Stuck in the daily grind? Can’t seem to break free from your everyday routine? Or perhaps you’re planning your next holiday but need some travel inspiration on destinations that’s going to really set your senses alight? Tune in to a TED talk to bring out your inner adventurer and global activist.
TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is an organisation of sorts which started in 1984 that has influential people giving short talksvia video conference about their own experiences in everytopic you can think of; from travel to planets, animals and poetry, in over 100 languages. It’s a non-profit run by private organisation, Sapling Foundation.With the tag line ‘Ideas worth spreading’, it has built a community dedicated to broadening perspectives and attitudes to global issues. It’s deep thinking, soul searching and awe-inspiring. It may just be what you need to pull you out of the rat-race and fuel your next adventure.
Here are some of our favourite travel inspiration videos:
Judith Fein: Deep Travel – Connecting on the road and in life
Judith Fein is a successful travel journalist who has contributed to more than 100 publications and has written several books. She is passionate about travel that is exotic, authentic, quirky, historic and immersed in local culture.
In this TED talk, Judith explores how we observe other cultures as well as interact and engage with locals when we travel. Each of us connect to local cultures in different ways but also we represent our own cultures when we travel. Encouraging locals who we meet to ask questions, builds meaningful and authentic interactions and transcends stereotypes. When we truly connect, we can deeepen the experience of travelling.
Francis Tapon: How and Why Travel Transforms You
‘What would you do with your time if you had a billion dollars? Whatever the answer to that question is probably your passion.’ For Francis Tapon, the answer to this question is travel and I bet many of you would say the same. Tapon suggests that getting lost in the wilderness lies the answers to someof life’s most profound questions and encourages us to journey to our own ‘mecca’ or find our own ‘Camino trail’ much in the same way that Moses travelled to Mt Sinai and Jesus to the desert to seek enlightenment. Yes, it’s quite deep and spiritual, but what if travel if does not fulfil some deep and spiritual longing in us? Even if it just means total rest and relaxation on a beach with a good book (or a TED Talks on travel) – that’s enlightenment to some, I’m sure you’d agree.
Perhaps this one is particularly relevant for those of us who are lucky enough to be well travelled; to find a new purpose, to find travel inspiration and shed a unique light in not just where you should travel next, but in the manner that you travel. Sharing his travel adventures, which includes walking across America not once but four times and visiting no less than every single one of the 25 European countries, Tapon insists that travelling can be a means by which we can transform our lives and achieve a perspective of life that nothing else can give.
Colin Wright: Extreme Lifestyle Experiments
This 25-year-old shouldn’t have this much life experienceat his age, if you ask us. He should still be clambering his way through life trying to figure out what he wants to be when ‘he grows up’ and tripping up at every turn. Well, here he is living an extraordinary life, perhaps because of one big mistake he made (apparently setting the wrong goal for himself), and all at the quarter of a century mark. He’s lived in places and has had more encounters than many will ever have in a lifetime, and he’s broken it down into just four easy steps for us to follow and emulate.
An entrepreneur, minimalist and blogger, his ‘extreme lifestyle experiments’ involves living in a new country every four months based on the votes of his followers. Yes, he somewhat places the fate of his life in the hands of complete strangers – talk about extreme! Whilst travelling, he is able to manage his existing design business, create business start-ups as well as carry out his experiments like going paperless, and not wearing black for half a year. Needless to say, Wright is one exceptional young man and here he talks about how he got to where he is now in the hopes to inspire others to gain new perspective and make positive changes to their lives.
