most annoying trope in books or movies?

The McGuffin. A thing chased for the sake of being chased. It only works because humans, like dogs, are programmed to chase certain things without a good sense of whether it’s worth it or what would happen if one ever caught it.