3. Journeys and Sojourns
The challenges in this section ask you to concentrate on journeys and sojourns. Travel to new and diverse locales inspires your muse and feeds your soul. Living in another country gives you a true appreciation of different ways to think and act. You learn what makes home home, and how to feel at home no matter where you are on the planet.
A journey is a metaphor for all that happens in your life. If you haven’t yet traveled much or don’t like to travel, work through these exercises with the perspective of an armchair traveler. Even a trip over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house is a journey.
Now get started writing!
51. Road Less Traveled
Suggested time: 15–30 minutes
Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken” tells of the poet’s decision to take the road that was less traveled. The ending stanza reads:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.
Have you ever taken the road less traveled? Describe your experiences, and state whether it was a good or bad decision not to take the well-traveled, familiar road.
52. Lost!
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write about a time when you were lost. How old were you and how did you lose your way? How did you find your way back? Did someone help you? Were there any lessons learned?
53. Camping
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
How do you feel about roughing it? Do you like to camp? Stay at five-star hotels? Or are you somewhere in between? Discuss a fun or miserable time you’ve had camping or roughing it.
54. Time Travel
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
If you were to time-travel to the Wild West, what would you want to do?
Pretend that you have a time machine that will send you to any place and any time—past, present, or future. Which time period would you choose? Is there anyone you want to meet? What would you like to do while you’re time traveling?
55. Beam Me Up, Scotty
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Pretend that you have a transporter similar to the one on Star Trek. This machine will transport you anywhere in the universe, in present time. Where would you go? Describe the place you’re transported to and what you will do there.
56. Dream Vacation
Suggested time: 25–30 minutes
Have you ever planned a dream vacation that ended up more like a nightmare than the dream you imagined? Write a postcard about a so-called dream vacation that didn’t turn out as expected. Was there a silver lining, or was the trip unrelentingly horrid?
57. Packing for Travel
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Do you consider yourself a light packer, or do you pack enough to last for six weeks when you’re only going for six days? Do you have a friend who takes six bags to your one when you travel together? Write about how you like to pack when you’re traveling for a week or more.
58. Day Pack
Suggested time: 20–35 minutes
List the items you typically take with you on a day trip. What do you carry around on a daily basis? Then write a short blog post about what you find essential to carry with you when you’re traveling for the day and why.
59. Most Beautiful Beach
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Time spent at a beautiful, balmy beach can make you forget all your cares and restore your joie de vivre. Travel articles like to tell you the top ten or top fifty beaches in the world. Whether it’s in Tahiti, Hawaii, the South of France, or your backyard, describe the beach that you most enjoy.
60. Feels Like Home
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you traveled to a foreign place where you felt completely at home? Explain what made you so comfortable and why you felt at ease. What was similar to the way you did things at home? If you can’t put your finger on exactly what made you feel at home, think carefully about the environment. Many of the flowering plants in the cooler climates of the United States originally came from northern Europe, so you might feel at home because the flora are similar.
Nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people. – Mark Twain
61. Sad to Be All Alone
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you ever arrived in a foreign land and felt that the place was totally alien to all that you have ever known and experienced? Have you been somewhere where you felt all alone and lonely, where you felt you were on a different planet altogether? Tell where you were, describe your feelings, and explain what made you feel so alone.
Did you know?
San Francisco and Melbourne are the same distance from the equator. So it’s no wonder that they are both known for their mild climate.1
62. Safari
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
The Swahili word safari means long journey. What kinds of safaris have you been on or would you like to go on? Describe in detail this trip and what you’d like to see and do.
Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God. – Kurt Vonnegut
63. At the Airport
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is a pleasant place to wait for your next flight because it has plenty of amenities and cozy places to rest. Many airports, however, don’t have such comforts. Write about either a pleasant or unpleasant experience you’ve had in an airport, train station, or bus terminal.
Did you know?
Schiphol Airport is four meters below sea level. If it weren’t for dikes, one-fourth of the Netherlands would disappear into the North Sea.2
64. Trains
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Do you like to travel by train? What types of trains have you ridden? Describe a journey and explain why you like or dislike trains.
65. Train Experience
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Describe an experience you’ve had on a train, a plane, or a ship. Set the scene, and add in all the details about what you saw, tasted, felt, smelled, and heard.
66. Travel Routine
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Describe your typical travel routine. What do you do while you’re waiting? What kinds of restaurants do you like? How do you book the places you’ll spend the night? For example, would you rather take a cruise, sleeping on the ship each night, or fly to your destination and stay in hotels?
67. Missed Connection
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you ever missed a travel connection? Was it your fault? Describe what happened. Where did you stay and what did you do while you waited for the next connection?
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. – Martin Buber
68. Bienvenido!
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Sometimes you arrive at a completely new city and immediately feel completely welcomed. Has this ever happened to you? Or maybe the opposite, where you felt as unwelcome as you possibly could? Describe this experience.
69. Travel Emergency
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
You never really want to have to take the advice that comes after the words in an emergency. It’s especially daunting, frustrating, and scary to have an emergency while you are traveling.
Describe an emergency you’ve had on a trip and tell how you handled it. Were there any lingering effects after the emergency?
70. Exotic Meal
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Describe an exotic meal that you’ve eaten in another country. Describe the place where you were dining and tell who was with you. Be sure to include all the tastes, smells, and textures as well as what the meal looked like. Would you want this meal again?
71. Surprise Purchase
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you ever bought something by mistake because you couldn’t read the label? Did you find yourself accidentally adding yogurt to your tea instead of milk—or something equally wrong—because you didn’t realize you’d purchased the wrong ingredient? Describe this occasion.
