Inspiration Initiative

The traveling enthusiasts over at @easyJetHolidays have initiated a cool little game of pass the parcel within the travel blogging community. The theme is centred around Travel Inspiration.  (hash tag #InspireTravel for those with a nose for more prose)

(Paul Downey - Creative Commons Licence)

Travel in itself is inspirational, the offshoots of these experiences shape our characters and define who we are today.  We all blog because we love travel. But Easyjet have dug a little deeper and probed the big 4 - the Who, the When, the Where and What has inspired one to travel...


Without further a dooo heres my who....

Who

This guy kept talking to me. Incessantly.

Telling me there existed frontiers where buffalo roamed in their hundreds. I was nose deep in a law degree at the time and the thought of roaming buffalo across wild frontiers was an elusive illusion.

A backpacking illusion.

I asked my friends, my family, lecturers and classmates. They all thought it was a crazy idea midway through my studies.  

They were right.

It was so crazy that it changed my life. I listened to that guy, taking his advice in the face of a wall of unanimous opinion advising me not to 'do it'

That guy was me. I inspired myself to set off alone into foreign lands in pursuit of elusive dreams, and in doing so, I was and still am my personal inspiration. 
(Ha, hero alert)

When

It was somewhere in between Tanzania and Zambia on a long and narrow, dusty baked red-earthed road. The midday heat was creeping up and a bluebird day perched high above me. The empty road ran onto the horizon in each direction. There was no one, or no-thing within eye shot.

(Geezaweezer - Creative Commons Licence)

I had a 1/4 bottle of water. A banana and $1US dollar. 
No passport, no pack, no phone. No nada.

I stood there contemplating my direction. Contemplating my life. Contemplating this whole travel thing.

I had been robbed and now faced the simple decision of heading for my final destination, 3 countries away and 2400km to the south, or a 800km mission back to my origin.

I thought for a second about my travel experiences so far in my life. Real gritty story-telling travel experiences - I couldn't draw on any in that momentary lapse of thought in the stifling heat. 
I had inspired myself to travel and now here I was standing on a country road in the depths of Eastern Africa, stripped bare of all my possessions, alone, confused and with no one insight to turn to for assistance. 


Before me lay an experience I knew would either shape me or break me.

I made a call that day. And that was to keep traveling, no matter what circumstances life dished up at me. 
And so I headed south.

Where

Last frontiers have always fascinated me. I often wish I was born a couple of centuries earlier so that I could of lived a life of frontier pioneering. That somewhat selfish sense of glory when you discover a secret gem of a place is a hard one to disguise.

Places where only few travellers have ever visited are indeed gems amongst a well worn planet. There are very few places untouched by the rathe of the traveling human being.

I do however hold one place in my heart. Its a slice of paradise. Even the few inhabitants who live there call it paradise.

It is an idyllic couple of bays that nestle into a jagged coastline with a rolling blue sea behind it. There is brocoli-blanketed lush rainforest melting into a mountainous backdrop. No roads, no power lines.  Access by boat only.  Coming in from the rolling sea, its like descending upon heavens gates.

Unfortunately its a secret I cannot share, even for a competition ;) But it is undoubtably my most inspirational place on the surface of this earth.

What

And so we travel.

Through changing worlds and shifting sands
over high seas & foreign lands
and what stimulates our emotions
as we cross these oceans
staring at the stars
and walking the land
carved from gods own hand

It must be the people
in the smiles
in the faces
of all earth's glorious races

We breathe & we see
we do & we be
but theres nothing quite like
being free.

And so we travel...

© Denis.

#inspirationinitiative

In the name and vein of inspiration, the 5 travel enthusiasts who I wish to pass this parcel to are...


Neil www.backpacksandbunkbeds.com 
@packsandbunks 


Christina www.thetravolution.com
@thetravolution


Emma www.sparkyseestheworld.wordpress.com
@Emma_Sparks


James www.backpackerjam.com
@backpackerjam


Victoria www.pommietravels.com
@PommieTravels


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Easy Jet Holidays www.holidayblog.easyjet.com 
@EasyJetHolidays