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July 20, 2004
Riding Around America: Changing the Way I Travel
As I continue to plan for the big rail trip (detailed previously), I'm starting to realize that this vacation is going to be fundamentally different than all the others I've taken.
In the past few years I've become more accustomed to sending e-mail and photographs to a select group of people while travelling but this upcoming trip is taking the idea even further. This is the first time that I'll be devoting a substantial amount of time to taking, sorting and displaying photographs of my travels, and it's the first time I'll be writing it as I go. I've written travelogues and taken pictures before, but I've always done it after the fact. Now I'll have instant gratification, or dismay if the photos are bad, unlike what I've experienced in the past.
The other obvious change is that I'm making the whole trip visible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Although I don't expect to attract many more visitors than I do now, which isn't much, it is out there for the world to see and I'm sure that will change my view in different ways.
Even more obvious is that I now have more stuff to bring with me on this trip than I ever have before. Up until the past year or so, I rarely brought even a Discman with me when I travelled. Now I have an iPod, camera link, digital camera, laptop, and the many accesories that go along with these items. So these things are literally changing what I'm carrying on my back.
Mode of transport is playing a big role in this trip also. I've almost always done large trips around the U.S. in a car - until now. This marks my first major vacation with no automobile. It took me awhile to come to grips with this fact. I love driving and in many ways still pine for the days when I didn't live in New York and could afford to have a car. Being tied to the tracks so to speak has its disadvantages, but I'm pretty sure that nothing is going to beat whizzing across the landscape on the train.
Oh, I almost forgot. I'll be doing this whole thing by myself. Sure, I'll be staying a with a friend here and some relatives there, but for the most part I'll be travelling on my own. It will be first time I've gone solo on a big trip since 1998 and I'm looking forward to it. Yes, I'll miss the companionship of my usual travel partner, but there's something to be said for striking out on your own on a massive journey around the country.
I don't know what the result of all of this change is going to be. The technology I'm using might sidetrack me or frustrate me. I could become physically ill from the radio waves emanating from all of the free wireless access points I'll be using along the way. Any number of bad things could happen and I may never do a anything like this again. But I don't think that's likely. If anything, writing these entries and posting the photographs as I go will make me think a little bit more about what I'm seeing and experiencing. It will make me go the extra mile to get a good photo, or meet new people, or learn something new. In the end, for me at least, that's the whole point.
Posted on July 20, 2004 at 2:17 AM
Comments
Maybe it should be "iTravel".
Posted by: Old Man at July 20, 2004 10:11 AM