My Minimalism: Travel

When you're moving around constantly, you quickly realize what is important and what needs to be dumped. You pare down to the necessities, and you listen to yourself and what you need. Sometimes, you'll have to buy something you never anticipated, and sometimes you'll have to drop something that is weighing you down. Both are unforeseen and you can't take it all too seriously, or you'll miss the ride.

I tend to travel to big cities, which seems paradoxical. But really, I love the hustle-and-bustle of the mountains of people, the crazy and concentrated spectacle, and the change in flow you get when you're in a big town versus a smaller one. I love laughing at the Starbucks and Walgreens on every corner, and then realizing their necessity when I look in and find them packed with people. I love looking at the people while respecting the weird lack of interaction people have to assume to become one with this throbbing mass of urban sprawl.

You meet people for only a moment, but it's enough to make an impression. My last trip, I met an Australian girl over breakfast who was traveling America. On the train I met a Scottish man who was doing the same. Listening to these voices, their words and their ideas - it's captivating. It broadens your mind and brings you to a more global perspective. There's something about the image of reading a national newspaper in a hotel, and I've never been able to shake it.

I haven't gone far yet, but I hope to. Thankfully I live in a good position for trains and thus have an easy way to get to larger cities. Once I've finished exploring the cities around me, I hope to broaden my experiences to the coasts of America, and then finally leaving the continent once I have more travel skills.

Traveling is an amazing journey. As much as I enjoy home, my mind starts to forget the bigger picture, and start falling into these self-perpetuating cycles of thought that need outside assistance to break free from. Then I leave for a bit, and things seem less important, the world seems more open, and life seems to have a greater purpose. I am here to explore, and there's no better place to be.