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5 Unusual Reasons to Travel

7/27/2016

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  1. Accepting Invitations. One thing I've been practicing lately is having a more generous, inviting spirit. The flip side of that means accepting the invitations that others give me. If someone I like invites me to come visit them, and I'm in the position to do so, why shouldn't I? Having that spirit of invitation welcome you into a place completely changes your experience there, and certainly for the better. You feel invited. It is a holy feeling. It also gets you off the beaten path. We can always go to the commonly tread areas, but invitations are apt to take you to unexpected locales that defy any expectations you might have had. Plus you get to spend time with someone you like and perhaps haven't seen in ages. When I first began writing this months ago, I was in sunny Bucharest, Romania, for five weeks. I, as well as many others, were invited there for an event on April 1st, and I figured I'd take the opportunity to see more of the country. I got to thinking about what a great reason that is to travel- to have that powerful spirit of invitation when you arrive. That thought sparked the idea for this list of my somewhat unorthodox reasons for traveling. Which brings me to my second reason.
  2. Making memories. Really, we all do this anyway when we travel, we just don't admit it that often. But who are we if not our accumulated store of memories and experiences? (Well, the existentialists have something to say about that, but let's ignore them for now like I did my broken toe and hope it goes away. The brokenness, not the toe). Travel, once you find your own "style" (which mostly consists of understanding and making use of the world's worth of experiences outside of the international tourism industry), can be a powerful way to make memories and fun stories. You're more in the moment and less plugged in to electronic devices. If you're travelling with friends or to visit friends, you get the shared experience with someone you love. And if you're travelling alone, you're open to the adventure of a spontaneous connection. 
    Memories will be the only thing we'll have left when we're old, after all, so why not live in a way that maximizes them? And what is our personality, anyway, but a synthesis of all our memories and experiences on this earth? Eric Wilson points out in Keep it Fake that some moments and experiences do indeed feel more alive, more authentic, more true to us and our personal narrative. It's a question of the story we tell ourselves and the values we espouse in that telling. These are the moments that form our most cherished memories, and the memories we cherish inform who we are. We have found time and we have lost time. Thus the tourist snapping madly away at each new monument is in some way hoping that the externalized memory of the trip will make it more real, more alive for him.
    If our memories are what make us who we are, and some moments are more memorable (alive, important, narrative) than others, then perhaps it could be said that the more memories one has, or rather, the more memorable experiences, especially with friends and loved ones, the more one can be sure of their identity and place on this earth. The more they have chased what is important to them.
  3. Meet your heroes (pilgrimage?). For as long as people have been around, we've been making pilgrimages to visit holy sites. In the Europe of the Middle Ages, when travel was long, slow, and dangerous (anyone leaving home first made their will), hundreds of thousands or even millions each year still took the arduous paths leading to holy sites in Rome, Jerusalem, and Compostela. There is something fundamental about a pilgrimage that appeals to the human spirit: we set out in search of some ideal (the holiness of the Pope, Christ himself, a particular saint), undertake a difficult journey that changes who we are, culminating in a face-to-face meeting with the awesome power that inspired us to take the journey in the first place. As Gandalf told Bilbo in the movie adaption of The Hobbit: I can't guarantee that you'll come back, but I can guarantee that if you do return you won't be the same that left.
    Such a life-changing journey appeals to us because in the end, this is the only type of journey there is. It is a metaphor for life and death and the cycles of renewal that each person, family, and society undergoes on a regular basis. It is a chance for us to take our destiny in our own hands and shape ourselves anew, shedding off old narratives and embracing fresh stories. Ironically, that involves taking the ambiguity such a journey implies in stride. 
    One of the reasons I went to Bucharest was to meet a hero of mine. As it turned out, I not only met him at the conference but also had coffee with him several times, was invited to his home several times for parties, and the night before he left, he came to my going away party. I couldn't have imagined that he would be so... approachable and, well, normal. An interesting side effect is that I now see him as a real, flesh and blood human being rather than some unattainable guru. I got to see him in action, understand his personal journey, and integrate some of my learnings and see how to truly apply them and live them, as opposed to being purely intellectual concepts. If we're a synthesis of the people we spend our lives around, then seeking out our heroes in a modern pilgrimage becomes an imperative for us to step into our own, as paradoxical as that may seem. Ultimately, we don't learn from teachers- we model their behavior.
  4. Launch a business. There are tons of places where they make it as friendly as possible for foreigners to open businesses. Chile, for example, will pay you $50,000 to launch a startup there (though they've since made requirements more stringent due to many abuses of their generosity). I've heard that the Nicaraguan government offers grants to foreigners who start tourism-based businesses. And in many developing countries the most successful startups are the ones that have copied ideas or business models pioneered in the United States. What's to keep you from doing the same?
  5. Save money and simplify your life. Ironically enough, it can be much less expensive to travel that it would be to stay in your home city. The obvious solution here is to travel to a place where the cost of living is lower. Case in point: an apartment in the center of OKC costs upwards of $1,000. An apartment in the center of Bucharest, Romania, costs upwards of $300. And I can attest that Bucharest's Old City makes Oklahoma City's downtown look like a podunk village.
    Beyond that, there are myriad ways that travelling can be done in such a way that you spend less money than you would at home. Couchsurf instead of finding an apartment or a hostel, which is what I did in Bucharest. I stayed in a hostel for a grand total of five nights. Total cost for accomodations: $50. Travel costs can still be expensive, unless you're adventurous enough to try hitchhiking. Which, by the way, is a very common and a very safe thing to do in a place like Romania- though I can't speak from a woman's point of view. Plane tickets typically put the most hurt on the piggybank, but a whole subculture called Travel Hacking has emerged to take advantage of frequent flyer programs in conjunction with credit card signup bonuses- often anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 miles. I flew round-trip to Romania for $80 and 60,000 Delta miles- a great deal since Delta miles don't seem to go very far anyway except for very specific flights. And the great thing about exploring Europe is that budget flights abound on airlines like RyanAir. A good deal there means a baller on a budget can fly across Europe for $30 or so.
    As a traveler, you can't take much with you. It forces you to simplify and focus on what is essential.

