Category Archives: Travel

Children of no Nationality

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One of things I love about traveling is the people you meet. There are amazing people you will meet while traveling.

It’s so profound I’d call it magic; while traveling freely you’ll meet people whose very presence uplifts your entire worldview, as if their every breath is a bizarre mix of inspiration and inexhaustible bliss. People without judgments, without comparisons to this or that, just fellow humans who let go of all that silliness.

And it’s not necessarily other travelers, in fact, it really has nothing to do with travelers– it’s people (traveling or not) who are not on destination. They have no place to go except where they stand, and as such you are neither helping nor inhibiting them– there is only a simple curiosity and a spirit of exploration beyond the known.

And I don’t mean a select few amazing people, I mean hundreds, as many as you have the time and effort to meet– they’re out there.

Let yourself go into the world, truly lose yourself, and in losing yourself you’ll find an entire underground of these vagabonds, wanderers, children of no nationality — you’ll be welcomed like family; as you are, in every way metaphoric and literal (in the
grandest sense of life on earth), family.

The word is…

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Is there a word for absolute and rapturous freedom?

Imagine:
No debt, no obligations
Nothing pinning you down
No promises to fulfil and no deadlines pending
No todo list haunting your sleep
And no ego, not even a ‘you’ to be burdened

Is there a word for such unconstrained freedom?

Travel, Set Yourself Free

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IMG_3741I meet many people who want to travel. People who express a profound desire to travel, yet remain in one place; trapped by a myriad of excuses– I wish I could do that.

Almost every traveler will respond– you can!

For every excuse I have heard– children, money, job, school, visas– I have met travelers who overcame your excuse. I have met entire families traveling through the roughest parts of southeast Asia; I have met students traveling happily on laughably low budgets; and of course we all share absurd stories about immigration and visas.

There are travelers from all walks of life and aptitudes– from the timid to the brave, young to old, smart to stupid– all of them with a different reason to be traveling and yet unequivocally understood by other travelers.

There is nothing exceptional to traveling– so many people from so many backgrounds are doing it. You are an exceptional person, but not because you are traveling. That pretense is something you encounter with people who are *about* to travel; it feels to them like an extraordinary event, so they start blogs and tweet everytime they take a crap abroad. Good for them, fortunately for everyone else, that feeling wears off quickly.

Don’t be fooled into thinking traveling the world is extraordinary, that sets an artificial barrier for yourself to experience your own travels– which, ironically, will unlock the extraordinary in yourself.

Traveling is more a lifestyle choice than an extraordinary event– releasing yourself from the delusion that you need to stay in one place. You don’t, you can go anywhere you have the will and the want.

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Once you embark on a travel lifestyle you’ll start to simplify. You’ve heard it from many travelers, you’ve heard it from Thoreau– simplify. This is an amazing and addictive side-effect to traveling. What do you really need? — you’ll find out — and you’ll feel freer and happier with every burden you release.

Zen

Embrace a travel lifestyle and you may get to that enlightened state where you realize you don’t need anything. Your luggage shrinks and shrinks until you’re not carrying a thing. You are experiencing life. Life is simple, and traveling in life will teach you this simplicity.

If extraordinary things happen while traveling, it is due to this: the simplicity achieved and the burdens released have freed your time and lifted your soul– the bliss of being is in your every breath. There are no obligations and no artificial responsibilities and no delusional burdens, just existence at its most pure and rapturous state.

Why are you traveling?

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On the road you meet lots of people, other travelers–
Some wandering, some drifting, others on destination, rarely on itinerary
Some are out to save the world– only to learn that the world is in no need of saving
Find yourself, lose yourself, eventually you realize those are the same things
Getting away from the ‘real world’ only to discover the real world
And a life free from regrets

Silent Meditation at Suan Mokkh

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suanmokkhTen days of silent meditation at Wat Suan Mokkh in southern Thailand; at the mercy of the mosquitoes and alone in your thoughts.

The monks give daily Damma talks on Anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing). They speak of dukkha (suffering), and the cessation of dukkha.

Most of the time you sit silently and meditate. Actually, everything is silent, there is no talking.

Daily Life

You sleep on a concrete slab with a straw mat and a wooden pillow. The monastery bell rings at 4am, you arise and walk to the meditation hall for sitting meditation.

