International Arm Chair Travel - Living the Dream Vicariously

Across the Americas, around the world, continuous motion, living, and learning through travel. Ongoing movement is tantalizing - and it can be informative and liberating. Pico Iyer captures it beautifully in Why We Travel:


So travel, at heart, is just a quick way to keeping our minds mobile and awake. As Santayana, the heir to Emerson and Thoreau with whom I began, wrote, “There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar; it keeps the mind nimble; it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor.” Romantic poets inaugurated an era of travel because they were the great apostles of open eyes. Buddhist monks are often vagabonds, in part because they believe in wakefulness. And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed.  


I've had the good fortune to meet with and learn from many, many continuous travelers over the past decade. Some of these individuals keep great websites, tweet regularly, and stay up to date on their storytelling via photos and video. I'm going to share a few favorites here, and would love to hear about others engaged in ceaseless international travel, which so many people do rightfully feel is part of building peace by pieces (when done conscientiously and considerately).

I have to begin with two wonderful individuals I bumped into first in Cochabamba, Bolivia and later in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (randomly, and yes, that's amazing). They are Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott, a traveling couple who continue to post at UncorneredMarket.com. They proclaim themselves driven by curiosity and guided by respect - and they're currently in Iran!

Dan and Audrey have developed substantial engaging content in their last 1800 days on the road. Check them out. 

Additionally, you likely have seen this video (Where the Hell is Matt?) below many times already, but it must be mentioned in this blog post. And YouTube only records 40 million+ views of it, so many more billions have yet to see it. Take a quick, inspiring look: 

And in this adventurous spirit, a few guys from Australia made three very short and compelling (1 minute each) films. Move: 

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Learn:

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

And Eat:

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Please let me know if you have any favorites of this kind (please share!), please remember Amizade is a great way to engage in ethical short-term international volunteering and service, and please - through videos, books,  blogs, or going yourself - keep finding ways to live your dreams!