Same As It Ever Was

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

Traveling Complete

This past month, I’ve been to 9 different cities and 6 different countries in Europe (Germany, Austria, Latvia, England, Wales, and Ireland). It’s hours on planes, trains, automobiles, and a ferry. It’s nights in hotels living out of a suitcase. It’s being a foreigner in a distant land. I’ve learned much about history, seen plenty of architecture, met dozens of interesting people, and experienced a whirlwind of life in a short amount of time. What I’m taking away from the whole opportunity?

Money aside, this amount of traveling is unsustainable. Feeling like you’re always on the move leaves no time to accomplish tasks. Should I respond to work or emails or visit St. Patricks Cathedral? Should I write a blog post or meet the locals at the Temple Bar? Do I go for a run or do I tour the London Tower? You know the answers. You go to these cities and you experience them. This latest trip in the UK was awesome to see people who are like you. People always say that Europeans speak English, but I’ve never felt that way with the locals in countries where English isn’t the first language. This UK trip, I connected with people because we speak the same language, although, they speak so fecking fast it’s hard to know if it’s English.

So you get to the city and walk their streets and ask yourself, “how did I get here?” Then you realize as you’re there, it’s the same as it ever was. There’s no difference if you’re in Philadelphia, London, Snowdonia, or Dublin. You’re only there in that moment of time, with people who are exactly like you, and you can ask these same questions about life in any city in the world. To quote Ernest Hemingway, “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”

So I’m back now in Philly for an extended period of time and I’ll get back to a healthier life. Eating better. Exercising. Outputting production. Enhancing myself. You don’t do these with any regularity while traveling. That’ll be nice, but on the same level, it feels like it’s letting the wheels spin. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, the best feeling in life is connecting with people you don’t know. My conversations with people in the UK help me understand our differences. Seeing how they react to my life outlook. Until you start pushing yourself to live, you’re only waiting to die.

I’ll put together some trip report with pictures in the coming days. Stay tuned.