My Passport, a bunch of coins and paper money from various countries, beer labels from various countries, my camera, sunglasses, a surfboard fin, a stone from the beach in New Zealand, and a scrap of paper with the phone number and email address of Dave who owns a little surf shop in Nicaragua
There's something that people do a lot that really burns me up. Before I get into it too much though I want to make it clear that I both understand and respect (as well as HAVE) commitments and having responsibilities. So please don't tell me I don't understand
I don't know if I hate it or if it bothers me or if it makes me feel bad for people or maybe a combination of all of the above when people say "I wish I could do that" or "I can't do that" or "I can't afford that". Now if your wish is to go stay in the Playboy Fantasy Penthouse in Las Vegas for a month and your job is waiting tables at Ruby Tuesday (I can use that as an example because I waited tables at Ruby Tuesday) you'd better save every nickel and not do anything with your money! Really what I'm talking about is in reference to when I take a trip somewhere and when I get back and people ask me about it. I tell an abbreviated highlighted account of my trip and invariably it's met with "I wish I could do something like that". My response to that comment is just about always "well then do it!" Then I hear the "I can't because..."
When I was like 6 or 7 years old my mom put my brother, Kevin, and I in the car (a 1974 Chevy Nova) and DROVE us from Northern Virginia to Veracruz, Mexico. Why in the hell would a sane smart woman do such a thing? Well simple, because she wanted to go, she wanted to take us, and she couldn't afford to fly us all there. We stayed in cheap hotels on the way, crashed with people she knew along the way, ate dry Cheerios from plastic baggies in the car.
When we got to Mexico we stayed with family members and family friends. I don't honestly remember much from that trip because I was so young but I do remember climbing the Aztec pyramid of the Sun and being in Mexico City and walking through an art museum, playing in a fountain in Veracruz to get some relief from the Mexican summer heat, playing soccer in the street with my long lost cousins, and smacking at a piñata at a birthday party for someone that I didn't know and I'm sure didn't know me. The point is that my mom wanted to go and she didn't have the means to do it the "safe" way so she went the way she could manage and even now 30 years later I remember the trip and I remember it being fun. That's not to say that there weren't problems. We got a flat tire in the desert in the shadow of a really gnarly mountain range. Mom knew how to change a tire so it started off as not a big deal but she made the mistake of not putting something solid under the car jack and the partially jacked car shifted on the jack and jammed the jack so there was nothing she could do to reset the jack. I remember my little brother being asleep in the back seat of the car and my mom telling me to take off my shirt and use it to try to flag down a car to help us while she tried to get the jack free. Her last comment to me was "watch out for snakes" Needless to say I have a bit of an issue with snakes to this day. Mom wasn't scared or maybe she was but just decided to go anyway the point is that she took a chance on a crazy but great trip and it worked out great. When I travel now I can't help but think that I pretty much use the same template. Decide on a destination and connect the dots however I can make it happen using the resources I have available. The biggest resource almost always turns out to be someone I know. You have a different relationship with every person you know and sometimes you may feel strange asking someone to pick you up at the airport or if you can crash on their couch for a night or more but if you don't put yourself out there and ask, what might you miss out an opportunity to see or experience?? I asked a friend in Costa Rica that I didn't know all that well if I could crash on her couch for a night or two while I found a longer term place I could afford. I found a place but was then told to cancel it and stay there and ever since they've always insisted I stay with them. I do dishes, keep my things straight, clean up after myself, pitch in for groceries, show up with drinks, and make myself scarce so I'm not in the way. If I hadn't asked that time I would have found a place to stay and would have had a great time but I did ask so now I have some great friends and contacts as well! I don't know - this isn't the most coherent of blog posts, it sounded much better in my head. I guess the point is that whatever it is you want you have to decide how important it is to you then do it. Don't make excuses, don't say "I can't" don't whine and moan about it being hard and damn sure don't doubt yourself or be scared. If you want to do something - do it. Commit. Want to lose weight - stop eating fried chicken, have a salad and start running. Want to run a marathon - buy some shoes and start training. Want to open a surf shop - quit your stupid job and put everything you have into it. Want to buy a Ferrari and date Playboy models - work your ass off in school get a super high paying job or design the next iPhone and buy till your heart's content.
Chances are no one is gonna do it for you so you've got to go get it. Whatever "IT" is. Me? I want to see, touch, feel, smell, taste and most importantly know firsthand. Lemme know if you want to come with - it's always fun to have company :D
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