72. Language Barrier
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you ever been frustrated because you couldn’t communicate or didn’t understand something in another country? Perhaps you were frustrated and found yourself shouting the same thing over and over again, to no avail?
Tell what happened and how you felt.
73. Cultural Adventure
Suggested time: 20–35 minutes
A play or movie or concert can be especially fun in another country. What cultural events have you attended while traveling? Compare how an event you attended while traveling compares with a similar cultural event you’ve attended in your hometown.
74. Study Abroad
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you had the opportunity to study abroad, either in a conventional program or in one of your own design? Write about what you have studied, or would like to study, in another country. Name the country and the subject you would choose and why.
75. Compare Two Cities
Suggested time: 1–3 hours
Choose two of your favorite cities to compare.
1. Start by brainstorming. Make lists of each city’s attributes.
2. Look over your lists and think about how the cities are similar and how they are different.
3. Choose three or four points of comparison or contrast to write about.
4. Finally, write your comparison.
For this challenge, include a terrific introduction that tells why you have chosen the cities to compare. Make sure you include plenty of significant details, which will make your story come to life. Make sure the body of your story keeps moving forward in a logical manner. Make sure you have a good ending.
Did you know?
Bangkok’s full, ceremonial name is the longest city name in the world: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.4
76. Pilgrimage
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
The term pilgrimage is most commonly used to describe a spiritual journey to a sacred place or shrine, such as Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, or Mecca. For this challenge, however, use the term loosely to describe any time you traveled to a birthplace, workplace, or gravesite of someone who has inspired you.
Perhaps you’ve traveled to the Yorkshire moors to see the setting for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Perhaps you’re a Beat Generation fan and have hiked the Matterhorn Peak in the Sierra Nevada to see for yourself if what Kerouac says in The Dharma Bums is true: “You can’t fall off a mountain.”
77. Following Rules
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you ever had a problem because you didn’t follow another country’s rules? What have your experiences been like getting through security checkpoints in airports or crossing borders? Do you have any horror stories? Write about a time when you inadvertently broke rules or got into unexpected trouble because you didn’t follow the local customs.
78. Couldn’t Resist
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
While on a trip, have you ever purchased anything that you just couldn’t resist? Did you still like it later, or did you have buyer’s remorse? Write about something that you bought while traveling. Describe in detail how you found the object and what made you want it. Tell whether or not, in hindsight, it was a good decision.
Did you know?
The motto for Paris is Fluctuat nec mergitur, which means “It is tossed by the waves but does not sink.”5
79. Fun Facts
Suggested time: 45–60 minutes
Write twelve fun facts about one of your favorite places to visit, or a place you would like to visit.
For a good example of fun facts about a city, see “Amsterdam Facts—Fun and Amazing Amsterdam Information”.
Make sure your facts are brief and noteworthy. To make them easy to read, format your facts with headers and bullet points.
Fun facts make great blog posts.
80. Driving
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Driving in another country can be a hair-raising experience, especially when you have to drive on what you consider the wrong side of the road. You might feel that there’s no lane-discipline, you might not understand the rules of the road, or there might not be any rules other than to simply charge forward without hitting anything. You might wish you’d just hired a cab.
Write about your experiences. What countries have you driven in or avoided driving in? What was it like? What observations did you make about drivers from other countries?
81. Shopping
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Are you a shopper, or do you hate shopping? What about on trips? Describe a trip that you took where a lot of shopping took place. Were you the shopper or was someone else shopping?
Write about any experience you have had shopping while traveling, whether you were at a flea market in Paris, a souk in Morocco, a haute couture boutique in Milan, or a thrift shop in Oregon.
82. One Day
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
If you could spend one day anywhere on earth, all expenses paid, where would you go and why?
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Lao Tzu
83. Road Trip
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write about a fun road trip you’ve taken. Who was on the trip with you, what did you do in the car while driving, where did you go, and what did you snack on? Why was this trip fun?
84. Scary Adventure
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write about the most frightening thing that has happened to you while on an adventure. Describe the events slowly and dramatically, as if you were telling a ghost story. Include lots of details about sounds, smells, and sights.
85. Highest Point
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
What is the highest elevation you’ve been to in any country? How did you get there and how long did it take? Was there a magnificent view? Describe the experience.
86. Favorite Travel Story
Suggested time: 1–3 hours
Think of a story you’ve thought of or told several times about something that happened while traveling. Write a fabulous introduction to the story that will make your audience say, “Continue! I want to hear more!” Make notes of the middle and ending for your story.
Write down the story, from beginning to end.
Practice telling the story out loud a few times. The first time you tell the story, you can read from your written script. Then put the script away and tell the story from memory and from your heart.
Time yourself, and try to get the story to last from two to three minutes.
Finally, create a podcast of your story. If you need help deciding which current tools to use for your podcast, go to www.Write4Web.com for more information.
87. Expat
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Have you lived in another country? Would you like to? Write about what it was like, or would be like, to live away from your homeland.
Some of the best stories by famous authors were written when they were living in another country. Hemingway was an expatriate in Paris while he was working on stories that take place in Petoskey and other towns in Northern Michigan.
88. Homesick
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write about a time when you felt homesick. Were you traveling abroad, or living in another country? Where were you, and what did you miss most about your homeland?
89. Travel Photo Story
Suggested time: 10–15 minutes
Write a story, with one photo, about an adventure you have had traveling. The objective is to tell your story seamlessly, integrating the image with your words. The image should carry some of the weight of the narrative. In other words, the photo tells part of the story, and without it the story would not be complete.