The Nature of Travel

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

What storms await us when we venture far from home?  Before the trip often we visualize what will befall us on our travels.  We try to think of what we will do, imagine what the sights, sounds, and smells will be like.  I cannot see the pictures Jason and Ian conjured up in their heads.  I can think back on when I was finishing my last preparations to leave and every moment was daydreams of what awaited me in the far east.  Sometimes I think of the movie The Beach (admittedly because I never read the novel) and think of the best and worst of travelling, and really the best and worst of people.  What I like is the interaction with locals and the sharing culture and experience.  What I dislike is the traveler that is there only to act such as Columbus and take from the places they visit.  Vietnam is a very good place to encounter both of these aspects.