Monday, August 07, 2006

Second Guest Blogger - Kuanyin on Wonder-Lust

I am proud to announce my second guest post, this one on a state of nomad-ness by a kindred spirit, Kuanyin!  Kuanyin is located in Maui, Hawaii (ok, I’m jealous), has a few really cool blogs, including Who’s Yo Mama, Blog-Blond, and The Art of Living and Dying.

I am looking for other guest bloggers, so let me take a moment to request that anyone who is interested in writing a post either comment here or drop me a line. Meanwhile, I loved this post, it got me aching to hit the road, and I suspect it will put you in the same frame of mine.  So join me in welcoming Kuanyin before I run out the door on my next adventure! Folks, Kuanyin!

Wonder-lust by Kuanyin

The most often repeated baby story about me by my Mother sounds a bit farfetched were it not for a truth I've discovered about myself through the years: I am a natural nomad. The story goes like this. My Mother said she felt safe leaving me alone in the enclosed back yard of our family home while she attended to other business. I wasn't walking yet—just crawling. I made an escape by digging a hole under the white picket fence, crawled down a hill to a dirt alley and was chugging along at a good clip on all fours when a neighbor spied me, rang my Mom who then collected me and brought me home. Remember when I used the word 'farfetched' in the first sentence? How was a baby strong enough to dig a hole under a fence I've always questioned! Where was I headed is the easy part of this story for I know where I was headed: I was off to see the world! I have a nomadic, insatiably curious, restless nature and have always yearned to see what is around the next corner and down the road. Thus it has been that I have lived in many different places and traveled the world.

Why do tribes or clans move around and travel? Mostly they migrate when disaster strikes or food and water supplies disappear or they're expelled by an invading force or some other catastrophe occurs. Individuals, on the other hand, have more complex reasons.

Astrological wisdom would suggest I tend to move around a lot because my Natal Moon in my astrology chart is in Sagittarius. Or it could be said I like to experiment… or I'm easily bored….or I'm running away from something or running to something... or it's my destiny to move around. Lucky for me that the people who adopted me as a baby loved to travel, and by the time I was in high school, I had already seen almost every state within the United States. My original birth parents were also travelers (so I've discovered), and therefore, my desire to travel could be part genetics and part environment. Whatever the reasons (and it could be a combination of all of the speculations), I have indeed moved around a lot more in my life, resided in more places and traveled more than most people. Travel entices me, and I have a VERY long list of places I have yet to visit and experience.

Ok…where have I been? Within the United States, I've traveled to all but two states…most countries in Eastern, Northern and Western Europe…England, Scotland, Ireland, parts (not all) of Africa, India, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Korea, Egypt, Greece and many Greek Islands, a lot of South America, the South Seas, most of the countries in Central America and most of the Caribbean Islands, Mexico…many of these places I've visited more than once. I've had a lot of adventures, met some wondrous people, been assisted many times over by strangers (angels?) and also had my share of frightening, close-calls and near-death experiences.

And where do I want to go? Tuscany and Provence (again!)…. Ecuador (because dear friends moved there and built their dream home and they keep calling with an invitation)…. Australia (never been!)… Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Easter Island are some of the places I'd like to visit next.

I saw a funny movie this past year starring Queen Latifah. In the movie, she played a character who received a mis-diagnosis from her doctor. Thinking she didn't have long to live, she cashed in her savings and headed off to Europe to live large until her time to pass. I highly recommend this movie-- it has a very inspirational message about leaving comfort zones, beliefs, self-imposed limitations and stories behind and daring to live your dreams.

I resonate to nomadic cultures and structures like yurts and tipis which at one time were used by different indigenous groups as they moved about. In my travels I have had brief encounters with REAL gypsies which intrigued me and provoked me to research them. Who are these mysterious people? This past year I ordered a 2006 nonfiction book titled "Little Money Street…In Search Of Gypsies and Their Music In The South Of France" by Fernanda Eberstadt. On the back cover an author praises the book using the word 'despairing' in his blurb. Indeed this book conveys the despair of the French gypsies, and if anyone has ever had any fantasies about gypsies, all they need to do is read this book and discover the truth—most gypsies choose not to travel, even when offered the opportunity to achieve career success, fame and fortune. They prefer to stay within the confines of their culture and family. So much for the cliché of the vagabond, carefree gypsy!

A couple of resources for other nomads reading this would be this blog.  They claim to be the original travel blog, and their free service offers a lot of great features such as address book, spell-check, plot your travels visually on a map, automatically notify others when you have updated, easy upload of videos, photos and mp3's and more. I have signed on, and on my next trip, read about Aquamarine, my travel blog name. In the meantime, if you have any wanderlust (or as I like to spell it: wonder-lust) take some time to read some of the many incredible travel blogs! If you can't be traveling now, at least you can be an armchair adventurer. You will be blown away and perhaps inspired to make some of your own travel dreams a reality!

Also, in terms of articles, check out this and this.

Posted by Scottage at 3:36 PM / | |