Hello, World!

Why Start a Travel Blog in 2017?

It is a great tragedy that so much of our human experience goes untold, unrecorded, confined to ever-flawed memories that fade with age like paintings in sunlight.

Don’t you agree?

I think that writing about your life is one of the most accessible and effective methods of counteracting the natural biases that make our own memory so unreliable. My background is in psychology and neuroscience; during my studies I was very fascinated by the notion of reconstructive memory.¹ Remembering something is not like playing back an accurate, unchanging video clip on a computer. Rather, you are reconstructing an event based on many different contextual details. And each reconstruction introduces errors that then become a part of the memory. Ironically the more often you recall something from your past, the less accurate that memory becomes. Therefore writing specific details about an event, ideally soon after it happens, can help prevent forgetting the experiences that shape who you are.

But, maintaining memories is not the only reason you should write. In line with my personal philosophy, the three main reasons why I am starting this travel blog are:

1. Reflect

“Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. … Everything – even mountains, rivers, plants and trees – should be your teacher.”

– Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, in The Art of Peace

[That’s an affiliate link; at no cost to you, as an Amazon Associate I may earn a little coffee money if you click and decide to buy the book!]

I travel not just to learn about the world, but to learn about myself. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying that your sole motivation to travel should be the cliché of “finding yourself,” travel does often yield unique and unusual experiences that provide opportunity for introspection. Writing helps explore and reify lessons learned that might otherwise go ignored or unexpressed. There is something almost therapeutic about it.

2. Share

Of course, if writing alone were sufficient, I would stick to a private journal. It is human nature to share stories even if nowadays we do so over the glow of computer screens more than the campfire. I love reading other adventurers’ interesting tales and want to provide the same. Hopefully others will be able to take something useful away from my experiences. It will also be nice to have a central compilation to refer friends and family who ask what I’m up to more often than I can usually keep up 🙂

3. Grow

I plan to be very open in this blog, writing about the bad experiences just as much as the good, and always sticking to my principle of embracing the uncomfortable. In documenting my physical journeys around the world I will aim to connect with others and bolster my personal journey of self-development. Finally, I’m looking forward to a long-awaited opportunity to hone my writing skills!

Where Next?

There are so many unique locations I want to visit and adventures I want to have. If you are an aspiring or experienced globetrotter, or simply a curious reader, I hope to inspire, entertain, and learn from you in some way.

Thanks for reading, see you somewhere!

1. Read more about reconstructive memory on Wikipedia.