Airplane Travel
Sometimes all of that planning and saving and getting ready for the next travel trip with visas, passports updated, and of course letting your bank credit card company know by sworn affidavit that you are going out of your zip-code and maybe even a foreign country. You say to yourself or your partner lets just throw a dart on the world map….and wherever it lands that’s where were going.
Or if you are more geographically challenged you can cheat and fold the map so it turns out at least in the hemisphere you want to travel. You and your partner talk it over… make a decision to be spontaneous and just do it. How many of you just wanted to do this all of your life? Oh I’m too structured of a person. I could not even imagine doing such a thing. Maybe this is what some of us really need. This entire blog is about travel opportunities and doing something different.
Cast off the Lines
As a variation to the dart throwing map technique you say: “By golly I’ve got it let’s go to the International airport and try to get a cheap standby. As a reminder you and your partner both pack light and choose light wight carry-on luggage with less than 15 kilos… including the luggage. You do this so you don’t have to pay extra fees to the airlines and can immediately exit the plane upon landing. You say: “who wants to lug all of that stuff around anyway.”Oh by the way we are leaving at four am in the morning… since we have a better chance of a standby flight. As you walk along each airlines desk you look at their departing schedules searching for your next travel destination.
Look there’s a cheap flight going to Greenland it leaves in three hours. We can spend the night and a few days there and then put together the rest of our trip. Perfect you say to yourself…I always wanted to go to Greenland anyway. I heard the people are extra friendly. My friend was stationed in Thule, Greenland and he said you had two choices after spending a few years there… “you could become an alcoholic or go stark raving mad.” He arrived home half and half. Great! My partner says: “and this is where we are headed.”
You purchase your tickets from the new airline and go to an internet cafe and type out your personalized travel itinerary with many options..which can come in handy at the immigration desk. You score a cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts and your set until departure. Hours later you are airborne and that feeling of exhilaration and discovery has your adrenaline on high. As the clouds roll by you can only imagine what lies ahead. You pick up the new airline magazine and notice a brand new hotel is offering rooms at $19.95 and you say why not… lets give it a go, it cant be that bad can it? And now we have an address for the cabbie, local bus transport, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) or whatever mode of transportation that is available to deliver us straight to the hotel.
Expect the Unexpected
This sounds like a story from your imagination and maybe I could try to put together a trip, but I have really limited funds. Not a problem Zentraveler says: You simply sign up as an International Courier and tell them you can leave anytime day or night. There’s a flight going to Caracas, Venezuela your total rt cost is $29.00. Are you kidding me? Even if that’s the case, I can’t afford to stay in a hotel and I can’t stand living in a dormitory at some run down hostel. No problema! You simply sign up as a Couch Surfer and find someone in the area who will put you up for a few days. My friend from New Zealand has used this service for the last couple of years and was even picked up at the airport and delivered to a top-notch vacation home on the lake–all free of charge including all of his meals and drinks.
crewing on a sailboat
So there you have it grasshoppers. If you don’t like to fly you could search the internet and sign up as a crew member on a sailboat. They often times are looking for adventurous travelers who might want to go to Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Italy or the Caribbean with some destinations unknown. As if puling a rabbit out of a hat… if none of the above choices appeal to you and you can speak English… you can search the internet and get a job teaching English in Korea. They will pay your transport, you sign a limited contract… and guess what grasshopper you are now a world traveler. Can anyone say Kimchi?
Bon Voyage
QUOTE: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain
THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW:•Singapore Airlines spends about $700 million on food every year and $16 million on wine alone. First class passengers consume 20,000 bottles of alcohol every month and Singapore Airlines is the second largest buyer of Dom Perignon champagne in the world.
THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO SAVE:Your International Drivers license.
ZENTRAVELER SAYS:Don’t be a couch potato and keep moving. Ninety five year old women are fighting bulls on the island of Okinawa. One hundred year old women are working their gardens and climbing trees to pick fruit. One hundred five year old men are using karate as a daily exercise… and guess what simply by eating well and keeping very active…most of these folks have never seen the inside of a hospital.
From here to Infinity is a relatively short ride! The next leg takes eons and eons as you fly through the Barycentric Dynamical Time Zone! …and on and on and on.
Follow the Zentraveler Blog often for Travel, Health and Zen-like stories and such. Where else can you get a three in one blog for the price of free?
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