True Nature Travels was born out of a belief that group travel can be transformative. But that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate the power of the solo traveler as well! True Nature Founder and Director, Joshua Canter, just got back from an incredible week in Iceland where he experienced this power for himself. In his letter to travelers and wanna-be travelers far and wide, Joshua shares his journey and invites you to revel in the beauty, peace, and power of being a solo traveler.
An Open Letter to Solo Travelers (and those who want to be solo travelers)
Dear Fellow Travelers,
I just returned back from a week in Iceland. I traveled alone, explored the country, and found some incredible places for people like you to join us in the coming years. As always, I learned a lot. I witnessed beauty in the diversity of the planet and took home some wonderful memories and lessons. I wanted to share an excerpt, as part of this blog, from the journal I kept during this trip.
20 years ago I traveled out of the country on my first solo journey to Asia.
I remember feeling pathways in my brain expanding as I saw new cultures and different ways of living. That trip helped me realize that the world is immensely larger than I had ever dreamed.
20 years later, I find myself alone once again, at a totally different stage of my life, driving down a foreign road in Iceland. Even though I have set-forth overseas and across borders many times before, the power of travel still expands and touches me as deeply as ever.
Yesterday, as I drove, the landscape opened into a vast vista of lava-filled fields. Amidst still arctic lakes and snow-peaked volcanoes in the distance, I felt my chest begin to expand as I breathed deeply. I felt the call to open the windows and simply scream.
I was alone.
So I did.
From the scream came a welting of tears in my eyes. I was free again.
Even though I was thousands of miles from my family, my house, my country, I was “home” once again. On that open road in Iceland, I was no longer a father, a husband, a business owner, an American….I was simply a soul. Alone, but connected deeply to the ever-present oneness.
This is the power of travel.
At True Nature Travels, our focus is primarily on international group travel. We understand the power of traveling together; how it builds relationships, fosters community, and cultivates life-long relationships when experiencing the world together.
But there is a different sort of power in the experience of the solo traveler.
Traveling alone takes courage. It takes confidence in yourself and a trust in the nature of the journey which can be unpredictable.
While we travel we are open, we are in an expansive space, and most of all, we are usually joyful.
Our everyday lives can often create an illusional box full of attachments and constraints. We come up with a multitude of reasons that make it impossible for us to leave; impossible to travel. We think we can’t spread our wings.
There is a shocking statistic that only 3% of Americans have passports (can you believe that!?!). As a father, caring for a family, or an employee with the need to work, or a friend with those in need, we often feel resistance to travel. We think we cannot leave our lives and go have an adventure. Home feels safe, comfortable, and stable. But often this container of our home-life can become constricting, blinding, and suffocating.
Today I fly back over the great Atlantic Ocean and prepare to integrate back home. On my journey homeward, I offer you these words:
If you feel the call to travel, in any form, listen to that voice.
The world is more accessible than ever and you have the power, and the will, to set forth.
Encouraging others to travel and see the world is the passion behind True Nature Travels. We exist to support our community in experiencing transformational journeys through travel.
If you have any questions on how to make travel a reality in your life or need some encouragement to take that leap, please feel free to reach out. You can reach me here.
Now, go spread your wings and fly my fellow Solo Traveler!
I hope to meet you on the path sometime soon.
Your Friend,
Joshua
Founder and Director of True Nature Travels