Yoga, and then more meditation before 8am for a breakfast of rice soup.

And then chores, I swept one of the meditation halls. Afterwards the bell rings and back to sitting meditation, followed by walking meditation. Eventually lunch, the last meal of the day.

In the afternoon one of the monks gives a Damma talk. Afterwards walking meditation, and then sitting meditation. And then you either continue sitting or join in on chanting (in Pali)– chanting is a nice way to exercise your vocal chords and break up the silence.

Late afternoon there is tea and free time to sit in the hot springs. As the sun sets the bell rings and you walk to the meditation hall for (you guessed it) sitting meditation. Then group walking meditation, walking barefoot in the dark, mindfully so as not to step on any centipedes, scorpions or snakes. A candle-lit path around a pond, stars above.

Silence

nibbana
In the silence the pace slows, day by day people are walking slower and slower, you move at the pace of life and the nature to which you are apart.

Your mind may race in the silence, all notions of self and ego fight to maintain their place in your mind, the monks tell you these are illusions– and anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) brings these illusions to your awareness.

“I” and “My”

Everyone seems to get something different from this experience. Confronting your self in the silence, you may or may not like what you find.

Dig deep enough and you find the illusion of self, that “I” and “my” are delusions.

There are many sides to who you think you are, many even conflict with each other, which one is the real you?

Question your possessions, relationships, memories, personality, body, and even the mind itself — all of these things change (dramatically) during the course of a single human life; which one is the real you? Or are you the very process that witnesses the continuous change of life? If you peel off the layers one-by-one there’s little left.

I thought, perhaps there’s a self in each moment, dying and reborn continuously as we experience life. Question even this, and peel this off as yet another delusional layer of ego– eventually there is no more ego (“I” or “my”) to question.

Ego-less existence feels like a dream when you know you are dreaming. Content, beautiful, blissful freedom.

Free from craving
Free from suffering
Free to crave
Free to suffer.

Immigration, Visas, …

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lock… and the decaying remnants of a European colonial world-view.

I have a lot of incoherent and often contradictory thoughts on the topic of immigration, visas, and passport control.

I’m hoping that one day I’ll land a clear and concise view on the topic.

In the meantime, I’m finding it harder and harder to understand the reason for the continuation of visas and passport control.

We share one world

First, a simple perspective. Communication and access to information happens at the speed of light. Goods and services are available to international audiences. You can pick up a phone and talk to your friend on the other side of the earth.

It is right in front of your face, we are one people sharing the same earth.

And yet, if one person wants to physically go to the other side of the earth to continue a conversation started via phone or Internet, they will hit a border of passport control and immigration, a centuries old concept better suited for feudal kingdoms than our modern world.

By sheer luck of where you were born, this one variable will determine where you can travel and where you can do business in-person.

It’s stupid, unethical, and racist

Restricting the physical presence of certain individual based not on merit but right of birth, is plainly stupid.

Most of our current political borders are the direct remnants of centuries old European colonial borders– this is even more stupid.

In a sense, where you can travel or work in this modern age is directly determined by where you were born according to mostly arbitrary lines drawn by crusty old white guys 200-600 years ago. I apologize for being dismissive of important historical events and the many natural cultural borders, but we are enforcing centuries old policies in a world where they clearly no longer apply.

Being forced against your will to stay in the area of your birth, is ostensibly unethical. And yet this happens every day with varying degrees of restrictions — and the type of restrictions, ranging from absolute to silly paperwork, are also based on where you happen to be born.

Realpolitik

I understand there are practical realities of why things are the way they are– and yet, I can’t help but to think this is a non-sustainable practice that in our lifetimes will be reduced to lame bureaucracy and then further reduced to nothing.

Corporations are quick to exploit human labor and slowly erode this outdated notion– hiring migrant workers from less wealthy countries is hardly a new concept. But I have to ask, why is this acceptable while freely traveling is not?

I suspect our future world-view will look back on passport control and visas with the same kind of embarrassed disdain that we currently reserve for imperialistic colonialism or manifest destiny.

I imagine a day where all humans are free to travel and free to work where they have the will and the want. Where people can move as freely as ideas– and human rights and dignity apply to all humans, regardless of where you happen to be born.

