Introduction

A Life of Travel (In other words: "Just Plain Living")

I have always had a thing for borders, crossing them looking at them.   To me, they represent change, a fresh start, different people; but more importantly new experiences and adventure. Borders and rivers divide the world and the nation not only geographically but culturally. When driving north crossing the Ohio River you are no longer in the South, you are in the North. You have left the land of Dixie and are now in the land of Yankee. A lot of things in life aren't necessarily better or worse but just different. The food is different, people talk completely differently and you know immediately you are not from where you once were. Before going to the Ferry terminal in Kentucky to cross over to Illinois you can get grits with your eggs, afterward the crossing in Illinois you can get hash browns, which in Kentucky are called home fries. You also might be called honey on one side of the river and sweetie on the other, it is always all good. Borders, whether man-made or natural, are where we come together and also where we are divided.

My hope with this site is to show people how to travel like the non-tourist; how to experience the world and the country that we live, in a completely different way. I love to travel and have done quite a bit of it and consider myself a citizen of the world. I have learned that there are a lot of people especially Americans that are timid about traveling on their own. A lot of real living is getting out of your comfort zone. I hope to show people that getting out of that comfort zone can be fun and safe. I have been to 4 of the 6 continents in this world and met a lot of people.  We all have the same basic needs; to feel safe, to love and to be loved, want a better life for our children. So throw away any notion about viewing poverty, that it is the same as viewing danger because they are not mutually inclusive. I have met people that live on less than a dollar a day, that are happier and better fed than a lot of Americans. It is grit of life that makes a real world.

Travel, in general, is all about the experience; which I love and have learned to collect. I collect them like some people collect things, the more that you can collect that are good or even bad unintentionally have the potential to make you a better person. Real travel educates; I'm not talking about staying in sanitized resorts and cruise ships being led around by a tour guide like a dog on a leash . What I'm talking about is staying in real neighborhoods and eating at local restaurants that haven't been corrupted by chasing the tourist dollar. My greatest travel experiences have been meeting people who did not think of me as a tourist as if I was there to view them like they were in a zoo.

On a recent business trip to Kuwait, I had a discussion with a Bangladeshi Taxi driver that not only gave me insight into his life in Kuwait, but also his life and family in Bangladesh where he had started a rice export business. To me, this is what travel is all about. It is about life and the different places that those lives are lived.

So hold on for the ride, I promise a wild one.