Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 7—You Can Take a Faster Door

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Vagabond Dreams Outtakes are “deleted scenes” from my book. Think of them as a “Special Features” disc of outtakes and curios

We come back changed because travel exposes us to new ways of knowing and seeing. But it’s more than that. In the same way that physical exercise strengthens the body, solitary travel and the pains and hardships that accompany it hone and temper the inner being. A force of will is forged in the barren deserts that we walk, surrounded by crowds of unseeing and uncomprehending strangers. Thrust alone into a strange culture, with no one to guide you, the details of life leap out. You realize that the guidebook authors and TV authorities are no smarter than you are. You come to feel deep in your bones that with your brain and a little effort you can get by in any situation. Each time that you set out to make solid the hazy apparitions of your own vagabond dreams, you test your limits and you earn that currency called Experience. And each time you make it back to tell the tale you reinforce that Road Wisdom. You learn to trust your Self. Few lessons at home are so vivid and so lasting.

 

 

Get your copy of Vagabond Dreams from Amazon and other fine bookstores.

 

 

 

 

 

About the author

Ryan Murdock

Author of A Sunny Place for Shady People and Vagabond Dreams: Road Wisdom from Central America. Host of Personal Landscapes podcast. Editor-at-Large (Europe) for Canada's Outpost magazine. Writer at The Shift. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

4 Comments

Leave a Reply to Paul Cancel reply

  • One of my mentors said, “The times in your life that are the most memorable and meaningful are NOT the times when you are the most safe and comfortable.”
    I love that about traveling in general, and being off the beaten path specifically… outside of your daily routines (ruts) you can discover so many fascinating things about the world, and yourself. Things that were always there, but that rest just beyond the edge of our normal awareness.
    Really looking forward to this book, Ryan!

  • Great post Brian. I completely agree. I’d even go one step further. I think what you say about travel has two sides or faces (an ura and an omote, as we used to say in ninjutsu). The one side is external: you’re exposed to new things, new ways of seeing the world, new cultures and strange experiences. The other is internal: you’re not only taken out of your ruts and shaken out of dull routine, you’re taken out of your context. We live our lives trapped in boxes, not all of them of our own making. When you travel among strange people who aren’t aware of the boxes you’ve been placed in, you get a very different reflection back of who and what you are. They only see the “you” of that moment, not the “you” you’re supposed to be based on your past, your family history, your job or education. That’s such a profound experience. You come to realize that you’re so much more. And that you only have to consciously decide to step outside…

  • “You realize that the guidebook authors and TV authorities are no smarter than you are. You come to feel deep in your bones that with your brain and a little effort you can get by in any situation.”
    This applies to so much in life. Sometimes we know more than we think we do. The trick is for us to wade through our self doubts.
    “We live our lives trapped in boxes, not all of them of our own making. When you travel among strange people who aren’t aware of the boxes you’ve been placed in, you get a very different reflection back of who and what you are. They only see the “you” of that moment, not the “you” you’re supposed to be based on your past, your family history, your job or education.”
    This is an excellent observation.

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