7 Steps to
Money Free Travel

Jessie, the Peasant

It was on an overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, in the non-air-conditioned second class sleeper car, that I met a backpacker whose face I hardly remember and whose name I forgot.

So let us just call him Jessie. I asked Jessie what his travel style is.

He said his name isn't Jessie, it’s ***. (I blanked out. Again.)

“You look more like a Jessie, you should be called Jessie”, which amused him and thus he rolled with it. But I see Jessie silently questioning the life choices of his mother Sharon. But I digress.

Anyway, as budget-strapped, time-rich backpackers go, Jessie’s travel dictum is -

Travel light and go cheap.
Like a peasant.

.

Comparing travel notes, he asked if I've been to ***.

I said “No, it has not caught my awareness.” He strongly recommended that I go. And to go now while it is still pristine and uncorrupted by tourists.

Then we both paused. And as if reading each other’s minds, we both said -

“But our going there will eventually ruin it, innit?”

And so this question began to brew in my mind as I cradled my hot beverage, careful not to spill it on my silk kimono in the slow rickety racking of the Chiangmai train -

Is it possible to travel to a place without ruining it? But, like, do it in style? And also not murder anyone for increased difficulty?

I know what you might be thinking - it is all the rage.

#SustainableTravel #netzeroemissions

Well, I have a problem with that.

The solutions always entail compromise. Either you pay more or, like Jessie, you suck it and pay thousands of dollars for a plane ticket only to arrive like you are there to mow the lawn

Travel remains possible only to those who have saved some or dug themselves in debt, with either limited budget or limited time.

Or at end of life with a bad hip and a cocktail of subscription drugs. And never, gawd forbid, to those who juggle 3 jobs just to get by.

And why shouldn't it?

It tries to solve the problems from the same mindset and within the same framework that brought about the problems in the first place.

Solutions are spearheaded by leaders who will inject change that won't affect their status and make them trillions of dollars richer along the way.

Sustainable my ass.

Think of Bill Gates taking his private jet to the environmental summit.

Or Prince William, carbon footprint 3425 tonnes/year lecturing his subjects, carbon footprint of 11 tonnes/yr to have fewer kids.

I have nothing personal against these two. I just have this thing of taking advice only from those who lead by example.

A mobile to real life adventure challenge for those without the attention span to read guidebooks.