I am not joking, traveling in imagination can really be a trend. Let me explain why. Step by step. Myself, as you might have seen on my site, I like to travel a lot, and I’ve been to a few unconventional places, at least from a conventional wisdom perspective. But there are places you don’t actually want to go physically, unless you are a true adventurer. I mean a very true one! Recently, I’ve read Thor Pedersen’s book. The first man who travelled all countries in the world without using a plane! If you want to grab some delicious experiences, his book is here, and I highly recommend it! As I become more and more fascinated of Africa, especially after I’ve deeply visited Seychelles and Western Cape of South Africa, I am trying to visit it more and more. But, of course, Africa, as beautiful as it is, it is full of dangers, of all kinds.

Ethiopia, what a beautiful and wild place to be!

I will give you a core example: Ethiopia. It is a territory that fascinates me profoundly, as I gather knowledge. To start with the repetitive mentioning in the Old Testament of Ethiopia, then going thru the fact that it is the only nation in Africa which was never colonized by Europeans, and ending, at a glance, with the “One Love Culture” link which filled the Caribbean from Bob Marley’s era. A culture that I have actually experienced when I have visited beautiful Saint Lucia. You should find details about all these topics easily online, I won’t insist on it. Still, Ethiopia is the home of some of the finest runners in the world, so that guide me to read a book from a Scottish runner and anthropologist, Michael Crawley, who opened my eyes even more: “Out of thin air”. As well, “Though trucks – Ethiopia”, by Zay Harding, is another masterpiece which perfectly immerse you into this fascinating culture.

Imagine being there…

Now, Africa’s nature is not to be mentioned in any kind of pros when you want to highlight why you want to go there. It is just amazingly beautiful, and Ethiopia is no different. Even if it is a huge… landlocked country! I’ve been there a lot of times, and learned so many things, about Addis Ababa, Lalibela, and many other bigger, and especially smaller places. I’ve seen how you can feed from (almost) your palm wild hyenas, or how you can be concerned while being in a speeding truck. Of course, all of these were done by seeing others doing it. And it is very beautiful this way. Feeling the adrenaline or the danger live, is an unmatched story, but it is not for everybody. Especially when your fears outrun the final potential joy of being part of the landscape. I am not sure I will ever physically visit Ethiopia, but seeing it thru the eyes and thoughts of others, offers a decent comfort, especially when their experience is full of meaningfulness, and it is shared as such.

The extreme cold of Yakutsk, from the comfort of my home

Africa has much more to offer, so Ethiopia is only a thin example, I am fascinated with recently. But so are other places in the world. Like Yakutsk. The Siberian city with more than 300,000 inhabitants which learned, during time, to live in below -60°C on winter time. For me and many this looks impossible, for them is just normality. And this is told by one that experienced temperatures of -20°C and less. Still, you can’t compare, can you?!? I found a couple of channels on Youtube with local ladies who portray the life here. Piece by piece, activity by activity. Kirun B is one of them, another is Maria Solko. It is purely unbelievable to learn so many things about life there, and, inevitable… I imagine how it would be seeing that, on my own skin. Now, apart from the delicate international context in which Russia is, this city is for sure not a touristic ideal destination, especially during winter time.

Will you go on the streets, at -50°C?

I can imagine being there, and exploring it. But at the same time, at those temperatures, I also imagine that after 5, maybe 10 minutes outside, my only concern would be to go somewhere warm and, at best, to admire the landscape and feel some of the cold from a room. Then, what would be the point? Yakutsk is not necessary a beautiful place, but fascinating because of how things are working here, and because of its people. Maybe you would like to see them, but better you can see them while exploring Youtube. I find this a far better option to purely enjoy the experience and crave at having it live one day, even if you also realize that might not be the best of ideas, especially if you put virtual facts against imagined expectations. It is clear, in this case, traveling from afar, like mainly in imagination, driven by quality content, is the best way to travel. I don’t want to diminish any place in this world, but if we accept we don’t have enough time, regardless who we are, to explore all corners of the planet, then we can agree there are many more places, that might be easier to grab physically.

From Kapp to Cape, another one to watch

It is not only the extreme cold, but also there are a lot of health risks on the entire African continent, and acknowledging some of them from this wonderful documentary: Kapp to Cape. Look, I am not trying to pout in a bad light any of the corners of the world, but there are places with more associated risks and we need to face that, and to recognize that often it is far more interesting to check out these online. It is just how things are working, and this is why I not only think traveling in one’s imagination is a cliché, but a real live and very interesting experience. The core reason for which, in the end, we like – or we should like! – to watch good documentaries.