Having worked as an assistant in the vaccinations of travelers for seven years and also not liking heat (meaning anything over 20°C (68 ºF) or so), bugs and unjust culture I can say that extended stays in large parts of the world do not interest me the least bit. I am however very interested in both nature and culture and would like to experience and make my own in some small way, and with respect, some of the many great places of the world.
I have always been fascinated by exploration and find it one of the most enjoyable things I can do. I love the feeling of discovery and the enjoyment of taking in and experiencing things. I hope to keep such an open mind and a love for the world. The feeling of flow is the feeling of life. Stagnation is death.
Not being overly poetic, the love of exploration does in fact lie quite close to my heart. My father and his brothers all had the same inflection and in fact all worked in cartography as young men. To take the point further one became a professor in geography, another a geologist and then my father became a specialist in travel- and preventive-medicine.
As soon as I could walk I was climbing mountains with him and learning about the land. Whenever I stay somewhere for some time I explore thoroughly everything around. Cranny, street and neighborhood.. and neighborhood after neighborhood it’s time I move on onto the bigger picture and onto my cultural and geographical neighborhood of Europe and Canada. Getting to know it decently, trying to understand it and perhaps making it in some small way mine then is the task of the day.
In time more will follow, but for now I think some of the contrast will be lost if I do not have a decent comparison.
I also don’t want to ruin the joy of discovering the subtle differences between these places by placing them in comparison with something radically different just now. All will come in time.