Bank of America, Hopes and Dreams

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On December 24, 2009 a charge for $4.97 was posted to my Bank of America checking account from “Hopes and Dreams”.

I did not make this charge. The transaction noted a telephone number, 478-394-4395, and a Google search revealed many other people were also struck with an unauthorized charge for $4.97 from “Hopes and Dreams”.

hmm, charge a small amount of money from many cards under the guise of a charity… genius!

I guess my Bank of America check card has been compromised. And apparently I am not alone.

This was troublesome as I am traveling. I do have a backup card from a different bank. The backup card occasionally wouldn’t work where the BofA card would. I found that the combination of a Visa and a Mastercard from separate banks is very useful while traveling in the world. I decided to live with the risk and keep the BofA card active until the issue is resolved. I thought it would be resolved quickly.

I emailed BofA, the response was that I need to call the customer service number to dispute the charge. Making an international phone call during California business hours while traveling (I was in Japan at the time) is not an easy thing to do. This fact didn’t seem to register in the emails. Also, opening an investigation is impossible, the only recourse is to dispute the charge and cancel the card. Canceling the card while I’m traveling and having them mail a new card is less easy than making the international phone call during California business hours.

In the past couple of months I’ve made numerous attempts to call Bank of America and get this resolved. Usually I was put on hold and then disconnected. Separately, they did freeze my card as soon as I arrived in the Philippines. Using your card in the Philippines counts as “suspicious” to Bank of America (Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are ok, sorry Philippines). Apparently the multiple emails I have sent explaining that I am traveling were never read (or at least, never read by the right department). I was able to get through to the Bank of America Checkcard Security department from the phone number on the alert they sent me (about suspending my card). I reported the unauthorized account activity from “Hopes and Dreams” and they told me they couldn’t do anything about that, and that I need to call the customer service number during regular business hours (i.e., California business hours).

Interesting, Bank of America Checkcard Security department does not handle the security of your checkcard. They do monitor your account and freeze your card if you travel to the Philippines. They do not have an email. If your card is compromised they cannot do anything; you must call customer service during regular banking hours.

It has been two months and three countries after “Hopes and Dreams” posted an unauthorized debit on my card. Today, I was able to call Bank of America customer service and file a claim. The trick was to keep calling back after being disconnected by the first round of customer service agents. You’ll need to survive four separate transfers, none of which know your account number and will continually ask for your social security number, drivers license number, and other highly sensitive (and personally identifiable) information that they were never supposed to ask me over the telephone (I signed up for some security measure where a password and ID number would be used instead of personally identifiable information).

One time I had made the mistake of not telling them my social security number (because I was in a public cafe). The response was to freeze my entire account and require me to show up in-person at a Bank of America branch with two forms of ID. This is not very nice when you are traveling.

I realized this is an institutional problem. Occasionally a representative on the phone would try to help me, and never were they empowered to resolve the issue. One department does not share information with any other department. And yet all departments can touch your account, and put restrictions on it that they may not be able to lift. Each department has a specialized role and anything outside of that specialized role will not be resolved. I was unable to find a department for “someone is stealing money from your customers!”

Eventually a customer service representative transfered me to some fraud resolution department, the solution was to credit my account $4.97. The fact that this is not an isolated incident did not seem to register to anyone. Also, they have not credited my account, after I spoke to the agent who created the claim I was transfered to an automated message. The automated message explained to me that I must mail (yes, mail) the claim information to receive the credit, and if I do not mail this information then my claim will be dropped. They’re using the mail-in rebate scam… I guess I still haven’t alerted Bank of America that someone is actively stealing from their customers. The $4.97 is less the issue, someone stealing money via a fake charity is the issue.

They did tell me that they were putting a hold on my card (which was already suspended because I used it in the Philippines) and were going to mail me a new card. I requested they not send me a new card, as I will not be needing one.

Fortunately, in less time than I have been dealing with Bank of America over $4.97, I have opened an international checking account (with a different bank) that waives all international fees. I now have two separate checking accounts that I rely on and neither one is from Bank of America.

