GOOD STUFF

by MARI JAMADI Wait, what about good stuff?

Rick is right, we actually need very little in our day to day and while preparing for this trip I became adept at purging all that felt expendable. (All the bad stuff). I chucked most of my possessions (good riddance) but found myself holding tight to certain items that embody some sort of nostalgia. (The good stuff).

Coming home to the house I grew up in, I am reminded that these walls are filled with both the good and bad stuff. Keeping up with the purging cycle, I've been helping my dad get rid of the extraneous tucked into all sorts of corners and drawers, only to discover so much good stuff! Collections of good stuff!

Now what? What do we keep? What do we toss? How do we determine where this stuff falls on the good/bad scale?

The irony is that while I am here purging everything to travel the world, all the good stuff my dad has acquired comes from exactly that- traveling the world.

So should we get rid of our bad stuff, acquire better stuff, in order to have only good stuff?

STUFF

by RICK ONORATO "What are you going to do with all your stuff?"

It's the question I hear most often when I tell people that I'm going to travel long term. Not "Where are you going?" or "How do you do it?" or even "Why??" They just want to know about my stuff. It's a puzzling concept to me because for most the presence of stuff seems to act as an impenetrable barrier to their dreams. When I begin to explain my plans their heads predictably/instinctively start to shake and it isn't long before they quip "I could never do that. I have too much stuff."

Most/many people will profess a desire to travel the world, but few will ever muster the wherewithal to do so — often citing stuff as their chief impediment. Is this simply a convenient excuse to mask their greater fears about tackling such a bold journey (this I would understand)? Or is their stuff really so intrinsically vital that they cannot bear to be parted from it? From my own standpoint, nothing is so liberating as getting rid of excessive and unneeded stuff (throw it out!). You would be amazed at how little you actually need to survive/thrive in this world (and what little you do need is easily acquired). A life unburdened by material possessions can be so liberating and free — go anywhere/do anything!

But to allow stuff to prevent you from living a bigger life, or following a dream, is something I find difficult to fathom. What are you more likely to remember five years from now — a country you visited, an experience you had, an adventure you lived? Or a bag, gadget or pair of shoes you bought? I am reminded of an old George Carlin rant from some years ago on just this very topic. You can watch it here:

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

What do you pack for a 1.5 year adventure around the world?

Take a peek into my backpack.

GOODBYE CONEY ISLAND

With the few days we have left in NYC, we decided to say a proper goodbye to Coney Island...

LIVE BIG

Ask yourself one question...

DO YOU...

?

EUROPE'S WILD MEN

(photo above: FRANCE | Spring festivals in the Pyrenees feature local men playing the role of bears awakening hibernation)

The April issue of National Geographic had a photo essay by Charles Fréger that caught my eye...

EUROPE'S WILD MEN

I am always one for fables, monster tales, pagan traditions, ritualistic practices, and brilliant garb.

"A primal heart still beats in Europe. Deep beneath the gloss of cell phone sophistication lie rituals that hard back to harvests and solstices and fear of the winter dark. Monsters loom in this shadowy heart, but so does the promise of spring's rebirth and fertile crops and women cradling newborn babies. It turns out that Europe-at least pockets of it-has not lost its connection to nature's rhythms. That connection is rekindled during festivals that occur across the continent from the beginning of December until Easter. The celebrations correspond to Christian holidays, but the rituals themselves often predate Christianity. The roots are difficult to trace."

(photo below left: PORTUGAL | During Carnival in Lazarim characters called caretos parade through the village in hand-carved masks to a bonfire where effigies known as the comadre and compadre are burned)

(photo below right : AUSTRIA | Every five years the men of Telfs collect lichen to create Wilder Mann, or Wild Man, costumes for the town's Carnival festival. Tradition dictates that they nibble on a piece of this lichen before the festivities)

+ PHOTO BELOW PAGE LEFT +

( Upper Left - ROMANIA New Years Day // Upper Right - FRANCE Bear at the Festival of the Bears )

( Lower Left - SWITZERLAND Sauvage at Carnival // Lower Right - GERMANY Strohmann at Carnival )

+ PHOTO BELOW PAGE RIGHT +

( Upper Left - POLAND Macidulas on New Years // Upper Right - SPAIN Zezengorri at Carnival )

( Lower Left - ITALY Boes on the Eve of St. Anthony // Lower Right - AUSTRIA Krampus on St. Nicholas's Eve )

(photo below left: GERMANY | On Christmas Eve Pelzmärtle appears in the village of Bad Herrenalb with the Christkind (Baby Jesus) to scold naught children and rap them with a stick. The straw costume is sewn on to the wearer)

(photo below right: BULGARIA | On New Year's Day men cover themselves with goatskins to impersonate the Kukeri, who both embody and chase away evil spirits. In the past they'd brush against women to bestow fertility)

THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR WALKING

One of the most popular questions I get asked about this trip is: WHAT ARE YOU TAKING?

As I have been shopping for backpacks, I am acutely aware that whatever I bring, I will have to carry, so only the precious few will have to suffice. The problem is, women like their shoes. I especially have an affinity for boots. I will not have the option of being able to traipse around Mongolia in chosen boots x, y, or z. My closet will not come with. So then began the task of finding the right pair of boots that could last a world wide trip without looking like an ad for L.L. Bean or being offensive to my feet. So I type in "women's hiking boots" into Google Shopping. Voilá...

or should I say voil-ain't...

Let's face it. Hiking boots are not sexy.

But come on! I don't want to take these anywhere, let alone across the world! And these were the ones that popped up on page one! Can you imagine the next 10 pages? Save yourself the view and trust me when I say there were too many unnecessary fur cuffs, purple shoes (because this is apparently what makes a hiking boot "womanly"), and it was an all together ugly-fest. Woof.

So after countless weeks of searching both on and off the internet and spotting a pair of boots on a plane that I liked, only to regretfully not ask the women where she got them from, but instead get Rick to lean over across the aisle to try and read the label (unsuccessfully), I FINALLY found them here. Sigh. My detective work paid off and there is nothing purple about them.

I spiced them up with red laces and cannot wait until I'm globe trekking.

WE ARE NOMADIC HABIT

Some roads are smooth. Some parts are rough. Bumps and holes are parts of the road called life

Some scenes are lush green. Some are of barren sands. Scenes good or bad, together we will travel.

When storm is raging And frightful bolts strike, in thunder and rain, we will travel together.

~ Champs Ulysses Cabinatan

HELLO

Hello. I want to welcome you to Nomadic Habit.

We are excited to document our adventure here on the blog.

Our primer Nomadic Habit Shop is also open for business and is currently featuring products I've hand-crafted.

GO SHOPPING !

*Remember, for each purchase you will receive a postcard from an exotic locale along the journey*

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PS- Like the photography? Check out my WEBSITE.

NOTABLE NOMADS

 

"The only things which are still worth what they have cost me are my travel memories, the mind-pictures of places which I have been hoarding like a happy miser."

~Burton Holmes

I have always been a fan of Burton Holmes, admiring his itch to see the world, but also his need to document it. Born in 1870 in Chicago, Burton became an accomplished traveler, photographer, and filmmaker. He got the travel bug at age nine when his grandmother took him to hear a then-famous travel lecturer, John L. Stoddard. Perhaps Holmes also boasted a nomadic habit.

Interesting fact: he coined the term "travelogue."

Want more? Buy his photo book HERE.