🌎 On traveling for the people you meet
Plus two quotes and three content recommendations
Hello friends 👋
I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July weekend if you’re in the U.S. If you’re not in the U.S, well I hope you had a wonderful weekend wherever you’re at.
Welcome to the 8 new subscribers since my last newsletter a few months back. It’s been a while, and it feels good to be back to share today’s essay on why I travel (which took me years to figure out).
If you’re new here, feel free to join 184 others:
For this edition of the Baer Necessities:
One short essay on why I travel
Two quotes from others
Three content recommendations
Let’s get to it!
Why do we travel?
Recently, I was discussing upcoming Summer travel plans with some close friends.
One of my best friends said: “I really don’t care where we go, it’s more about the people than the place for me.”
This hit me like a brick wall because it’s exactly what I’ve recently come to realize about travel (after years of thinking it was all about the destination).
It’s not about the iconic landmarks or breathtaking nature or mouth-watering foreign cuisines. It’s not the lessons you learn on the road or the new cultures you immerse myself in or the languages you get to practice.
Don’t get me wrong, I love all these things too. And I think everyone should experience them.
But at the end of the day, it’s all about the people you meet along the way.
It’s the strangers that instantly turn into long-lost friends. It’s the old friendships rekindled in new places. It’s the adventures you find yourself on with someone you just met that day.
Traveling for the People
As a last-minute travel planner, I’m always guilty of decision paralysis with so many options at my disposal. Especially when I’m solo traveling.
Where will I go next? Where will I stay there? What will I do? How long will I stay? Does the place have good WiFi and working conditions for digital nomads?
And sure, these questions are important to ask yourself.
You don’t want to go somewhere that doesn’t align with your goals or interests. And if last-minute planning makes your skin crawl, then you’ll want to book some things on the calendar.
But realizing that your minute-by-minute itinerary is not what’s going to make or break your trip is the first step to embracing a trip of twists and turns, new friendships, and unforgettable adventures.
Because in all my travels I’ve been lucky enough to embark on, whether it’s 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months, I remember the people more than the place itself.
The same is true for my recent three-month trip working remote and backpacking in Colombia.
I remember the British guy in his late 30s who taught me the power and serendipity of saying yes (even if you want to stay in and do nothing). Or the Airbnb host in the Colombian countryside who came to my door and handed me hot chocolate and a fresh arepa every morning. Or the group of digital nomad friends I made in Medellin who I later traveled with to the Caribbean coast. Or the friends I met in a hostel in the mountains that traveled across the coast with me for weeks. Or the many receptionists and restaurant owners who talked Spanish with me (even though I sounded ridiculous). Or the friends I went on a horseback bar crawl with in another small Colombian pueblo.
I could go on and on and on.
But the point is: I rarely remember the details of every place I travel to or the history I learn on tours.
Anywhere you go — even if it’s right at home in your backyard — the relationships and community you build is more important than the place itself.
Especially when you’re backpacking across foreign lands, your social walls go down.
Everyone is in the same boat — in a foreign country and looking for friends to do cool things with.
The stranger sitting next to you in a cafe can instantly become a long-lost best friend. The girl swimming in the hostel pool can lead to weeks of adventures. The local neighbor across the hall can become your personal tour guide.
And as one fellow traveler taught me, this mindset of open-mindedness with others should travel back home with you too.
That former colleague you want to reconnect with? DM them.
That old friend who you haven’t talked to in years? Give them call.
That girl at the coffee shop you’ve been wanting to ask out? Strike up a conversation.
We create these self-imposed walls, based on fear, that serve zero purpose. And one important thing that travel has taught me is that these walls are actually non-existent.
So whether you’re traveling or just living your life back home, it’s all about the people.
Sometimes, we connect deeply to a place, but usually we connect deeper to people.
People connect us to a place, and, yet, we’re so fixated on the place itself.
That’s why I’m aiming to make my decisions, especially with regards to travel, about the people I can meet or reconnect with versus solely on the place alone.
Now go forth and travel far and wide (and let me know who you meet along the way).
Two Quotes from Others
I.
Investor Charlie Munger on how to decide what to work on:
“So you have to figure out what your own aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don’t, you’re going to lose. And that’s as close to certain as any prediction you can make. You have to figure out where you’ve got an edge. And you’ve got to play within your own circle of competence.”
Source: Poor Charlie’s Almanack
II.
Poet Mary Oliver on staying curious and astonished throughout life:
“When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.”
Source: Poem 102: When Death Comes
Three Links Worth Sharing
I. Essay I’m reading:
On Writing Better: 43 Things I Learned from My Insane 2 Years of Study by Nat Eliason —
If you’re looking to level up your writing practice, there’s no better guy to learn from than Nat. I’ve been reading his newsletter for years, and this might be the most valuable thing he’s written yet. He just spent two years writing his first book Crypto Confidential (which I’m also excited to read) and distilled everything he learned in this long essay.
One of my favorites is his tip to Open Questions in the Reader’s Mind:
“At the core of keeping a reader's interest is creating questions in their mind that they want answered.
Early on in a book, as quickly as possible, there needs to be some big question that gets planted in the reader's minds which they care enough to find the answer to:
Does Harry become a wizard? Does Luke rescue princess Leia? Do the Hobbits destroy the ring?”
If you’d rather listen to a podcast with Nat discussing these things, check out his recent interview on the How I Write podcast.
II. Book I’m Reading:
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang —
I wanted to dive into a science-fiction book, and this collection of short stories from Chiang fit that bill. My favorite short story is the one in the title of the book “Story of Your Life” but the story “Tower of Babylon” is incredible too. From the book description:
“Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—with some sense of normalcy. With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. An award-winning collection from one of today's most lauded writers, Stories of Your Life and Others is a contemporary classic.”
III. Podcast I’m Listening to:
Philosophize This! hosted by Stephen West —
I discovered this podcast a couple years ago when I was getting more interested in philosophy, but I didn’t want to spend years reading every old philosophical text. West is SO good at breaking down complex philosophical ideas into easily understandable takeaways that are relatable to our present day. A few of my favorite episodes to start you off with: Marshall McLuhan’s On Media, 4-part series on Nietzsche, and Henry David Thoreau.
Do you have any other content or cool things you think I’d like? Send it my way!
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! And if you liked it, share it with someone who is leaving for a trip soon.
Lastly, please don’t be a stranger, and reach out whenever! I love hearing from all of you.
Until next time,
Jonah
P.S. — Check out my personal site if you want to see more of what I’m up to lately.