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Top 5 Memories from a Wedding Trip to Japan

10/19/2015

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​I came back about two weeks ago after spending a week and half in Japan with my family. One of my sisters lives in Chiba, and she got married on the 4th! It was a beautiful ceremony.

We spent a week before the wedding touring around some of Japan's most famous sights. Because there were 22 of us (a lot of the bride and grooms friends came from the US for the wedding, too!) we rented a charter bus to take us around for the week before the wedding. My sister and her fiancée planned the trip to a tee, so the whole thing went incredibly smoothly. And even though I'd been to visit my sister in Japan for Christmas 2012, it seemed like most of what we saw was completely new.

All in all, it was an awesome trip that we all had a blast on. So thanks to my sister and her new husband, and I wish them the best on their new life together! And in honor of the excellent trip they organized, here are my top five memories from the whole thing.

1. ​Fuji Sengen Shrine.

 A 600-year-old Shinto shrine a short drive away from Fuji-san itself. Of all the temples and shrines we visited on the trip, this was definitely my favorite. It's not crowded like the Meiji temple (located in the heart of Tokyo) or Toshogu (a world heritage site), so I could enjoy the tranquility of the space more. And is it tranquil! To get to it, you pass under the first Shinto gateway and onto a long, unpaved footpath through a forest of Japanese cedars, flanked by mossy stone lanterns. The walk there seems to quiet the mind and prepare the spirit for the shrine itself. At the end of the footpath, a bridge takes you gently over a brook that flows so smoothly that it whispers rather than babbles. It is the perfect transition into the shrine complex itself, which seems so much at ease and in rapport with the forest and the stream that it would be hard to imagine one without the other. By the time you reach it, you're now attuned to the spirituality and majesty designed into the shrine. I'd say it is hard to visit the shrine and not feel spiritually cleansed afterwards. Traditional Japanese architecture and landscaping was truly genius in this respect.
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A thousand year old tree in the shrine.

2. Traditional Japanese inn and hot springs on the Angry Ogre River

​About halfway through the trip we stayed for a night at an inn on the Kinugawa, or Angry Ogre, river. The place was both a traditional Japanese inn and a hot springs bath. It was an incredibly pleasant experience because, besides being relaxing, the whole thing was very immersive. The rooms don't have any Western-style furniture. Instead, guests sit on the floor on low tables and sleep on futons. They brought us Japanese-style robes to wear while we were at the inn . My sister told me what they were called, but I forgot to write down the names. Anyway, once we got checked in, we headed down to the hot springs baths. This being a Japanese hot springs, that meant segregated baths for men and women, as they can only be used while naked. Once you get used to it, it's pretty awesome- especially the views over the Angry Ogre river. When we arrived, it had just started to sprinkle, so we chose the outdoor bath over the indoor one. The softly cascading rain made a comfortable contrast to the hot springs.
After drying off and changing back into our robes, it was time for dinner, again in a very traditionally Japanese fashion. That meant again sitting on the floor as they brought out tray after tray of food: all kinds of raw fish, fermented vegetables, soups, and rice. Many in the group were turned off by how "weird" (to us) most of the food was, but this was easily my favorite meal because of the whole experience that went into it. All said, I could have easily spent a week at that place!
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A painting of the "Angry Ogre" on the steps of a bridge just outside our inn.

