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Fear and Loathing in (stereotypical European country of choice)
Coming to the end of school and thinking about what’s next? Why not take a break?
From talking to people here in our own sixth form, it seems that a lot of us want to go travelling at some point, whether in the summer holidays or on a gap year. For one person, this sense of wanderlust was taken to the extreme when he decided to live out of his car whilst travelling in the American Southwest. This man, Richard Grant, currently lives in Arizona and was at one point a member of the relatively unknown American subculture, the modern day nomad. After watching his latest documentary, it struck me that he seemed to know a thing or two about travelling. I recently got in contact with Richard asking how to get the most out of any trek, and this is what he recommended for making any journey just a bit more unique:

“I guess to make your travels really memorable, you have to get out of your own comfort zone and take some risks. You have to go to a place that you don’t understand and make a serious effort to understand it. This does not preclude having a really good time there. But realize that the way you look at the world is just one narrow way of looking at the world, entirely shaped by the culture of one small and fairly smug little island. I always found hanging around in local bars to be instructive, although I hesitate to recommend it. Also going by myself into remote wilderness areas — very memorable. Accept that you are a fool and hope the place you’re in teaches you this gently. In poor countries, beware of cops. Beware of whores who say they don’t want money. Writing down your experiences in a notebook, rather than just taking photographs, forces you to think about them more deeply. Make friends. Meet lovers. Learn languages. Read good books about where you’re going, not just the guidebook. I was born curious, but perhaps curiosity can be encouraged too.”
Luke Petit doesn’t want your money.
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thefreepress-magazine posted this
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