Travel Sabbatical Insights, A Poem

The Holstee Manifesto.

As our transition back into "real life" approaches, it's natural for any extended traveler to begin having a personal philosophical debate about their experiences, trying to somehow articulate it into some deep meaningful expression before it all gets drowned out by the rat race of life all over again.   After all, doesn't it seem somewhat shallow if we didn't at least entertain the idea that we learned some life lessons from our travels rather than treating it as just one big vacation?

The following is an interesting excerpt from Notebooks by Albert Camus, a French writer and philosopher that spent his life addressing this conundrum between human need to seek inherent value and meaning in everything and the reality that we sometimes don't.  His philosophy of absurdism (no joke, look it up), may have made him cynical, but I appreciate this less romanticized explanation of the value of travel.

"What gives value to travel is fear.  It is a fact that, at a certain moment, when we are so far from our own country...we are seized by a vague fear, and an instinctive desire to go back to the protection of old habits.  This is the most obvious benefit of travel...This is why we should not say that we travel for pleasure.  There is no pleasure in traveling, and I look upon it more as an occasion for spiritual testing.  Pleasure takes us away from ourselves in the same way as distraction...Travel, brings us back to ourselves."

However, towards the end of our trip, my mind - under pressure - did begin racing with the inevitable (and usually unanswerable) heavy-hitting questions: what does this all mean, did I learn anything, did it change my life, etc.  Ironically, writing down any thoughts in complete sentences and paragraphs didn't always capture the correct sentiment without losing the simple meaning in all of the rambling.  I really didn't intend for a poem to develop (especially since I'm ignorant of any guidelines on how to write a proper one), but it seemed the most organic way to jot down my Travel Sabbatical insights. 

Certainly, I will cringe at my own sentimentality when I re-read this in the future.  Oh well, it's how I saw it at the moment.

Happy New Year everyone.

Travel Sabbatical Insights, A Poem

I want time to stand still,

To stay in perpetual freedom.

I want time to pass quickly,

To escape from this vagabond life. 

Responsibilities, 

Schedule, 

Routine, I can't recall.

Discipline, I left it all behind.

How ignorant I am.

How naive I've been.

In my world view.

My cocoon.

Ecuador.  You surprised me.

Jerusalem.  You enlightened me.

Buenos Aires.  You nourished me.

Chiang Mai.  You cast a spell on me.

Cambodia.  Your resilience inspired me.

Vietnam. Your beauty stunned me.

Istanbul.  Your grandeur seduced me.

Tangier. Your impenetrable facade mystified me.

The Balkans.  Your ongoing struggles challenged me.

Witness to history unfolding.

Sometimes repeating.

"Those who cannot remember the past

are condemned to repeat it."

Repeating. 

Personal Freedoms.
Due Process.

No longer just words to me.

I've seen a lot.

Not seen enough.

Done a lot.

More to do. 

Met many.

But only a few.

Learned daily.

Experienced much.

Took less for granted.

Left with more appreciation.

How alive I feel.
For my mom who couldn't.
For my friend who didn't.

This was no vacation.

A career break.

A gap year.

A trip around the world.

Was it a life changer?  
Or a life staller? 

Only time will tell, but right now, 

I want time to stand still,
To feed my curiosity.

I want time to pass quickly,

To acknowledge that new perspective.

Only time will tell.

The insights from our

Travel Sabbatical.

-Akiko Kubo

Cambodia, Exciting Times For This Frontier Country

At the Cambodia Stock Exchange (CSX)

We are proud holders of a Cambodian bank account and in process of getting an official Investor ID through the Cambodian Securities Exchange Commission to obtain a brokerage trading account to start trading stock in Cambodia!  

Hit the brakes!  What?!  Okay, back up for a second.  Allow us to explain...

This is an unusual write up for a travel blog in that we want to talk about the emerging Cambodian economy and stock market.  

Before you hit the snooze button, let us say that this is a very exciting time for Cambodia.  It's more civilized than the wild-wild East that it used to be about 10-15 years ago.  However, it is still a sleepy, raw, unrefined frontier country, starting to wake up to the 21st century. 

Phnom Penh, A City in Mourning with a Promising Future

This post covers not only King Sihanouk's passing, but also a variety of Phnom Penh, Cambodia experiences this week, including the Royal Palace, National Museum, river view, wats (temples), the food scene, brewery tour, etc.  The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison is a different posting.  

Mercurial.  That's how the foreign press described the personality of Cambodia's ex-King Sihanouk, when they reported his passing away on October 15th, 2 weeks shy of his 90th birthday.  His personality may have been volatile and unpredictable, but Cambodians don't refer to him as "The King-Father of Cambodia" for nothing.  He was very loved and admired.

Ex-King Norodom Sihanouk, lying in state at Royal Palace, Phnom Penh.

Onward to Cambodia: Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields

In 2 days, we will be making our overland journey into Cambodia. We are definitely looking forward to visiting the main Cambodian attraction, the Angkor Archeological Park near Siem Reap,  which people claim is even more spectacular than Machu Picchu! 

However, we cannot ignore the late 70s genocide by the Khmer Rouge that wiped out 1/3 of the country's population.  Some of our travels take us to cool places like the beaches of Thailand, but we think it's important to witness other, more sobering places like Cambodia.

The sad and dark history probably evades most people's memory, either because we were too young to recall, but more likely because it occurred in the shadow of post-Vietnam War and the rest of the world either turned their heads or simply did not know what was going on in Cambodia.  They were "forgotten". 

Visiting Cambodia requires historical context.  We've been brushing up on Khmer Rouge history, Killing Fields, and the infamous S-21 torture prison in Phnom Pehn.  We challenge you to at least read the history of Cambodia via Wikipedia and watch the movie, "The Killing Fields", again.  We did.  We also finished reading Haing Ngor's compelling personal story of survival in his book, "Survival in the Killing Fields".*shock* *sob*

Like the holocaust, it's unbelievable that fellow humans did this to each other.  Particularly in Cambodia, they were killed by their own flesh and blood.  Learning the history makes us acutely aware that genocide still occurs and can go on without being detected.  Yet, be able to celebrate their resilience by experiencing a very ancient and amazing culture.  

Cambodia, here we come!

What Happens in Bangkok, Stays in Bangkok

Khaosan Road during the day

The Vegas rule of engagement applies here, too.  What happens in Bangkok, stays in Bangkok.  So, don't expect any Hangover Part 2-esque accounting of events.  However, we can share a few observations to keep our blog going!

Ironically, we just left Jerusalem, the holiest and most religious city for one of the backpacker capitals of the world - Bangkok, Thailand.  Long gone are Jesus's sites, prayer books, wailing wall, churches, synagogues, mosques, and pilgrims.  

Now, we are surrounded by bars, clubs, tattoo parlors, Thai massage joints, pad thai street vendors, plastic buckets full of cheap booze, piercings, beer girls, lady-boys, hippie flowy clothing, tuk-tuks, and a sense that practically anything goes in this city that makes Vegas look like an amateur, as evidenced by the ping ping girls in Bangkok's Red Light District, Patpong Street (look it up, or read this R-rated article: Ping Pong Show by Adventurous Kate's blog).  

4th Day in Istanbul: A Photo Journey Through Topkapi Palace Harem

Take a journey of the Topkapi Palace Harem and palace grounds with us through these photos!

A BIT OF BACKGROUND...

Topkapi Palace was first built under the order of Sultan Mehmet II, the Ottoman conqueror of the Byzantines.  The palace, overlooking the Sea of Marmara, was the residence for many generations of Ottoman Sultans for 400 years since 1465.  In the late 19th century, the Sultan's home relocated across the bridge to the more European Dolmabahce Palace on the Bosphorus Strait. 

Serbia, The Bad Boy of the Balkans

To understand the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans, you have to get to know Serbia's roots, its complex history and people.

For example, the Serbs occupied the entire Balkans Peninsula in the early centuries until the Ottoman-Turks conquered and ruled for 500 years.  In the 20th century, despite being part of a larger socialist federation of Yugoslavia, Serbia continued to be the political center of the federation and called the shots.  Yugoslavia's collapse in 1992 opened up 'opportunities' for extreme Serbian nationalists to push their  'Greater Serbia' agenda forward under the leadership of the infamous Slobodan Milosević, resulting in bloodshed, wars, and atrocities such as ethnic cleansing.  As punishment and disapproval, the world isolated Serbia in response to their behavior. 

Day 88: Random Buenos Aires Adventures

This is a random assortment of events in one blog with buses, Kansas Grill, Thai Embassy, etc., but it all happened in one day, and it was quite adventurous so read on!

We thank our lucky stars that we can do this kind of traveling without hassle by virtue of having been born in countries that allow their citizens to roam freely around most of the world (We don't take it for granted.  Our freedoms CAN be taken away).  There are others that require their people apply for visas to leave their own country, and plenty of nations that require visitors from certain places to apply for tourist visas before entry.  That's a lot of embassy hopping.  For the most part, our journey doesn't require us to obtain special visas.  Except, if we want to stay in Thailand for longer than 30 days in October, which we do.  

It seems premature to apply for a tourist visa in July (for October), but looking at our next 2-3 months, we will frequently be on-the-go without the benefit of a Thai Embassy nearby.  Since we're hunkered down in Buenos Aires (BA) for 3-weeks, why not get this business taken care of now?  We did have to consult our calendar because we cannot be too hasty...we must enter Thailand within 90-days of issue, or else the visa expires.  This happens to be the perfect window of opportunity.  

Travel Vaccination Article Published in Meet, Plan, Go!

Hello friends! We have been published! We have had the amazing privilege of getting our article on travel immunizations and prescriptions published through Meet, Plan, Go! website on Monday, May 28th, 2012. Meet, Plan, Go! is more than a nationally recognized website providing inspiration and travel advice for anyone interested in taking a career break or extended travel. They offer networking opportunities across the country for like minded individuals to learn from each other. So, we are very honored to have this opportunity to share what we learned during our planning phase. Here is our article titled, 10 Steps to Knowing What Travel Immunizations You Need.

When You Have a Cold in Japan

Visiting a Japanese drugstore is an 'adventure', even for someone like me who is a nurse and can figure things out in Japanese. My prior experience with visiting a drugstore in Japan is rare because my mother was a pharmacist and she had access to all the awesome remedies! Since she passed away, though, we're sort of on our own. Best just to describe your symptoms to the pharmacists behind the counter and ask for a recommendation. Most of them can understand some English.

Here's some helpful information from the blog, Surviving in Japan Without Much Japanese: 7 words to know when you have a cold (in Japan).

After describing our symptoms of a cough/phlegm, we were given this medicine from behind the counter. Fortunately, many of the active ingredients (except for the eastern medicine components) are listed in their generic names, which are universal (except for acetaminophen versus paracetamol, etc.), as written previously in the post, Foreign Equivalents of Over-the-Counter Meds.

We're not getting a paid sabbatical, but an interesting article, nevertheless.

Everyone Deserves a Paid Sabbatical

I've learned so much from my own wanderlust that I decided to pass it on to my employees: Everyone gets a free one-month trip every five years. Here's why.

Plain and simple: Sabbaticals make business sense.

Bolivia, Morocco, Vietnam, and many other exotic locations worldwide, have taught me valuable business lessons. That's because I would throw most of my income from my first business into yearly treks that would flood my head with business ideas. These annual, three-month trips never failed to rekindle the fire in my belly needed to lead a fast-growing company.

My biggest light-bulb moment—the one that spurred the idea for my company—happened on Red Frog Beach in Panama. I was thinking that marathons and 5Ks had become, well, boring. It was time to inject military-style obstacles, mud, and beer. We created an event called Warrior Dash, which did just that. In three years it became the world's largest running series.

I gained so much from my wanderlust that it only made sense to offer this benefit to my employees, my Frogs. Every five years they (and a guest of their choice) get a fully paid one-month trip to the destination of their choice. One catch: North America and Australia are off limits (most Frogs already go to Australia for our events there). This isn't a cocktail-umbrella-on-the-beach sort of trip. It's a push-yourself-outside-of-your-comfort-zone, culture-drenched, that-just-changed-my-life trip. Those trips bring home game-changing ideas. Those are sabbaticals.

My leadership philosophy has always been that when you treat your employees well, they'll perform well (see Give Your Employees Unlimited Vacation Days and Why Your Employees Need a Treehouse). Start a sabbatical benefit for your employees because:

Everyone needs to recharge. Frogs can disconnect for a full month every five years. A month away allows enough time to come back hungry to tackle the next big project.

Appreciation goes a long way. I give tremendous latitude, sabbaticals included, and it's appreciated. People who love their job perform better.

They gain worldly perspectives. Learning new cultures only helps bring fresh thoughts to the table on your next project.

Valuable family or friend time. Red Froggers flat-out work hard. A month away every five years allows time to reconnect with a loved one.

Going outside of your comfort zone elicits unconventional ideas. Being away for a month breeds creativity. My best ideas come during extended time away.

Africa is calling. My wife and I are headed there next winter and I guarantee I'll come home with plenty more than pictures of giraffes.

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Original Page: http://www.inc.com/joe-reynolds/let-your-employees-unplug-and-take-sabbaticals.html

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