A Short Rough Guide to the Big Lonely Planet

Photo: Phil Williams
If you have some spare cash and no commitments tying you down or holding you up, enjoy the luxury of that unfettered freedom and just simply travel for the sheer joy of it. You don’t need to be on a mission to save the world – just to see it and be a part of it. Save up your pennies for unforgettable peripatetic experiences that will enrich your life immeasurably more than if you had spent those pennies on fast food, booze and impulse purchases (or whatever else your disposable income might be frittered away on). Allow yourself to break away from the humdrum routine of the everyday grind once in a while, and open your eyes and your mind to a whole host of new environments, new cultures and new experiences, many of which you could never have imagined or anticipated – and all of which will provide you with priceless memories for the rest of your life.
Aim to visit all seven continents in your lifetime, using every possible mode of transport – walking, cycling, aeroplane, helicopter, boat, hovercraft, train, tram, car, bus, campervan, husky-sledge, skis, surfboard, horse-drawn carriage, tuk-tuk, gondola, rickshaw, scooter, horse, camel, elephant… you are limited only by your imagination (and, much more boringly, your budget). Don’t allow yourself to become stuck in a rut or caught up in your own tiny microcosmic bubble: talk to other travellers and get inspired by travel blogs and books. Be ambitious, intrepid and spontaneous. Pole to pole this awesome planet is almost 25,000 miles in circumference, with almost seven billion inhabitants, millions of species of wildlife, 57.5 million square miles of land mass and trillions of gallons of ocean. What are you waiting for?
To quote Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness…So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
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