Which one describes your vision of a fabulous life of travel?

You can say, “none of the above”.  You can choose to stay home on the family farm, attend the church your parents did, have coffee every week with your cousin who lives on the next block.  Deep, stationary relationships have meaning, beauty and can enrich your life far more than a life of wandering, having a laugh with strangers and moving on.

But, for some of us the urge to travel is an itch. If this is you, and you are considering your own business to finance your restlessness, you should answer this question: What kind of traveler do you aspire to be?

I’ve done it most ways and I have found the only way to be a pure wanderer in the tradition of Walt Whitman and the open road is to travel on your own savings.

If you plan to finance your travels through a job or with the profits from your business, you should imagine your travels to be more like Steinbeck’s traveling with Charlie.  Being a nomad while running a business will require responsibility. Like travelers of old, you will have to feed and water your horse before you meet your own needs.  Running a business is a responsibility: to your customers, to your suppliers who depend on you for their livelihood and to yourself. Your reputation, and your ability to keep moving, depend on your prioritizing your endeavor.

Running a business while traveling is hard work.  The needs of your business, or of your employer, will curtail your freedom to disappear down the Napo River for days in order to learn from a Shuar medicine woman.

If taking care of business from a sparsely furnished apartment in a strange, noisy and hot city where the food is unrecognizable and the language is unintelligible excites you, take the resources I’ve offer you this month and get started. I can help you think through you plan. Contact me. I promise to be just as excited as you and maybe just a bit more practical.  After all, I have experience.

If taking care of business from a sparsely furnished apartment in a strange, noisy and hot city where the food is unrecognizable, and the language is unintelligible makes you shudder, I envy you.  Stay home, build your community where you are, find a way to serve and nurture deep, loving relationships. Your life will be better for it.

When it come to creating a meaningful life, consider this quote from Jeff Greenwald, author of Shopping for Buddhas.

“We go where we need to go and then try to figure out what we are doing there.”

Go where you need to go.  Listen to your heart.  Live your life as you see it.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash