Journey vs. trip

I like traveling. Everybody like traveling. No, not everybody.  There is a myth about this „I like traveling“, but not everybody enjoy it actually.

Some people like the trip, the way to a certain destination. They actually do not like the way, but the destination. The destination is all they can think about it. I like the journey. From a certain point in your life you realize that the destination is not the priority of your journey. We transformed the life in a race allowing the race to take over the control above our own life, but life is not a race. It is a competition, but not a race. Rationally speaking we should not run to the finish point, right? Are YOU in rush to the finish point of your life? I really doubt .... tell me I am wrong.

Everybody have to do The Journey, but not everybody have to travel. Why? Because Life = Journey, doesn't matter we like it or not.

I had yesterday a job interview. Something absolutely new in my professional life. Something without any connection to my professional experience so far. But into connection with a very dear hobby of mine. So, let’s hope I change the life once again.

“So, you are interpreter, right?”

“No, I am translator.”

“....? What's the difference?”

“A translator does the written work. An interpreter does the verbal one. And there are two different schools, 2 years long each of them. Different topics, different practices.” 

Something like this about #travel vs. #journey.

Last autumn a very young guy on Facebook started to tell me how in love is he about traveling. He contacted me because he saw I also travel a lot. And he started to count about "20 countries he just visited" in the last month. I said: 

“Stop, please. Why are you in such a rush?” 

He replied: “Oh, I like to see new places. Traveling. Like you.” 

I said: “I do not travel in this way, there is a misunderstanding. 20 countries in one month is a marathon, not a journey. I like The Journey. The feeling of the place, the quiet of the sunrise, the colors of the rain drops, the rumors of streets in the darkness. I like to stay under the rain and wind when I am happy or when I am in despair. Not to rush from a city to the other. Life is a journey, not a marathon. I do not travel like you. You don't see the country, you do not have time to see even a city or a quarter of a city. You maybe see the airport and the hotel and some streets of the city. Because you are in rush for running to the next city or country. I wonder why.”

He will understand. Some day. Later. Maybe. When I will not live anymore.

* 

I started today after 12 p.m.. Running session I mean. It was planed to be a long training. At least 15 km, no longer than 90 minutes. Due to the last events of the last months I am not so fit at the moment. Ninety minutes for 15 km would be a great job for me in this context. 

Rainy, cold, cloudy day. Like the two previous days. Actually perfect weather for a long training outdoor. It was the Grand Fondo Giro Race day and I am so sorry I could not participate. It would have been my first cycling race, wow!

After 2 km I reached the bridge to the Donau Island. I saw a big group of cyclists coming. I had no idea the route would be through my place!! I stopped to take pictures of them. As the place was very fine for a photograph I stopped and I remained one hour taking pictures of them! One hour to make pictures for distributing them, free of charge.

So my plan for my training …. Being so cold I was almost frozen. What to do? Run back home or run further to Vienna? 

I run further to Vienna. I was tired. So I run slower. After 15 km I reached the Stephans’s Dom. A lot of tourist there. 

I know the feeling. I dislike the masses of tourist, I never could enjoy being in such of large groups and let me lead to see that building and that building and nothing from the hidden narrow streets or non-touristic corners, nothing from what could interest me actually (!).

I like traveling. I like doing the most from my routes. I like to try crazy, but not mandatory spectacular things. I am not the “bungee-jumping” type.

For my powers (possibilities) the things I do are very spectacular and mostly unique.

The crazy “Duathlon”-day on Lanzarote, last month ….. I entered by bike a macadam road, nobody around. 

After about 1,5 km the road entered a lava dessert. It was a path you could follow by foot to a crater, a higher and larger crater. I wanted to go there. What to do with the road bike? I took it on the shoulder and continued my journey by foot, running, then walking, as running on that narrow path through the lava is not an easy stuff to do, especially with a bike on the shoulder. 

I met a couple coming from the opposite direction and 3 weeks later I’ve got a picture of mine in that lava dessert.