3. Singing karaoke in Chiba

​This was the closest thing the groom got to a bachelor's party. Basically, all the guys went one night to sing Karaoke at an all-you-can-drink karaoke place. Unlike in the US, in Japan you rent a private room by the hour or half-hour for your party and they bring whatever snacks and drinks you order directly to you. And since it was all-you-can-drink, we kept the drinks coming. I lost count of how many rounds we ordered, but even without them we would have had a great time. The groom's friends visiting from the US, five guys in all, were old friends and had no problem letting go and just having a good time- one of the good things about having a private room! That set the mood for the whole night, and soon we were all dancing, crooning out lyrics, and laughing hysterically.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel around midnight, but somehow me and one of my brother-in-laws wound up at a late night Ramen restaurant just around the corner, where we had a surprisingly deep conversation about the meaning of life. I say that given how much we drank, to anyone who understood English at the restaurant we must have been pretty funny. He and I laughed about it the next morning (me with a horrendous hangover). But you know what? Our Ramen Shop Philosophizing was a great way to end the night.
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This has nothing to do with Karaoke, we just all thought it was hilarious

4. Nikko Edo Wonderland park

Nikko Edo is a theme park made to look like a 17th century Japanese village. Though the park was aimed at kids, we still had a good time here! We went the day after the Inn & Hot Springs, and the weather was perfect: sunny, warm and breezy.
I liked it because of how interactive it was. We learned the basics of katana fighting, archery, shuriken-throwing, and even dueled with "samurai" in the streets. A couple of the girls in our party dressed up in Kimonos, and a few of us guys went on a ninja-training obstacle course that we failed miserably at.
It was also fun for me because I was finishing up Shogun, the book by James Clavell set in early 17th Century Japan. So I could actually walk through a "17th Century village"- in theme park form, granted, but fun and enjoyable nonetheless.
Since I mentioned Shogun- I started reading on the airplane to Japan and I'd say it made the whole trip more enjoyable. Besides being an excellent book in its own right, it also gave a lot of insight into the history of Japan and where modern Japanese culture evolved from. Highly recommended read, especially if you're planning on visiting Japan!
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A beautifully carved and painted entranceway at Toshogu World Heritage Site. No pictures from Nikko Edo, unfortunately.

5. The wedding itself!

I'm running out of sisters to watch get married off. Plus, there's something about seeing a sister (or any loved one, for that matter) walking down the aisle that just makes the tears flow.
It was a Western-style wedding, which apparently are very popular in Japan, held at a place called Camelot Hills in Omiya. The place tries to be a replica of an old manor-house, which a decently large chapel inside for the actual wedding ceremony. I'm not sure how faithful of a replica it is, but it was a beautiful venue.
The wedding process, based on what my sister described, is very straightforward in Japan: you pay a lot of money to a place like Camelot Hills, and they basically take care of everything for you. For example, Camelot Hills took care of the catering, DJ and MC, photography and videography, the minister, set-up and clean-up, and more. They helped my sister find translators to interpret during the reception and after-party (the ceremony itself was only in English). It was the job of one staff member to follow my sister around the whole night and constantly fix her makeup, redo her hair, and adjust her dress for photos. They had shuttle buses going to-and-from Omiya, right near our hotel, to make it easy to get there.
All in all, I was impressed with how smooth the venue made the whole thing- Except for having a shuttle bus drive off at the end of the night with all my things on board! But to their credit, the venue was great about arranging to have the bus drop them back off to me.
One last thing worth mentioning that was fantastic about my sister's wedding- the desert bar they had at the afterparty. Besides having a station where guests could make smores (the bride and groom met at a bonfire in Oklahoma), they had a mouthwatering array of sweets that made me feel like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory- on top of the wedding cake, by the way.
My favorite? A chocolate mousse topped with strawberry sauce, covered in gold flakes (yes, real gold) with a stick of chocolate stuck in the top. The thought that I was eating real gold made the dish taste even more decadent.
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Not my sister's wedding, but a traditional Japanese ceremony at the Meiji shrine
Thanks again to my sister and her new husband for the amazing time we all had!

Dillon Dakota Carroll
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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    ...sees much and knows much
    DILLON DAKOTA CARROLL

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