Ever since our first experiment with AirBnB (where we snagged a New York City...
Recent Updates
Everywhere Once: Around the World
- (c) Simon Howden
Occasionally someone asks if we’re keeping a journal of our adventures. Naturally, I direct them here, thinking this blog is a pretty fulsome account of our travels. Every once in a while I’m floored when they respond “Yeah, but are you writing it down?”
I admit that there is something unique about the printed word. It is tangible and real. Words written on papyrus 2,000 years ago are still being read today. 2,000 years from now, what will become of this? Nothing much, I expect.
But in some ways, digital media is more real than its predecessors. Eloquent prose of flowing script carefully written in a journal and tucked safely in a nightstand is absolutely tangible, it may even be beautiful; but it is almost certainly unread.
The Buddhist in me wants to ponder whether a story written but unseen has actually been told. I think the answer is no. Does that make it unreal?
EverywhereOnce, meanwhile, has gone global. This week one of the fastest growing travel brands in Asia, Take Me to Travel, featured us and our 24 Hours in Custer State Park post. Overnight, they introduced us to 150,000 of their followers, halfway around the world.
Two decades ago only the most accomplished writers could even hope for that kind of exposure. Today, thanks to the intangible vapors of the digital world, it is simply a beginning.
A Toast to Taos
It’s one of the first things we noticed when traveling overseas: how much older the rest of the world appears. From Medieval castles and Roman ruins to Egyptian Pyramids, the marks of ancient civilization are everywhere. It’s something the “New World” noticeably lacks.
The U.S. has so few ancient relics it’s easy to forget that our history predates the Mayflower. Fortunately there are still some places that remember.
Everywhere Once: Central America
A storm brews over the Rocky Mountains
We strive to make blog posts worthy of our audience. We expect them to be more than just diary entries of where we’ve been and what we’ve done. Instead, we try to craft stories that are as interesting in the telling as they are in the doing. Sometimes we succeed and other times we don’t. But the effort usually requires reflection; it often requires research; it always requires time.
Careful observers may have noticed that our writing trails our travels. In truth, the blog is about a month or so behind us. I don’t expect it will ever catch up. We simply need that time to make each entry a worthwhile read. Normally that hasn’t presented much of a problem, aside from some mild confusion about why there isn’t more Rocky Mountain snow at this time of year.
More recently, though, people who know that we’re about to embark on a two month backpacking trip through Central America have asked whether they’ll be able to follow our whereabouts on EverywhereOnce. The answer is no, not in real time, anyway. Like all of our posts, dispatches from Central America will be delayed by about a month or so.
How to Become Fearless
In youth, the world is wide open. Life is about trying new things, pushing boundaries, discovering limits, and exploring a planet that is ripe with possibility. As time passes we surround ourselves increasingly with comforts and lose interest in discovery. Our propensity for boldness atrophies. Our longing to see around the next corner gradually succumbs to fear of the unknown. Our world shrinks.
It doesn’t have to.
Everywhere Once 