Travel Philosophy

Whenever I see an old friend and ask what's new in their life, I secretly hope I'll hear the word travel. Not "oh you know, school and work.." or the same old general routine. It seems like that's all I ever hear around this neck of the woods. But, as rare as it is, I love hearing stories about peoples' minds being opened by leaving their hometown. If there's anything that I could wish upon every single person in this world, it would be 

to travel.

Spend a day, a week, or months somewhere else. Get to know somebody different. Build yourself up. Broaden your horizons. It will do you good.

A special experience I had while traveling was in Hollywood, CA. Sounds glamorous, right? Not exactly..

After a day of shopping and seeing some beautiful sights, I saw a man on the side of the road. I'm used to seeing "bums" but I've never stopped to talk to one. They're all over the place in California. I gave this dude some Twizzlers and talked to him for 45 minutes about life (while my friends hid back taking pictures of me). Sure, he was a bit far-fetched, but he was speaking straight from his heart. And not once did he ask for money. He just wanted to talk. He told me his story and how he was trying to find his place in the world, just like everybody else. He didn't preach about God or bear some sort of testimony or ask what my religion was. He just spoke to me, like an equal human being, about his hope for peace.

Another special experience was my trip to Seattle. This place is completely different than where I'm from..

I traveled there alone, so I really had a special opportunity to clear my head and really SEE, for the first time, how different things are outside of Utah. I remember sitting at the bus stop when a stranger came up to me, told me a joke, and said he just enjoyed seeing people smile. That was that, and we both went on with our days.

These are just little, special moments to me. Travel can be so beautiful. Living in a state that is full of people invested in religion can get extremely tiring. To go somewhere else and see people who are completely unfocused on religion, but are doing their best, is a real piece of magic. So many of these people are genuinely real and honest with the fact that they don't know (or care) if a higher power is watching us. Religion isn't their main focus.

HAPPINESS IS.

Isn't that how it should be?