Journal 10

Journal 10– You have one final component to plan for your trip – what you will bring. Describe how you will pack, being careful not to make this entry a simple list.

When I am packing for a trip, I always pack way too much! Packing is not a fun thing for me to do because I find it very stressful. Even when I am going to stay the night at my friend’s house for a night; my dad often jokes and asks if I going to be gone for a week. During the trip, I want to try very hard to only pack the things I absolutely need. I am going to be visiting eight different major cities so I do not want to be walking around with a ton of luggage.

            When I pack I always start from my feet up, that way I can make sure I do not forget anything very important. I am going to need my Brooks because they are nice, comfy, tennis shoes and ankle socks. This is definitely important because I am going to be walking around a lot. Since it is summer and very nice out I am going to bring a pair of flip flops too because I am traveling to several beaches, such as Ocean City Maryland. Then, I am going to pack a few pairs of shorts and not try to overdo the amount of clothing I am bringing because if I need to I can buy clothing in the cities I go to. I definitely want to get a few souvenirs when I travel and I will most likely buy a few t-shirts. Keeping that in mind, I am not going to bring too many shirts. I am also going to bring a few tank tops, just in case the weather is really hot.

            Since I am traveling to several hotels I am not bringing many hair products or body wash because hotels usually provide those items. Also, because it is going to be so hot I need to bring several hair ties and probably invest in some sunscreen. Also, I think it is important for me to bring a rain coat just in case it rains out. I also am going to bring my favorite neckless because I cannot travel anywhere without it. Obviously I need to bring my wallet with cash just in case. I think that is everything that I need to bring and just typing this out is scaring me and making me think that I am forgetting something! 

Journal 9

Journal 9 – Holy cow, Batman! Who would have guessed that travel writing (and indeed traveling) could be a business? Pick two styles of travel that we have identified so far and discuss the similarities and differences between each.

 

            The two different style of travel that I have identified with is Rick Steve’s “Faithful Travel” and Pico Iyer’s article about why we travel. I feel very connected to both styles of writing because they both demonstrate the effect travel has on a person. They are both completely different kinds of travel because one is just traveling for the experience and the other is traveling to help others all around the world. I think I connect to both travelers’ style because I have done both kinds of travels.

              I connect with Steve’s traveling and adventures because he helps out people while traveling at the same time. This made me think of the time I went on a mission trip to West Virginia for my youth group at church. I have to admit I was hesitant about going on this trip at all because I was not sure I would gain anything from the experience, but I knew I wanted to help people that are less fortunate than me. Much like Steve’s says in his video where travel to him “is spiritual and brings people together” (Steves). I like his view on travel because it is not all about the actual place you’re visiting, rather it is about the people and culture you are surrounded by. That was my favorite part about going to West Virginia because I really got to know some amazing families and experience a new way of life. It really made me understand how blessed and fortunate I truly am and I think that is so important when traveling. Although, I think it is necessary to understand and learn a new way of life; I think it is just important to realize how amazing your own culture is as well.

            The opposite of Steve’s idea of travel would be Iyer’s because he discusses his love for travel, but in a different way. It is not how the people changed him; it is about how the whole experience changed him as a person. Iyer states that” yet for me the first great joy of traveling is simply the luxury of leaving all my beliefs and certainties at home, and seeing everything I thought I knew in a different light, and from a crooked angle” (Iyer 1). He finds joy in the new and amazing things that different cultures have to offer. Although, I do think that the two travelers are similar because Iyer also says that, “but for the rest of us, the sovereign freedom of traveling comes from the fact that it whirls you around and turns you upside down, and stands everything you took for granted on its head” (Iyer 1). I think that both authors demonstrate how we sometimes do take for granted the amazing things that America has to offer compared to other countries.

Journal # 8

Journal 8– Identify one border that our writers have traveled that you think will come into play into your own explorations.

