There's a line in the Mamma Mia movie that mentions one of the main character's books. Bill Anderson, the lone wolf traveler of Mamma Mia, wrote a novel titled, Bloke in a Boat in Botswana. Why am I telling you this? First of all, I love Mamma Mia and second of all, imagine the scene of a hippie stuck in a canoe in the middle of Botswana.
The image is so foreign and untouchable; it's an image that many people can only imagine because their actual feet will never touch the ground of these locations.
If you don't feel this way, then my anecdote has been wasted on you. However, if you can imagine the untouchable land of a place like Botswana or Zimbabwe, you can understand how daunting and fulfilling it would be to actually spend some time getting down and dirty in these places.
This is what happened to me. For so long, I felt certain areas of the globe were inaccessible and I limited myself to only a few famous cities. For example, when I imagine Paris, a city I wistfully admire, I am reminded of its accessibility. I could easily jump on a plane in Boston and land at Charles de Gaulle, only to be found stuffing my face with bread a moment later, all in a span of about ten hours.
However, my trek through Botswana was not as rosy as my imagined Paris stop, nor did it need to be.Traveling isn't meant to be easy; it is meant to be eye-opening and awe-inspiring. What happened to me while I was opening my eyes and gasping in awe? Well, I'll tell you...it involved a lot of dirt and lukewarm water.
I took an open air truck filled with all of my belongings to a remote village on the banks of the Okavango Delta. Once there, I was met by a fleet of dug-out canoes called a mokoros and whisked away on a peaceful ride through the seamless water, only to be awoken from my nap by the sweltering African sun. At our makeshift camp site, at the bank of the water, dirt, bugs, and the possibility of a Big Five encounter, greeted us. My requirements for being off the grid included: no geographic orientation of where you are, a capped amount of water, and a deep hole to pee or, as the mokoro men put it, to conduct serious business in.
Check...check...and check.
I was out there, in a place I have never imagined spending time in. However, despite my surprisingly wonderful time in the delta, one of my favorite moments in Botswana, occurred on the curb of a one-horse town called Maun. I'm exaggerating, though. There were many cars, too. Anyway, a suspected homeless man came up to my group and started chatting to us about life. This stranger gave us probably the most profound advice we could have ever imagined at this point during our trip. As he walked away with a natural swagger, the man proclaimed, "Go where you go! Go with God." So simple, yet, so meaningful. I turned back to my friend and repeated, "Go where you go." I can still see him now, walking off into the distance with so much swag that it was hard to believe that he actually existed.
What I'm really trying to say is never limit yourself. Don't close yourself off to the world that has been waiting, since the day you were born, with open arms ready to embrace you. The world is a scary place, but it is also a marvelous one. It's a cheesy sentiment, but, honestly, who doesn't like cheese?
As my fleeting friend said, "Go where you go...". Take the plunge and go wherever you want because life's too short to sit here and listen to me rattle on about the great big world out there. Go out there and discover it for yourself!