For anyone who plans on doing serious travel, here are some recommendations:

  1. Keep the bulk of your travel money in a secure online savings account. HSBC and ING both offer such accounts. The only way to touch this money should be to transfer it to a checking account.
  2. Maintain at least two separate checking accounts from separate banks. It varies by country, but one Visa and one Mastercard is recommended. This combination covers most ATMs in the world.
  3. Keep only enough money to survive in each of your checking accounts. If a card is stolen or compromised you don’t want to end your trip early.
  4. Don’t bank with Bank of America. Hell, even if you’re not traveling, don’t bank with Bank of America. There are plenty of competent banking institutions and credit unions to cover your financial needs.

I’m now in Singapore, I’m up late (California banking hours), and I’m looking at my Bank of America check card. It says “customer since 1994″. I feel a little sentimental since this account has been with me since I was a kid. Oh well, thanks for the good times BofA!

Worldly Possessions

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Simplify, simplify, simplify…

IMG_0022
Less is more, and this is everything I own. I went from a 55L duffel to a sturdy wheeled backpack and a simple laptop backpack that carries my laptop, wacom, camera, kindle, water purifier, sandals, and various other necessities.

IMG_0020

I’d be interested in an even simpler approach, if possible to ditch the clothes and toiletries and always acquire new ones as I travel. At a certain pace I think this could be sustainable.

My Unexpected Love Affair

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Spicy ramen, you melt in my mouth, I love you. I have traveled far and wide and never have I found one such as you.

Looking at you, no one can tell where you are from. It matters not, as you are exactly who you are. You have been shaped by both east and west, the best of the world is in you and I share the joy of your company every moment we are together. It is a love like no other, undefinable and life affirming. Through you I know bliss and in that bliss I understand the nature of love: loving you is loving me is loving everything.

I will miss you ramen, until we meet again, I love you.

Preparing to Travel

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I’m taking one year off to travel. Or at least that’s what I’m telling everyone. One year is arbitrary, I could be gone for months or years. I want it to be a lifetime, leaving behind the old life and embarking on something new.

I did some research on backpacks and found some really great travel backpacks. In particular the Deuter Quantum and the Eberlestock Halftrack were fantastic. In my over-analytic style I decided against a backpack and will stick to my simple 50L duffel bag. This is ideal for airport travel, train hopping, but not for extended periods of hiking with heavy gear. I also have a small backpack just big enough to carry my laptop, wacom tablet, and art supplies.

Truthfully, I haven’t taken much time to think about what I’m doing, I’m just sort of doing it. I quit my job. Now I’m selling or giving away everything I own. This, along with some savings, raises sufficient money to travel. What I’ll have left is exactly what I want to take with me.

I cannot possibly prepare for all of the places I will go. And I’m not even trying, I’ll do my best as I travel and see where life takes me. Since I am in no hurry, I’ll take the time to acclimate (as much as possible) with not only the local culture, but to the contemporary artistic culture of every destination.

I have no itinerary, it’d be much too complex. Instead I have a vague sense of direction, a general westbound movement around the globe. Listing all of the countries, languages, and cultures I want to visit would be too tiresome, so I’ll let the itinerary unfold as I travel.

Why I’m doing this I do not know. Perhaps it is a simple pull of fate. Something I have always wanted to do…

If I thought about it deeper, I realize that as I look to the churches, to the state houses, to the corporate towers, and the academic halls; in all there is an emptiness. Where we used to find meaning and purpose, we find only limits. Creative and intellectual limits. I imprint to the norms and social mores in each environment, and in all there is an artificial world best described as empty. To the executive it is life, to the politician it is life, to the academic it is life — each of them with their own perceptions that amount to nothing more than constraints to help guide our animal instinct.

And if I think about my life, I realize that no matter where I have been, from the most dense urban sprawls to the far remote wilderness, in every place I travel I can find that rapture of existence. If we take the time to see, we see that we are one with the world around us, sharing and cooperating in the joyous sorrow of life. In those moments I find something real, this is where our perceptions are cleansed, and it is these moments that we affirm our existence– where life is imbued with meaning.

More than ever, I am convinced that this world is not one of boundaries, in-groups, and aliens; but a tiny spec in an endless abyss of space. An oasis in a sea of nothing. We share our world in our mutual struggle for existence. And everyday, everyone of us attempts to make sense of the beautiful sorrow of our daily life.

Ironic that the thing we are looking for is all around us, all the time. I guess I’m traveling to go beyond the boundaries and the in-groups; and live the life that I want to live. I’m just not sure what that means yet.