"A frog in a well only sees a small part of the sky.” I first heard this quote on Sky’s “An Idiot Abroad” from the show’s host/victim, Karl Pilkington. To me, this means that staying in one spot limits your view of the world. By that, I mean not traveling is like only ever seeing one part of the sky. I tried looking up the quote and found that Karl just horribly misquoted a Mao Zedong quote about ignorance. Despite that, the quote still holds my initial response to it and is often something I think about when considering my personal values.
In today's modern world, travel is a privilege, first and foremost. Not everyone can travel for pleasure, either due to lack of money, means to get around, ability, time, etc. Therefore, it is something I treasure, as both something I can do and something I have done in the past. I believe travel broadens your mind, and it makes you more receptive to differences not only in people but in cultures as well. Travel is a hobby I want to continue to explore and something I want to expose my kids to, so they can also receive its benefits.
Since I was a baby, I have been camping at the Rocky Mountain National Park. We went what felt like every other year to the mountains, staying at a different lake each time. Whether we went up by horse or foot, it was never easy (actually the horses were pretty easy) to reach the site. I remember the first time I did a five-mile hike, and I begged my dad to let me take a nap on a rock. Your struggle on the way up only seems to make the destination all the more special. Boulder-hopping to have a picnic on a standing rock, shimmying past a cliff to see an old mining tunnel: these things were never easy to reach, but we sought them out. I haven’t been back in a while, but I have a feeling I’m not even halfway done with camping in the Rockies.
More recently, We took a road trip from Minneapolis to San Diego. This two-week endeavor included stops at many prominent national parks along the way. Making a capital "U" across the American southwest, we went down to Arkansas, Texas, over to New Mexico, Arizona and finally, up into California. I saw muddy swamps, southern desolation, a Texas night sky, the clouds of New Mexico and the hipsters of California. In this massive country we live in, it takes weeks to travel several states over. Sitting in a car for days straight, surrounded by other passengers, family, friends and maybe even strangers, helps you learn the art of co-existing.
After we returned home, I had two days of rest before my next adventure. We usually went to our summer cabin around this time, but this year I was gifted my own trip. My cousin living in Germany offered to host me on a Euro trip, acting as a kind of “home base” for me. Leaving the country was something I had never done, and not only was I going across the ocean, but I was doing it alone. I can’t say I wasn’t afraid, but I felt really excited at the idea of going alone. I was confident in my traveling abilities, despite only ever traveling alone once before.
The idea of being a frog in a well means that you must scale your way out. To escape isn’t easy, but the end goal is priceless. Through it all, you will face fear, uncertainty, hate, being uncomfortable in your chair and getting a ticket for something. But once you’re out, you’ll find the wide seas and endless horizon.
