Warming motors, ready for takeoff, but first FAQ

Once again, stuff is almost packed and adventure knocks impatiently on the hard wooded comfort door. She’s the mistress of my own unconscious and fuel for scary new possibilities. Adventure and thirst for the unknown are tattooed deep at the core of my soul.

To some, this lifestyle is playing Russian Roulette, to other it feels like Sindbad’s but most of us are struggling with current worries, fighting for a breath of authenticity while numbing the senses with new unknown marketed needs. This is my way of resurfacing reality and getting in touch with our mother earth, spirits, angels, gods, aliens or whatever name it feels comfortable within your view of reality.

1.     Since, some of you have asked, the authentic reason for all these exploring takeoffs is simply … that I’m bored out of my mind with my becoming self. I want to live, feel and live the life that I dared to imagine as a kid.

2.     Since, others have asked, here’s the main map for the next months:

Leaving for Trinidad and Tobago on the 2nd of February where I’ll surf a couch. Taking a ferry 2 days later to Guiria (Venezuela) and a bus to Carupano.

That’s where fog sets in and through the clouds I can see the tallest falls of the world where Angels fall 1km into the wild Venezuelan jungle. 

There might be enough temptation to grow my own wings and bungee into the wildness. Next stop should be Boa Vista, followed by Guyana, Suriname (if the paperwork allows it), French Guyana, Paraguay, Joaricoacoara, Recife and maybe crossing the Amazon on boats all the way to Iquitos (Peru) for another session of Ayahuaska soul gazing.

3.     Another previous asked question concerns more realistic goals and since speaking more languages seems to be a "owned at birth" gift, here's the answer in "civilized" wording:

The main goals of this trip are to shred the numbing comfort zone, change, grow and explore this life. Planning on learning a new language (Portuguese), finding new ways, possibly developing a business, integrate a community (and giving back by teaching, helping around).

Everything else is about partying, surfing and chilling in cool spots.

4.     One last recurrent question concerns fear of abandoning the "tribe" or safety of the known. How do you finance your travels?

To which, there's no answer that will put enough weight in the balance to take action now. As most life coaches and other life philosophers might repeat, "if you're trying something, you're not doing it" because "show me someone who tries X and I'll show you someone who doesn't X"

I’ve seen people travelling for over 40 years. I’ve seen underage students travel for months. I’ve seen older men, older women and couples enjoying the joys of the unknown, building new possibilities together. I’ve seen crippled, mentally challenged and even one blind man exploring the world. There are full communities of people doing seasonal work, building bonds and living. Everything is possible, but there will always be good blocking reasons and in the end it doesn’t really matter (does it?). We will justify our choices until we die and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do the same here.

Just to satisfy curiosities, the answer to the question is that I try to keep my budget under 2000CAD per month, including planes, boats, rent, food and of course parties.

The greatest part of these trips is that I can actually discover things that I haven’t even imagined possible. You’re welcome to join me and I’m always looking for constructive (when possible) feedback and help in any ways.

Wish me luck and in exchange I wish you happiness and fulfilment with your own life

Freedom boundaries...GET OUT OF THE BOX

The New Year is still fresh in the present's basket of goodies.

Seven months have passed since the last crazy takeoff around my roots(Europe) and the smell of adventure is slowly making its way in the present again. The glassy frozen outdoors hide an inner beauty that will be flourishing when I get back. This month will race, where the consciousness of now will be bullied by all the imagined future possibilities. I'll try to keep words flowing on this blog as long as it doesn't restrain my hippie-surfer-adventurer life.

What I absolutely love about these travels is that every time I leave, it's a brand new beginning with brand new possibilities and new cool present fun people, because most of us(or at least me) are trapped in a hurricane of worries and "must do" that don't necessary take us in the direction we've dreamed of. It's refreshing to leave with a blank slate.

The subject of today is about reality and freedom.

Imagine how restrained your view would be if you'd sit in a closed box with only 2 tiny holes to explore the world around you. It's what really happens; our whole conception of the world is what we have through our 5 senses and our brain is a perfect "filling in" machine that justifies our choices.

One of the main problems with connecting boxes is that we use a limited language to explain the mental image we have in our virtual world. That virtual image will get distorted twice in the process of communication. Think of this phenomenon next time you're listening to a profound speech or reading a great book, because the image forming inside the walls of your box is probably not be the same as the one the author had in his box.

To recap, we exist in a box. We interact with the outside through our 5 senses and like a camera, we form our own internal virtual world based on our perception of reality. We communicate those inner images through a finite language leaving empty parts that are filled in by the brain.

It's also important to be aware that there are things we know, things we know we don't know, but most important of all that there's a full spectrum of things we don't know that we don't know. Let's get back to the second type: you know that you don't know yet, so it's plausible to learn it, but the third type concerns stuff that is in your blind spot. The cool thing is realizing that outside that box, there's an infinite world of possibilities that we haven't even considered since it's outside the box.

Personally, but I tend to run away from being alone, it's as if I'm in contact with an inner void when I'm alone without anything to do. I can clearly feel anxiety bubbling up to the surface and I try to distract myself from it at all costs. Facing myself has been a postponed activity for the longest time and my next step is to meet this void face to face…maybe even have a chat to see how we can take advantage of each other…of myself.

How do you relate to this? Do you also spend huge amounts of time discussing principles, opinions and values that we'd like to respect? Have you ever had a disagreement with someone just because you felt the other person's tone of voice was challenging?

Isn't it possible to find pros and against arguments for anything in life, enough to write books about and have scientific thesis support our version of the truth? Our world was scientifically square at some point in history. We're in a box and we tend to distort everything we perceive through our 5 senses in order to fit our inner reality. On top, we fill the blanks and once the inner decision is made, we stick to it: religion, politics, etc…

If you stop and think, you're in a matrix that will keep rolling with or without your implication and agreement. Freedom is to understand where the holes in your box are and what comes in. There's no wrong way to live, inside or outside the box. There's no problem with arguing, worrying or justifying as long as you do it conscious of the implications.

Realizing that we hold on to the past, because it's comforting. Understanding that we keep unfulfilling jobs just because we're afraid to take risks and go after what we want, mostly because we're afraid of what's outside the box. Opening our eyes to repeating patterns of evading the current moment through unjustified feelings (worry, sadness, angry, pity) or self-numbing (drugs, parties, workaholic, videogames, etc.).

In the end, there's only the now and the ACTIONS, YOU take now. Everything is else is fears and justifications that we make up to cloud the holes in our box.

Have you ever tried to do something? Did you succeed? Show me someone who's trying something and I'll show you someone who's not doing that something. Take action, stop having recurring conversations about how to do it and just do it, NOW.

In the end, life goes on, with or without you, so find yourself, find your wants, assume it and take the necessary steps towards your goals. If it fails, nobody will stand for you, because it's your own responsibility to direct YOUR box.

Set you free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bek1y2uiQGA

All comments are welcome of course,

Alex, Life Explorer