Take Me Anywhere But There

Take a moment to reflect. Take a moment to laugh. Take a moment to cry. Everyday people go about like a conveyor belt, endlessly repeating their mundane lives. Why? In my own beliefs, I think people are tied to the never-ending need and drive for money. Sure, we need it at some point in our lives, but if we want to allow it to escape our lives as much as possible, we must make a concerted effort to rid it as a necessity to survive. I think, some may be able to escape the need for money completely, but for the majority, it serves a tool of well-being. Money serves as the comfort in our lives to make reality happen. Without money we are lost and our lives are lacking the power of direction.

How do you escape the need for money? You can search for gold, diamonds, lost treasure, valuable minerals/metals, live off-grid, and so many other things. I choose all the above and with joy do I treasure finding lost treasure (nice). With technology today, one can take a lidar-capable drone and penetrate any jungle forest floor and see what others, for centuries, have missed. If you don’t have the money for this, you can still use a simple drone, which is relatively inexpensive now, to navigate your way around difficult terrain and discover anything under the sun. If you can also make connections within the society or area in which you live, you are in luck. Even if you do not find gold, you may find that private waterfall or water hole and enjoy until your heart is content with not a sole watching you.

You don’t need to spend hundreds or thousands to enjoy what the world has to offer. Being a tourist is the worst way to lose your life savings. Why not be an explorer of sorts? Take the road less traveled and find yourself immersed in a culture or place that no one else gets to experience. Do not show up at a place like the Atlantis in the Bahamas, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Eiffel Tower in Paris (and so on) and think you will find paradise when every move you make has been carefully crafted by the organization, resort, industry, etc., to make the money transfer from your pocket to theirs.

When I hear statements like: “I went to Bali and got a room for only $299 USD/night,” I laugh and cringe inside thinking that people actually think vacationing like this is something original, exciting and worthwhile to talk about. Why not take fly to a place like this and visit a local family and experience something unique. Yes, for those of you who have not approached people out of the blue, it can be quite daunting/intimidating the first time, but believe me, it is well worth it. The value of your experience will never even reach $299 USD/night, but if you strike a deal with them, you will have a memory that few people ever get to experience.

It was some years back, when I traveled to Belize, with zero expectations and knowing no one. Once I found a place to reside in a small village off of a local highway, I decided to do some traveling with some new found friends. We went off-roading in my newly purchased van. What we discovered only after minutes on the hillsides in Belize was a community of Old-World Amish people. No electricity, no automobiles, nothing in their community that was not given by the hand of God himself was in this community. Six of us drove up to a few people on their horses and asked a simple request. $50 and about an hour later, we were invited to a couple’s home to enjoy a homemade Amish meal, the likes of which I will never forget. Before we went inside to eat at the long, handmade wooden table, we washed our hands with the foot-powered water faucet outside and lit oil lamps to dine at dusk inside the home. That day, I knew, what I cherished in life, seeing inside other cultures that I had no experience in dealing with before, if for only a split second. By doing so, it gave and continues to give, with other cultures throughout the world, varied perspectives on what we call life. A journey into the unknown…..

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Original story (created by me) published on Medium.com. Any changes and/or updates that have been added on Vocal.media are for content consumption purposes.

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