There is no other movie with greater immersion for me than Into the Wild. I realize that my own travels have been mundane and tame in comparison to the travels portrayed in the movie, but the feelings are the same. The mindset is the same. People who have not done a similar trip like that will simply not understand that feeling. It is impossible to understand that feeling unless you experience it yourself.
Having just finished the movie, my resolve is strengthened again after months and months of stagnating in silly old London. I must travel. I've long debated with myself on how I will travel next. I bought a suitcase thinking I will become a traveling programmer and I will hop from city to city, hotel to hotel. Unlike the movie I am nowhere near giving up money. I will use money as a tool wherever I need to, and I won't shun technology either. As long as it's lightweight, has a long battery life and fits in my backpack. Cycling will be the way to go for me. I am used to it.
My goal is not to make the most extreme challenging trip I can think of. I don't care about how I get my food or if I need to learn a whole new language to make the most out of my trip. In fact, I'd rather not as little time as possible on either of those things. The trip is about the trip, not about boasting to other people how difficult it was and how you managed to do so many difficult things. Bullshit. It's about traveling, seeing the world, having random encounters with people and exploring life. You can do that anywhere if you're in the right mindset, which means being unencumbered by menial things such as an apartment, a job and things. I don't want to prove anything to anyone, I just want to travel. People who argue with me that that is not what I really want do not understand me.
A lack of extremes conditions the mind to only think in a certain way. The more you think a certain way, the harder it is to get out of that pattern of thoughts. If all you think about is settling down in London then you will become a very boring Londoner. Or the Asian parent version: if all you can think about is studying knowledge from books then all you'll ever be is a robot. You need to get out there, do unexpected things, let life happen to you. Only then will your mind be free.
Fuck London. Next year I am cycling from New York to San Francisco.