How to Travel

On the cheap, like a local, and without a lot of luggage.

I don’t travel like most people do. I don’t go to see the X wonders of the world. I don’t go for the museums. I stay away from the coolest neighborhoods in the world, which all end up being variations of the same thing.¹

I travel to get an idea of how other people live. To inhabit, in a small way, their tiny slice of the world. To meet people on their terms, the best that I can. On a level that allows me to better understand how they see the universe and their place in it.

Like reading fiction, travel is a gateway into another life. But it’s better than fiction, because the plot is written in real time, by the characters themselves, and it never ends.

And like good fiction, travel changes you. For the better. Mostly.