Rambling Before My Trip

“Travel is the departure from one’s little pond.

It is the bold renouncement of the petty comforts that hold us prisoner.

It is a movement away from the known towards the unknown and unimaginable.

Travel is expansion, widening, opening-up. It is the conquering of one’s fears, insecurities, prejudices. It is the hovering above one’s life, past and present, and seeing it in the larger context of the world. It is the fierce struggle against our already formed concepts of the “other”; the vanquishing of our dearly held beliefs, of what is familiar, intimate, cherished.

It is the seed of our childhood imagination breaking open and facing the sun after a long sleep. It is our soul becoming free and unbound once again – alive, powerful, open to surprise.” – Destination Earth A New Philosophy of Travel By a World-Traveler by Nicos Hadjicostis

Many of you would probably be surprised that I would call New York City, my little pond. Mad even, how dare you compare New York City to a little pond, some random town in the mid west that no one ever heard of is a small pond. Not New York City, you idiot, that’s like the center of the universe (debatable depending on which big city you live in or affiliate yourself with).

No, I don’t hate NYC – I love it. I love everything about it even how much it smells like garbage in the summer, how expensive it is to live here and how shitty the MTA is. There’s no other place I can see myself living in. My point is the world is bigger than you think and there’s so much more out there that’s worth experiencing.

Yes, I know New York City is one of the most diverse cities out there, you can basically get any kind of cuisine you want for dinner! Whether it’s Ethiopian, Mexican, Chinese, Greek – the possibilities are endless! But it’ll never be the same as eating ceviche in Peru or pasta in Italy. Traveling enables one to immerse themselves into a new culture and gain experiences that wouldn’t have been possible if you stay within your comfy bubble. It’s eye-opening and you realize that’s there’s so much more out there than work and materialistic things, even though I’m guilty of always prioritizing work and I want nice things.

My first eye opening experience was when I went to Peru. Part of it was from the 3-5 day trek to Machu Picchu was staying overnight in a cabin in the mountains that our Quechuan (the Quechua are indigenous people of South America) host offered to trekkers. The other part was just learning as much about the culture as possible when I was there as well as trying things that was out of my own personal comfort zone. Experiences that you just can’t get from watching a documentary or reading about.

To be honest, I’m not even sure where I wanted to go with this post. I just felt like I haven’t been active on WordPress in a while and my last post was 19 days ago. But don’t worry – this blog is about to full of content for the next two weeks since I’ll be flying to Malaysia and visiting Singapore as well! If anyone has any recommendations, feel free to leave a comment 🙂

BEFORE I END THIS POST…

I just wanted to thank EmotionalNotions and Jenna Diane for nominating me for challenges in the past! At the moment, I’m trying to keep this blog focused on one theme, but in the future I’ll get to it! I do really appreciate it, so if you’re reading this post – I highly recommend checking out their blogs! I love reading lovely poems from EmotionalNotions and Jenna Diane has amazing pictures and posts!

Also, I really want to thank everyone who is following me and reading about my adventures, honestly I would have never expected this blog to reach 300 followers. Y’all are awesome! I hope all of you will be joining me on my adventure to Malaysia and Singapore!

 

Late Night Thoughts

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. – Eleanor Roosevelt

6 years ago, I stumbled upon this quote and it continues to resonate with me ever since. This quote is still on my Instagram profile. Like every other typical millennial, I have an insatiable appetite for travel, food and new experiences.

5 years ago, I created my first blog on WordPress with the goal of expressing my thoughts, sharing my experiences and improving my writing skills. Of course that failed along with multiple attempts afterwards, since I was just that lazy. One of the biggest roadblocks I faced was that, I often put too much thought into what I’m trying to say as I write. I’m not a good writer, but I want all my thoughts to be perfectly put into words.

Back in November of last year, I was in Japan. I had portable wifi, some downtime and a crazy idea – why not just blog on my phone? I always wanted to share my travels and leave some sort of footprint in the world; even if it’s a tiny one. I knew it wouldn’t work unless I just start typing and let the words pour out. To my surprise, this blog lasted 5 months without being deleted and ‘Explore with Kenneth’ now has 19 posts, been through 2 trips (Japan and LA) and followers that I greatly appreciate for following me through my adventures.

Moving forward, I’m thinking about bringing ‘Explore with Kenneth’ to it’s next chapter. It will continue to be active and I’ll be sharing my experiences even when I’m not travelling. I also have a couple of other ideas as well, but you’ll have to wait for those :). Thank you all so much for reading and I will always appreciate any thoughts and/or feedback.