During my teenage years I was lucky enough to travel a lot with my father down to the southern states to see friends, go to music festivals and other events. He and I have clocked a lot of road miles together in various trucks and cars with lots of stories to tell as a result. From picking up the miming white gloved hitch hiker, to sleeping in the back of the Dodge pickup along with 90,000 festival goers in Tennessee we had some great times together, and these trips taught me a lot about the relationship you need to have with your fellow traveler/s and the best ways to look out for yourself and each other.
During this time I had several opportunities to travel to countries outside of our own including backpacking in Ecuador and Belize, and traveling with my martial arts team in China. In more recent time I've traveled to Scotland to see the big cities and dramatic country sides, and to Costa Rica to learn about timber framing and natural building with the magnificent wood that grows in the jungles there.
Though they are over, all of these were amazing adventures in and of themselves,and the things I learned from them are still very present in my everyday thinking and worldview, sometimes a lot more than I realize. We really are so connected to each and every person around the world, we are not that much different as each one of us is engaged in what it means to be human, to carry out a meaningful life lived with honor, and to be respected and loved by the people around us. The story I think stays very much the same.
The reason I'm prefacing my travels to you is to let you know that I'm at it again! This time across the United States with my partner Patrick in a little fiberglass trailer. The inspiration for this trip stems from our love of traveling together, and our lives aligning just right with the opportunity to take such a trip at this point in time. Together we've done a lot of hiking, sight seeing, surfing (the newest adventure Pat has introduced me to) driving, going to music festivals, you name it! But the time always feels too short so we're going extended this time. Giving ourselves the time needed to explore what we hope will be a whole host of new favorite places. We've both enjoyed our experiences out of the country, but what a huge country we live in and so much of it to see!
We're both excited to keep track of our travels here to document our journey and our photographs, and also to share it with all of you. I know that sometimes blogs can be seen as self indulgent, or you walk away from your computer feeling unfulfilled by stories with no substance. Or even the common downtrodden feelings (shared often by your writer) of disenchantment with bad news, and ever present political strife.
We hope that this blog can serve as a source of inspiration, a dose into your day of what we are sure will be beautiful people and places. We'd like this to be a place to share your thoughts with us about what has opened your eyes to the world. The places you have traveled, and the people you've met. Perhaps through our sharing of the common human story of travel from place to place, we can meet on equal ground somewhere, maybe in the desert, maybe in a mountain stream, or somewhere in a dusty parking lot, and sit together and share our common dreams.
Till next time
Emma
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