A reminder that traveling thousands of miles is totally worth it. Padang Padang in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: Jordan Fair
Traveling has been a part of human existence ever since our inception. From the foraging hunter-gatherer societies to the sea-faring Scandinavian Vikings, humans have traveled through unknown terrains risking their scalps for several different reasons. Finding a new home, imposing beliefs on others, waging war, finding gold, and trading goods and services are a few among the many reasons people traveled. We have always desired to discover these so-called “greener and brighter pastures”. Today, our reasons for traveling have changed slightly. And as surfers, we have an unquenchable thirst to find new and better waves – even if perfect surf is in our very own backyard.
With advanced technologies, such as the Internet, global communications, satellite imagery, swell forecasting, and the ability to jump on an airplane and travel basically anywhere in a day, we find ourselves in an advanced age of wave exploration and discovery. However, traveling costs money. Lots and lots of money.
By working in restaurants, I’ve developed a method of saving up for a year or so while planning my next trip. Usually my employers have been OK with me leaving for a month or two. But if that job is not there for me when I return, there are dozens of other restaurants willing to hire someone with my level of experience. This method has enabled me to travel to Fiji, Nicaragua, Peru, Indonesia, and Argentina. My lifestyle has provided me with a particular sense of happiness that lives in the corner of my mind. It’s full of memories of past trips and fantasies of travels that await me. I can even jump into this “where I’d rather be” dimension just for a second when I’m doing something that makes me wish I were somewhere else.
Saksaywaman, Peru. Photo: Jordan Fair
Bottom line: working sucks. Most of us are barely scraping by, trapped in a cubicle and punching away at a keyboard. We work endlessly while we salivate over that photo we pinned to the wall of a perfect A-frame breaking over a black sandy beach in Central America; or a peeling Indo left barrel feathering in the wind. These photos speak to us. They are calling for us to return. We need to answer those calls in order to keep those dreams alive. It’s a way of preventing ourselves from feeling like we’re caught in some swamp-like stagnant state of immobility. Conversely, traveling makes us feel like a free-flowing river with no dams and no restrictions.
Traveling is like wine; once we’ve had a taste of it we want to drink the whole damn bottle. This is the travel bug and it’s alive and real. Whether our travel destinations are completely foreign or very familiar, we have found something very special there. It is something that makes us feel alive and eager for more. It’s a monster that lives inside us and its name is travel.