 

            I think it was difficult to just choose one border that our writers have traveled because there are so many different kinds of borders. For example, there is a spiritual border and physically passing through a border. I think the author that represents my own explorations would be “Roughing It” by Mark Twain. I really connected with his writing and how he explained his travels in so much detail. For example, he literally talks about a sage bush for a whole two pages. He states that, “its foliage is a grayish green, and gives that tint to desert and mountain. It smells like our domestic sage, and "sage-tea" made from it tastes like the sage-tea which all boys are so well acquainted with” (Twain 15). I am a very analytical person, and though it seems unnecessary to talk about a bush for several paragraphs; it is something that I connect to. I enjoy being descriptive in my writings because it makes the reader feel like they are actually there. When I am traveling I literally point out everything because the simplest things amaze me and I feel like that is one reason why I connect to Twain’s writing style and how he crosses his borders.  

 

            I also enjoy how Twain “Roughs It” in his travels.  For example, he describes how he makes his bed, “We stirred up the hard leather letter-sacks, and the knotty canvas bags of printed matter (knotty and uneven because of projecting ends and corners of magazines, boxes and books). We stirred them up and redisposed them in such a way as to make our bed as level as possible” He did not even care that he was sleeping on hard leather because he was so excited to go on his journey. I think that is another reason why I love the way Twain crosses borders. I do not want to bring much and I rather rough it when I travel. I know it does not sound ideal, but it sounds more fun to me because I can experience things in a different light. Traveling across borders the way Twain did is how I want to because I get a chance to experience the culture in a unique way. Roughing It allows me to focus on my surroundings and take everything in moment by moment.

Journal 7

            I think that there are negatives and positives to having competition among travel writers. At times, I feel like it is not necessary for travel writers to want to have the most outrageous trip. No matter where a writer travels it is most likely going to be a good or unique experience. I think it depends on the perspective of the reader as well. Some people might find that traveling to Asia, for example, is an amazing trip. Others might find that it is somewhere they do not wish to go or have no feelings towards that place. I think that it could possibly be detrimental to the piece because the author could be focusing on the competition rather than the matter at hand. Also, what if the place they visited was not all that outrageous? But he/she wants to make it look that way. This made me think of a competition I had among one of my teammates in high school while playing lacrosse. I constantly strived to be better than this one girl on my team and did not focus on the game as a whole. I think competition can be a bad thing at times because it could make people forget about what they are trying to prove in the first place. If travel writers do not focus on the beauty of their writing and where they went then it could possibly be detrimental to their writings.

            On the other hand, I think competition makes things so much more fun and exciting. I believe competition is one of the best motivators. It could make a travel writer’s piece so much more interesting because they have something to prove to their competitor. This motivation would a positive thing because the author would want to make his exerts sound a million times better because of his competitor. Overall, it was difficult for me to pick one or the other because I believe there can pros and cons to both views. Without competition there is a lack of motivation, but with competition it can be difficult to focus on the travel writing piece at hand. I think it was difficult for me to choose because I am such a competitive person, but I know my limits.

Journal 6

Is humor important to travel writing?  Use both pro and con examples to make your case.

            I think humor is important to travel writing depending on where the author is going because if it is a more serious environment there should not be any humor. For example, if you were going to D.C. and visiting the Holocaust museum then you would not want to have any humor involved because that would obviously be disrespectful. There are times; however, that I think humor can be a great asset throughout travel writing. For me, it makes things so much more interesting to read because I am the type of person to constantly joke and think everything is funny. I rather read something with a little humor that still describes the place accurately rather than a piece that is kind of boring just discussing what they encountered or saw.  

            An example that made me think of how humor is accurately put into a piece is when we discussed the author Cahill because I think humor makes his travel writing experience so much more interesting. I have never seen the effects that PCP can have on people and I think the way he describes the effects of the drug is humorous. For example, Cahill describes what it looks like to live in a drug orientated town, “thousands of chronic PCP users stumbling and lurching through the parking lot, all of them sweating and drooling, growling and barking, attacking anything that moved in their delirium, stumbling after their prey with glazed, marble eyes” (Cahill 2). I thought this was funny to see because of the way he described these people on the drug. He defines them like they are not human and states that they are “zombie like creatures” (Cahill 2). Without the use of humor in this piece it would be hard to precisely describe what this drug town looked and acted like; which is why humor is a pro because it helps me visualize places better and understand them more accurately.

