I have to thank my good friend Eileen for inspiring today’s post. I was struggling with what I wanted to write about when a Twitter message from her popped up on my phone. She wrote: “Viajar nunca e uma questão de dinheiro, mas de coragem”. Translation: Travel is never a question of money, but of courage. This quote comes from Paulo Coelho in his book O Aleph (which Eileen is reading in Portuguese because she’s just dope like that).
Reading that quote got me thinking…I love what it says, but is it really accurate? If you didn’t have a penny to your name, would you still be able to go see the world (or even the next city over) fueled by your courage alone? It is doubtful that you can walk up to the Virgin Atlantic counter and secure a flight to Europe with nothing but a smile, but if you have the courage to get out there, you just might figure out another way to do it. Having courage allows (or maybe forces) you to be creative. Maybe you would choose to fly as a courier transporting someone else’s belongings in exchange for a plane ticket. Or maybe find a volunteer job overseas that would cover the cost of your transport to that country. I think of that scene from “Titanic” (Cheesy…Yes! I know.) where Jack, with barely a pence in his pocket, wins a card game which gets him a ticket to board a fancy (although doomed) ocean liner. If he sat at home and thought I have no money to go out and travel so I’m not even going to try, he’d still be, well… alive, but with a lot less adventure in his life (and isn’t that what life is about?).
But, I think Paulo Coelho’s quote really applies to those of us in the middle. People who have at least some money and who are able to decide how to spend it. My friend Pam just asked me if I’m planning to come visit her in London this fall. My response is that I’d like nothing more than to plan for a little trip to the UK, but that I don’t have the money to do so right now. The truth is I DO have the money (and some Frequent Flyer points) but I have chosen to use it in different ways. Like paying rent, or bills or eating out with friends. As passionate as I am about travel, I really could make up my mind to sell my things on Craig’s List, give up my apartment and use my rent money to buy a plane ticket. And that is just to get to my destination of choice. Once there, I’d have to figure out ways to pay for transportation, food, clothes and rent in my new city. Would I take a job, rely on the kindness of strangers or perhaps rob and steal to get what I needed or wanted?
If travel is something you really want to do, you CAN do it. You just have to make up your mind that things will have to be different and that you may have to let go of your current lifestyle. And that, as Mr. Coelho says, takes courage.
How about you? Any experiences where you did not let minor inconveniences like money stop you from taking a trip? What gave you the courage to get out there and do it?
