Time over Money

At the start of the year, I set a goal to post more frequently to this blog. I’ve done a poor job. I’ve been very active on other platforms like Twitter and Instagram, have done nothing with Tumblr and have posted only infrequently on this blog since the start of the year. I have yet to master the art of short – but still meaningful – posts. Perhaps I can still salvage my goal.

A recent article by Kevin Kelly caught my attention and I found myself wanting to add more than just 140 characters to the conversation. Kevin makes the claim that time is more valuable than money when traveling. I fully agree with that premise. Like Kevin, though perhaps not (yet) quite as extensively, I’ve traveled constantly over my lifetime. His quick log at the start of his post even resembles my own experiences in many ways. Though I haven’t (yet) walked 1,000 miles on a single trip or bicycled across the US. I did once fly to Hawaii on a door-prize win. I’ve traveled first class and been pampered. I’ve hitchhiked penniless on multiple continents and wandered for months across country borders with no destination and only a return ticket several months away. I was once robbed in a small train station where everything of value was taken and I was grateful because the only valuable items to me, my journals of prior 6 months, were viewed as worthless papers.

As the son of an Army Officer (hoorah), I grew up moving around. Growing-up, a small sign hung in our kitchen that read: “Home is Where the Army Sends You.” Home for me included multiple locals on two continents before I was 18 and I followed by adding several more in the few decades since.

In many ways travel defines me and I’m extremely lucky to have a day job that allows me to travel. And when I travel – especially to far-off locations where I’ve never been – I always try to take a few extra days to get lost. Like Kevin, I believe it is far better to have more time than money. As Kevin writes:

When you have abundant time you can get closer to core of a place. You can hang around and see what really happens. You can meet a wider variety of people. You can slow down until the hour that the secret vault is opened. You have enough time to learn some new words, to understand what the real prices are, to wait out the weather, to get to that place that takes a week in a jeep.

Unfortunately today I have more money than time. But when I travel, I try to use money to get me where only time matters. And then I watch and wait.