Happy Blog Birthday

It's been one year since I published my first post about Spain on Why Travel Why Not.  When I started this blog it was all about trying something new.  I knew I loved writing science, but I wanted to see if I could write in a different style about something else I cared deeply about: traveling.  I had my doubts that my blog would make it through the summer, Mark Twain had some insight into the endurance of journaling, which this blog is a form of:

"At certain periods it becomes the dearest ambition of a man to keep a faithful record of his performances in a book; and he dashes at this work with an enthusiasm that imposes on him the notion that keeping a journal is the veriest pastime in the world, and the pleasantest. But if he only lives twenty-one days, he will find out that only those rare natures that are made up of pluck, endurance, devotion to duty for duty's sake, and invincible determination, may hope to venture upon so tremendous an enterprise as the keeping of a journal and not sustain a shameful defeat."

However, now one year later with such a collection of stories, I feel like I can't stop.  Stopping would be like cutting a great journey short, as much for myself as for those who read this, few or many as there may be.   So happy blog birthday Why Travel Why Not, and may there be many more!

A Taste of What's Yet to Come On Why Travel Why Not

Exploring San Juan Puerto Rico.

Mark Twain's Take on the Middle East and Europe

Musings From His Trip Through Syria in 1867

Sometimes I suffer the coincidence of learning some tidbit about history right when that tidbit repeats itself in the current time.  This happened to me most recently the day after the deadly Paris attack by terrorists that saw over a hundred westerners massacred.  The day after the attacks I was switching between watching news coverage and reading The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain, a non-fiction account of his travels through Europe and the Middle East in 1867.  Mark Twain has a famous quote that emphasizes how travel teaches us to be more tolerant of other cultures and generally less of a “jack-ass” as he loves to repeat in The Innocents. 

However, Twain did not hold back in his account Damascus in Syria and the general view of Westerners by the locals.  He even goes so far as to predict that Russia will bomb Syria due to actions by what we now call Jihadist Muslims against Christians (Twain calls all Westerners Christians despite how religious they are).  I have copied the text below.  It picks up as Twain exits Damascus on his way to a memorial built for Christians who suffered the tenants of Jihad; comments in parenthesis are mine for context.

How Traveling Made Me a Minimalist

Trading Things For Memories

Minimalism (much like Buddhism) preaches that a happier and more meaningful life life can be found through expunging excess material belonging from ones existence.  I was by no means a minimalist 10 years ago.  I looked forward to having a home filled with exotic paintings and a library filled to the brim with books.  Alas I have neither of those things, and I am the happier for it.  

Getting Rid of Monthly Payments

My evolution into minimalism was somewhat in reverse of the process minimalism preaches, happiness following debulking of goods.  Once I found a more meaningful and happy life through extensive traveling, expunging my excess material belongings came along as course.  The first things I jettisoned from my life were services like cable television.  My thinking went something like this: