Advice

Freedom is about having options so you can do what you love, pursue happiness, and get the most out of life. Yet how many of us are truly free today? How many of us can take a six month vacation? How many of us can afford to not worry about being laid off? How many of us can change careers and start at an entry level position in another industry? How many of us have the freedom to easily pack up our bags and move to a new city or country?

Most of can’t do any of this. What kind of freedom is that? Who has put these shackles on us to inhibit our options and possibilities? Who is impeding our ability to squeeze the most out of life?

Nobody knows for sure where the saying hike your own hike came from. Although I wrote a book called Hike Your Own Hike, I certainly didn’t coin the phrase. When I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2001, people were repeating that mantra often, so an anonymous hiker may have come up with the saying in the 1980s or earlier. Regardless, it’s an old concept. Native Americans surely had a similar saying in their languages 5,000 years ago.

What does hike your own hike mean?

Hike your own hike means that you should hike a trail in the manner that you enjoy, and not the way somebody tells you to hike it. Although you should ponder the advice of others, ultimately make your own decision and focus on having fun! For example:

Ultralight backpackers love to have endless and tedious discussions about how to shave off an ounce here and a gram there. They’ll blow an extra $50 just to get the pants that weigh a few feathers less than another pair of pants. These idiots are so obsessed with their pack-weight that they forget the whole point of backpacking: enjoying the wilderness.

I can describe ultralight backpackers accurately, because, sadly, I am one.

Indeed, I’m cursed with this ridiculous compulsion to chop every useless gram off my gear list. My talent for doing this made lightweight backpackers more interested in my Continental Divide Trail gear list than in the excitement of being the first person to yo-yo the CDT.

As a result, some backpackers ask me to examine their gear list and advise them on how to reduce their overall weight. However, before doing that, I ask them to send me a full body photo of themselves. Why?

One of the most fun and educational activities while traveling is to have the locals give you a history lesson. Whether you have a PhD in history or whether you don’t even know their damn capital, you’ll end up learning a lot about that country’s perspective—as well as your own.

Obviously, there are some shortcomings to learning history from the locals:

1. Their knowledge of their country’s demographics and economic activity might be based on their town, not their country.

2. Their impression of their neighbors frequently had no empirical evidence, just hearsay.

3. Their recollection of history is highly selective. People remember and forget different events. They emphasize certain events while overlooking others.

Every country does this. Throughout my three years of non-stop travel in Eastern Europe, people would vividly recount both how their country came to be and the root cause to their country’s problems. I would travel 100 kilometers to another region and listen to others describe, with equal passion and zeal, the same events in a completely different way.

One of the things important about history is to remember the true history. — George W. Bush

Not exactly, George. I always believed that there was only one true, objective version of history. In theory, that might be true, but in practice it isn’t. First, even if all history books in the world said the same thing, what really matters is what the people believe, because that is what they will teach the next generation.

It is said, “victors write history.” That’s true, but the losers don’t necessarily read or believe it. Instead, they tell their children “what really happened.”

History is a set of lies agreed upon. — Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

If you dig deep enough, perhaps you can uncover the truth, but it is often a murky and tricky affair.

However, perhaps trying to discover the truth is not that important to you. Are you a historian or an explorer?

Perception is reality; the people’s version of history is, in many ways, the history that matters. Therefore, while you travel, do your best to hear the history parents tell their children.

Even when you know the locals are wrong, you may not want to bother trying to change their minds. Instead, try to understand them, their reasoning, their beliefs, and their world view. Later, do some research to compare their view of history with “what really happened,” while recognizing that your sources (as objective as you hope they are) have their own biases. If this all ends up making you more confused than ever, wonderful. Welcome to traveling the world.

This article has been adapted from my book, The Hidden Europe. The article first appeared on A Pair of Panties and Boxers.

Whenever worries and anxiety overwhelm your life, people tell you, “Just relax.”

Thanks, that’s wise advice, but how the hell do you do that? You’d love “to be light and free,” but that seems impossible when you’re feeling heavy and enslaved. How do you do it?

What follows are two practical, yet profound ways to let go of your worries and anxiety. Use these two skills to lighten your load and unchain yourself from everyday frustrations.

I learned these two techniques from pilgrims who walk the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail. In their honor, I call it the Pilgrim’s Perspective.

Have you ever been caught in a vicious, windy, cold rainstorm? It can more dangerous and less comfortable than being in a snow storm. What if your rain gear and/or umbrella isn’t providing enough protection in such conditions? 

Unless your rain jacket is thick and not breathable, moisture is going to find a way through your rain gear during an intense, long-lasting storm. If you don’t do anything, you’ll risk hypothermia.

That’s when it’s time to pull out your tarp! Not to camp, but to wrap it around yourself like a poor man’s poncho! The tarp will provide three benefits:

• A layer of protection from the wetness: now water has to sneak through two layers (your tarp and your jacket).

• A quasi-backpack cover: provides an extra layer for moisture to fight through.

• A layer of insulation: although tarps aren’t breathable, because you’ll wear it as a poncho, there will be enough ventilation so you don’t get wet from the inside and it will trap a bit heat to warm you up.

Once you warm up, slow down your hiking pace so you don’t start sweating. When I was yo-yoing the CDT, I carried about 5.5 pounds (2.5kg) of gear, so I didn’t have insulated clothes. On my southbound journey through Colorado, this strategy helped keep me drier and warmer than I would have been otherwise in a couple of rough, cold rainstorms.

One last advantage: when finally decide to camp, you’ll already have your tarp out of your pack, so that’s one less thing to unpack! 

I first wrote this article for Gossamer Gear's Tips and Tricks.

For most of us, traveling the world for years seems as easy as starting the next Facebook. However, it's surprisingly doable once you hack out the mechanics.

There are five steps:

1. Slash your pre-trip expenses: Most of us have a habit of raising our expenses to match our income. Instead, live like a monk. Pretend you're making just above the poverty wage (say, $15,000).

This will force you to slash spending faster than we're slashing forests in the Amazon. Downsize your car, home, and social spending. If you're making $30,000, then within a year, you'll have about $15,000 saved. If you're making $50,000, then pocket over $30,000. Now you're ready to travel...

You'll never guess what's one of the most common question backpackers ask me. It's not a gear question or a food question or my favorite place to backpack. It's "How do you get sponsors?"

So to help answer that, I'll paraphrase JFK...

Ask not what sponsors can do for you, ask what you can do for your sponsors

The CEO of GoLite said that I was the first person to ever send him a sponsorship proposal with the section called "ROI" (Return On Investment). That shows that often times people don't consider that companies want to get something out of the experience beyond just the feeling that they're helping someone who needs help.

That's normal: most people don't toss money to beggars, but are more likely to give to street musicians who are providing a service (i.e., entertainment). When you seek sponsors, don't be a beggar - offer something in return for the donation.

Write a 1-3 page proposal. In your proposal, try to answer these questions:

• How will you market their brand?
• How much visibility will you get?
• Why you and not someone else?
• How do we know you will publish a book (or whatever)?
• How many books will you sell? How many presentations will you give?
• How prominently will you display our logo and where?