Blog Dis
The geographic solution
2025-08-14
It's been nearly two years since I've traveled outside Canada, and this pains me in ways I cannot delineate here in their entirety.
Every other year I'm expected to submit to a body examination with my health care facility, where it used to be held once a year, when I was much younger. As we evolve, however, the healthcare industry recognizes that we need less immediate intervention, the way say we might need when we're really young and sleeping around. In other words, when you're young you're expected to be exposed to a host of STDs. So as part of this full-body check-up, I'm typically asked by my nurse practitioner, "Do you have a thirst?" to which I'll readily answer, "Why yes! I do... I thirst for travel." [This typically makes her smile].
It makes my head spin how quickly nearly two years can pass, in a blink of an eye, until you realize that something has been missing from your life, and needs immediate rectification. I call it the geographic solution, a form of removing yourself form the everyday routine of your everyday life, and dropping yourself into a new environment which will invariably stimulate your body and senses in ways you won't comprehend until you're actually in the different environment. I had wanted to travel this year in 2025, until I realized the hard-cold reality that my travel budget was blown to smithereens when I released my seventh novel POM last year in October 2024. By the time the dust settled, taking into consideration the various stages of Indie publishing (principal editing, copy editing, proof-reading, new website design, graphic cover design, banners, new business cards), I blew through $8,600 and was forced to dip into my travel account to cover all expenses. This meant that I needed to re-build my travel account, which I'm currently doing, until realizing that it's time to upgrade my entire home computer system, which has diverted my saving focus and split it in half: half going into my travel account, the other half into my new computer account. I'm budgeting for $3,000 as a top number to buy a new laptop, docking station, new monitor, keyboard as well as a licence for Word 2025 version, and maybe even Power Point and Excel.
Where the geographic solution makes me feel alive, and fills me with wonder to experience a new country, blowing through hard-earned money on a computer set-up doesn't, given that updates are constantly being pushed out, and hardware and firmware are in a never-ending loop cycle to be made to work faster, better, and more efficiently to gobble up energy.
But when you travel, the focus is on your pleasure and setting your own agenda. It takes time to decompress from your regular life so that your mind and body don't wake up at a God-awful time in the wee hours of he morning, thinking I need to get moving, to get ready for work. The geographic solution is either a temporary or permanent one; do you explore the country and return or do you explore the country and never return? I've quoted from one of my favourite movies before, The Sheltering Sky, and this is one of the moments when I shall quote from this film again, wherein one character acknowledges the difference between a tourist and a traveler — a tourist knows when they're returning vs a traveler who has no idea. I've generally been a tourist. Maybe one day, when I don't have to punch a 9-to-5 clock, I'll become a traveler.
Some change their lives by accepting new jobs in countries where they've never lived. Some change their jobs by requesting a transfer, courtesy of the company where they work, to re-locate to a country where they've never been posted before, and most like me will periodically dip their baby toes into a new culture for a structured period of time, to explore, and breathe deeply, before knowing it's time to return.
I am torn between three three places to visit for my next trip, currently shooting for the 2026 timeframe: Tunisia (to see the ruins of Carthage), Zanzibar in Tanzania (to enjoy the beaches and perhaps trek into the desert as well as take an African safari), or Tokyo, (to explore a capital city known for its low crime rate, amazing food, polite people and cleanliness).
Tough choices. 🤔
I can feel the edges of my mind beginning to fray as I await the arrival of the end of another year, wait until I've saved more than enough to go and enjoy myself, to return with a nice cushion in my travel account, to wait for the next trip. The one bonus about waiting is knowing that I'll continue to accumulate airline points, enough I hope to cover the full cost of my airfare. Travel may not be cheap but don't doubt yourself. You are worth the expense.
Here is an image of the shoreline in Zanzibar. Tempting!
Every other year I'm expected to submit to a body examination with my health care facility, where it used to be held once a year, when I was much younger. As we evolve, however, the healthcare industry recognizes that we need less immediate intervention, the way say we might need when we're really young and sleeping around. In other words, when you're young you're expected to be exposed to a host of STDs. So as part of this full-body check-up, I'm typically asked by my nurse practitioner, "Do you have a thirst?" to which I'll readily answer, "Why yes! I do... I thirst for travel." [This typically makes her smile].
It makes my head spin how quickly nearly two years can pass, in a blink of an eye, until you realize that something has been missing from your life, and needs immediate rectification. I call it the geographic solution, a form of removing yourself form the everyday routine of your everyday life, and dropping yourself into a new environment which will invariably stimulate your body and senses in ways you won't comprehend until you're actually in the different environment. I had wanted to travel this year in 2025, until I realized the hard-cold reality that my travel budget was blown to smithereens when I released my seventh novel POM last year in October 2024. By the time the dust settled, taking into consideration the various stages of Indie publishing (principal editing, copy editing, proof-reading, new website design, graphic cover design, banners, new business cards), I blew through $8,600 and was forced to dip into my travel account to cover all expenses. This meant that I needed to re-build my travel account, which I'm currently doing, until realizing that it's time to upgrade my entire home computer system, which has diverted my saving focus and split it in half: half going into my travel account, the other half into my new computer account. I'm budgeting for $3,000 as a top number to buy a new laptop, docking station, new monitor, keyboard as well as a licence for Word 2025 version, and maybe even Power Point and Excel.
Where the geographic solution makes me feel alive, and fills me with wonder to experience a new country, blowing through hard-earned money on a computer set-up doesn't, given that updates are constantly being pushed out, and hardware and firmware are in a never-ending loop cycle to be made to work faster, better, and more efficiently to gobble up energy.
But when you travel, the focus is on your pleasure and setting your own agenda. It takes time to decompress from your regular life so that your mind and body don't wake up at a God-awful time in the wee hours of he morning, thinking I need to get moving, to get ready for work. The geographic solution is either a temporary or permanent one; do you explore the country and return or do you explore the country and never return? I've quoted from one of my favourite movies before, The Sheltering Sky, and this is one of the moments when I shall quote from this film again, wherein one character acknowledges the difference between a tourist and a traveler — a tourist knows when they're returning vs a traveler who has no idea. I've generally been a tourist. Maybe one day, when I don't have to punch a 9-to-5 clock, I'll become a traveler.
Some change their lives by accepting new jobs in countries where they've never lived. Some change their jobs by requesting a transfer, courtesy of the company where they work, to re-locate to a country where they've never been posted before, and most like me will periodically dip their baby toes into a new culture for a structured period of time, to explore, and breathe deeply, before knowing it's time to return.
I am torn between three three places to visit for my next trip, currently shooting for the 2026 timeframe: Tunisia (to see the ruins of Carthage), Zanzibar in Tanzania (to enjoy the beaches and perhaps trek into the desert as well as take an African safari), or Tokyo, (to explore a capital city known for its low crime rate, amazing food, polite people and cleanliness).
Tough choices. 🤔
I can feel the edges of my mind beginning to fray as I await the arrival of the end of another year, wait until I've saved more than enough to go and enjoy myself, to return with a nice cushion in my travel account, to wait for the next trip. The one bonus about waiting is knowing that I'll continue to accumulate airline points, enough I hope to cover the full cost of my airfare. Travel may not be cheap but don't doubt yourself. You are worth the expense.
Here is an image of the shoreline in Zanzibar. Tempting!
