TNT on the Road: Why we're traveling?
- Tomasz
- Feb 9, 2017
- 5 min read
Here we are, with one-way tickets to Bogota in our hands, a little nervous but really excited for this new adventure. During the last few months we made list upon list of all the things we needed on the road, just to find the volume of our “absolute necessities” growing smaller and smaller as we realized that not everything was going to fit into our backpacks. We don’t have an exact itinerary but we don’t worry, we’ll figure it out on the way. We are about to set out on a new adventure, but before, we want to tell you how we got here and what exactly we want this trip to be about.
The idea to set out on a long-term trip was always there, but the endless deadlines of our jobs and studies kept making it impossible. Almost a year ago we moved together to Panama City. We both worked doing what we wanted to do, but we also worked too much. The little free time that we had was not enough to satisfy our desire to develop our interests outside of work. There were many things we still wanted to explore, many things we wanted to learn, many things we wanted to try, many books we wanted to read, and many places we wanted to go to. But as the situation stood, we were only dreaming and talking about it, while having a hard time just getting enough of our main hobbies -yoga, rock climbing, and dancing. We were running through our lives, like most people do, achieving little everyday challenges, filling our days with little satisfactions. We were not unhappy, but we wanted to take a break. We wanted to have more time, not to relax, but to focus on ourselves, as individuals and as a couple. As we were about to start our journey, we came up with a list of our goals and objectives. Here is what we would like this experience to be about:
Stay lightweight
Everything needs to fit into our backpacks, and we need to be able to hike with them. We want to be prepared for tropical temperatures and for snow-covered, windy mountains. We want to be independent – camp anywhere and prepare our meals on a portable gas cooker. We also want to do all the sports and activities we like, and those require equipment. Rock climbing gear, jogging shoes, dance heels and yoga mats were a must. Snorkeling equipment stayed home, along with heavy beach towels and fancy clothes. Carrying all your belongings on your shoulders helps you develop quite a healthy attitude. Instead of wondering how to get more, you're wondering how to have less.
Keep it cheap
Our goal is to live for less than 10$ a day – including accommodation, food and transport. We track our personal expenses on the Spending app and use Splitwise for shared expenses. We'll let you know how it goes. One reason for this goal is our limited budget, but there is more to it. We want to live more like locals, (the minimum salary in Colombia is 235$ a month) eat like locals, travel like locals and party like locals. We don't want to pay for our accommodation with money, but rather with a smile (couchsurfing/friends), work (volunteer programs) or inconvenience (wild camping).
Focus on people
The statement that „traveling is not about places you go to, but about people you meet on the way” is neither new nor original, but we still find it true and powerful. Every place has its incredible stories, but it takes a storyteller to unravel them for you. We have no delusion that one country's history told by someone who lived it will have an incomparably greater impact on us than a factual wikipedia site. It's people that can give you energy and inspiration, so we're gonna meet them, talk to them and encourage them to tell us their stories.
Develop & share our hobbies
If doing what you love makes you feel alive, why don't you spend more time doing it? We are going to take advantage of all the extra time we have to develop our hobbies. We want to practice yoga everyday and get better at acroyoga. We also plan to introduce one another to our personal interests, which means I will discover the world of salsa dancing with Talia, and she will conquer her fear of heights while rock-climbing alongside me.
Improving our Partnership
Partnership is not something that simply works or doesn't work. You need to put some effort into it. Our goal is to try to improve our relationship every day. We both like to be in control and need to learn how to find a common ground even if we disagree on some points. We both tend to „know better” and need be less competitive about who's right and who's wrong. As for me, I am more of an introvert and want to get better at expressing my feelings and emotions. On the other hand, Talia is learning that I need my space sometimes. We'll try to listen to each other more, say more (not necessarily talk more), and express more understanding and positivity and less irony and sarcasm towards each other.
Learn new things
There is nothing more exciting than learning new things. During this journey, we are looking forward to picking up some new skills. You probably know some people who say „I always wanted to do that” as an excuse for actually not doing something. Well, we don't want to be those people. To start with, I chose to get into photography and will try to provide you with some good quality pictures taken with my new Fujifilm X-E2s. Talia plans to learn calligraphy and my mother tongue, Polish. We'll keep an eye on the culinary novelties and share our favorites with you. We'll be open to new opportunities of trying out scuba diving, paragliding, meditation, sailing or surfing. Whatever comes, we'll stay curious and keep our brains stimulated and busy.
Connect with nature
During our jouney, we would like to wander off the beaten path and deepen our relationship with nature. It means more to us than just taking a gulp of fresh air into our lungs. It means getting a fresh perspective on the human-nature bond, which, nowadays, seems to be quite unbalanced and far from a sustainable 'give and take' type of relationship. To achieve this goal, we plan to do some hiking in remote regions, volunteer at an animal refugee center in Cali, Colombia and spend some time at an eco-yoga farm in Ecuador.
Read & write
In the past, we both used to read and write for ourselves. Then we got too busy to keep up with it just for leisure. Instead, we would read and write for university or for work. Having neglected our interest in literature and writing for too long, we now plan to bring them back into our lives.
Following our guts
Having no exact plans may sound problematic, but it may have lots of advantages too. With no booked flights or hostels, we can easily decide to stay longer in a place that we truly enjoy, or tactically evacuate from a place we don't have a good feeling about. We'll trust in our instincts and sometimes get lost to find something more valuable. We'll keep close to nice and interesting people, and stay away from the unfriendly and suspicious ones. Just like our grandparents tought us.
Everyone has their own reasons for being on the road, but as far as we know, travelling is always a mind-opening and enriching experience. After reading this article you know better the tnt will be about, and if you'd like to take this journey with us, stay on board!
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