Saturday, January 12, 2008

Travel as nourishment for the soul

Our planet has a lot to teach the intrepid traveler and we hope to complete this journey with a better sense of ourselves and our place in the world. We are a husband and wife team that has resolved to broaden our boundries and open our hearts to new possibilities.

Traveling is native to our most primal instincts, harking back to the nomadic movements of our ancestors. In its modern incarnation, the idea of traveling as an education is not a unique concept either. Sociology loosely ties educational travel with a movement that started in the 1960s called 'GAP year.' (I'll explore the concept of GAP year in subsequent posts).

Our idea began with a lingering urge to depart from daily routine and step into a world of travel, adventure, and continuing education.

The objective is to harvest the wisdom and experience the richness that comes from exploring the world around us. While traditional education primarily helps you get a job... and we already have (had) regular careers... our need is derived from intellectual curiousity, genuine passion and a grit for far away places.

I've held on to a lasting conviction that there's no greater or more humbling experience than visiting foreign lands and remote villages, learning about the local culture and leaving something of yourself behind with the people you meet along the way. The smells and sights of new destinations always unfolds into an odessy of hightened senses. Each point on the map is a mini-adventure waiting to be explored. Exploration makes life more vibrant and meaningful. Each new experience presents us with an endless array of ideas and topics to describe and analyze. As long as the eyes can see, the legs can walk and the mind can think, there's always something to discover and share for the curious soul...

I'm lucky that I've already had a chance to see the world a bit, and that I found such a willing partner in Nadia, who shares the same curiousity and passion to explore as I do. And so this idea was born. And now we are attempting to shape our lives around making it a reality. Lets see if we can make it happen?!

Here's a link to the places I've visited: click here

There's a great deal more to this planet left to explore. I can't wait to retrace and share some of these same places with Nadia. I have very fond memories of each unique destination.

This is our travel log.

-Vadim

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