 

Overall, I think humor is a good thing because it allows the reader to be so much more engaged in the reading. It just depends on what the author is writing about and how he is using humor. I also think it is a con sometimes when the author is trying to be funny, but failing really bad at it. This would make it difficult for me to pay attention to the travel writing because I would be so distracted by how bad and awkward the humor was portrayed.     

Journal 5

While Kapuscinski and Russell discuss far different subjects in their writings, both are border crossers. What borders do you think each writer has crossed? Do those borders matter to you? Why or why not?

 

            I think that the two authors are complete opposites when it comes to wanting to travel across borders. They also differ because one is going as a writer and the other is going for politics.  Russell discusses how she believes the idea of traveling has changed. She states that, “Enough! The hapless reading public don't want to read about a blindfold attempt on Everest simply because no one has tackled the mountain blindfold before. Similarly, a sweat-soaked and life threateningly dangerous journey no longer justifies a travel book” (Russell 4). I found this to be true because traveling to border is not enough anymore. I agree with Russell because travel writing stories have to have more adventure now. Travel can no longer be just about the culture and the experience, because that is not good enough. It is a shame that there must be crazy or encaptivating story behind the travel and crossing those borders.

         I believe this is why there is big difference between Russell’s idea of traveling borders and Kapuscinski’s. He believes that traveling a border is where something crazy is going to happen and he cannot wait to travel so he can experience the excitement. But his reaction changes when he learns he is going to India. For example he states how he feels about going to India, “My first reaction was astonishment And right after that, panic: I knew nothing about India. I feverishly searched my thoughts for some associations, images. names. Nothing. Zero” (Kapuscinski 9).  I thought this reaction was interesting because the mere  act of crossing a border was so amazing to him, but it changed when he found out where he was going. I believe that Russell’s reaction would have been very different, because she seems to want to go anywhere and everywhere. I thought it was interesting that Russell was willing to go to such a dangerous place. She stated that, “It's not normal for violence and death to walk hand in hand in the sunshine. Sunny days are for picnics, for lying in the long grass, for taking a bottle of water and setting out to walk across a bog” (Russell 124). Although Bosnia was filled with sunshine it was still a scary place to be and Russell knew that. I think that is how the two differ; because one is willing to go wherever and the other is hesitant but cannot wait to see what traveling has to offer.

Journal 4

I think a lot of the authors I have read in class have changed my perspective on travel and how I see myself as a traveler. I really enjoyed reading the article that Iyer wrote because he discussed the importance of visiting other places and why we do it. For example, Iyer states that “…the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places but in seeing with new eyes. Yet one of the subtler beauties of travel is that it enables you to bring new eyes to the people you encounter” (Iyer 1). This quote really stood out to me because he described the importance of going to new places and seeing new things. I believe that seeing how other countries live their everyday lives compared to America can be really eye opening some times. I feel like in our country I am constantly and impatiently waiting to go from one thing to the next. I have never actually visited another country, but when I watch house hunters international I find myself wanting to go to every place on that show. In house hunters, almost every person moving to another country discusses how laid back and slow paced everything is there. I sometimes wish America was not so fast paced, but I do realize how amazing our country is and well off we are. Therefore, in my travels I really wish to just relax and take in the culture day by day.

This class has really opened my eyes to the importance of borders. In the Kapuscinski’s article it discusses how important borders were to Herodotus. For example he states that, “this was only about crossing the border-somewhere. It made no difference which one, because what was important was not the destination, the goal. The end, but the almost mystical and transcendent act Crossing the border” (Kapuscinski 9). I think that is one way I want to travel because I find that crossing borders, is like entering a new world. When I go on trips to visit family in Maryland, I always find myself so amused by how many different states I pass through. Some states have beautiful mountains and others have corn fields after corn fields. Not only is the environment different, sometimes the people living in these states I pass through have the most interesting personalities. I think I would love to travel more and experience new perspectives of how people live their lives.