I love it!

The guy wrote to me: Hi! I think we crossed on this hike. It was quite surreal to meet someone with a bike in this ocean of lava!

By La Cave A Jaife

I carried my bike for about 5 or 6 km. It was too late then and I had to return. So I returned and continued my journey by bike back home, to Tinajo.

Two days before I did an even crazier journey. Same scenarios but this time no path through the lava ocean. Just dessert. And pains, my feet suffered through the rough dessert of stones.

I knew I am not on the usual way, but in front of me it was the Atlantic and a mountain. Strong contrast of colors: brown, blue, white. (The picture above I did from the opposite side in order to have the ocean and the mountain on it).

I said to me: “I want to reach that mountain. It looks so interesting. I want to climb on it. Maybe up to the top. This is the direction. Why to go back and look for the road to that mountain? I can follow the direction.” And I did it. 

But sometimes it does not work in that way. Quite often it does not work in that way. You can get closer to the mountain and 100 m before its feet a big and deep and long hole, an abyss stops you to reach the mountain. Then you have to go back all the way and all the suffer and pain. And you maybe give up. Because the way back is longer. You are now tired, of course. And it can hurt more. And it will be later. Or too late. And so on. We have a lot of mountains on the path of our life. We cannot reach all of them.

Or we can climb only a part of the mountain and never reaching the top, never getting the chance to step on the top and to watch back on the long way uphill wondering the world to our feet, wondering the way we did. Here, in the picture, making the long way to the top of that mountain and looking back meant a great feeling because of the new perspective over the landscape. But in life, you sacrifice important things for reaching a wrong top of the wrong mountain. When you are on the top and are looking back to the starting point you might think it was a huge error to start to the top. You ruined your health, your family, your life. And there is no way back. Yes, you can go downhill, but on the way to the top you lost everything ..... if you still have time, you can go down and start over. This time, no peaks anymore, just journeys.

I like traveling. I like going away. Sometimes I would like to stay, but this is a different story. Another chapter of my life.
If I could I will go away all the time. I will come back just to have the spot from where I can go away again.
I like packing, but I dislike unpacking when returning from a journey. My journeys start at the moment I decide to do it and while packing and sometimes I start packing one month before the starting time. Unpacking is not so nice, because .... this is a different story. 

I never travel with a suitcase. I travel with backpack only. The idea is to keep the hands free. If myself I cannot be free then I want to keep my hands free. It is said that our thoughts are free. I cannot keep free my thoughts all the time. I sometimes loose the control over them. Like now. The time after returning from Lanzarote became a very bad time for me. The worst since longer time.

But it will maybe turns out in something better. When we leave something, when we say “good bye” or “adios” to something, when we close a door behind us, another door could be opened for us. Or we close the door and fly on the window. Or we close the window and go out through the door. There are always several options.

We  are all traveling, because life is a journey. But most of us are just traveling without feeling / tasting the journey. Going from a point to another point. Straight. On the road, not through the oceans of lava. Focus on destination, not on the way to it. I have no idea which option is the right one. It does not exist "a right one" or "a better one".

I vague remember about a period in my life when I suddenly said to myself: “Is this the life? Why nobody said to me how the life is? I thought it is different ….” 

How old I was as I had this kind of revelation? Maybe 25? Maybe 27?

I just realized that as I was 16 I had different expectations somehow.  No idea why. Lack of information is one reason.

Nobody put in our hands a manual with “Living Life Instructions” or “Rules for Living the Life on Earth”.

Women jokes about men: “They should get some education about what women want” or “Men are delivered without instructions’ manual”. But the real stuff is that none of us have any idea about life and what life is meaning or IF the life has a meaning. And do not come to me with the feudal definition about “The meaning of life is to perpetuu the human race”. That is not a meaning. Call it how you want, how you like, but not the meaning.

I like traveling. If I could, I would pack my backpack and I would go.  Doing my journey inside the Life’s Journey.

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