Conquerors of the Useless
"The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask."
In the year 2020, I had intended to go to Patagonia.
Due to a variety of circumstances, I ended up switching out that plan for Ecuador. That's how I ended up spending a month there. Looking back, that seems like such a short amount of time. I've been thinking a lot about my plans going forward, and I've mentioned before that I know I want to spend longer amounts of time in places. Many countries will give you up to 90 days, so I plan to take advantage of those longer visas. It's a more practical approach to travel.
I don't usually share my travel plans, but I've been putting a lot of thought into them lately. If I travel in 2024, I plan to only travel the Americas so that I have adequate amounts of time to spend. This year I hope to reach my original intended destination from 2020. Back then, I was motivated by wanting to drop off the face of the earth. I felt Patagonia was the prime candidate for what I was looking for at the time. As it turned out, Quito and Banos, Ecuador was much more of what I needed during that time. I met a lot of great people, and the trip was healing.
I know I'll be happier once I do make it to Chile, able to take it all in without coming from a place of escapism- as opposed to my original plan. I hope to see some friends in Quito and Rio de Janeiro while I'm back in South America. I'm planning to spend a month in Santiago, Chile. If I enjoy it there, I may stay longer and make smaller trips to the other destinations. I'm erring on the side of enjoying it there.
Having a home base makes things a lot easier, but that comes down to whether it also makes sense financially. There's a lot of camping and hiking I'd like to do around there, especially the Torres del Paine and Atacama Desert. I'd love to surf the Concon Dunes.
I speak loosely about these plans because I think there will be many changes throughout the 2024 year. My most solid plan is to be flexible and without expectations. I've been using one of my Trello boards for travel research and ideas, so it's there if I need it. I'll join some Facebook groups to get a feel on the locale until it is time to go.
It's felt strange being in the United States so long this year. It's probably strange that I say that considering I didn't really even start traveling until 2019, but that became my normal. It felt really natural to me. It just seems like what I'm supposed to do. It's challenging, but every day feels like the best day of my life. Some people find out it's not for them. At least not full time travel, and I can totally understand why.
I am a wild thing who blooms among the wild things. And there is just so much aliveness to experience.
Currently inspired by
Thinking back to the film 180 degrees South which is free to watch here (also has a fine soundtrack)
This post originally written at 7:00 AM Jan 31. I've scheduled it to go out later, but I just wanted to say I'm proud of myself for writing again this morning:-)
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