Free Independent Traveler (FIT)

A Typical FIT Traveler's Anecdote

What is an Anecdote"?

My advice is “experience-accurate” based on MY 35 years of travel insights & experiences stated as clearly and completely as I can to maximize your ease of understanding. The credibility of my advice is inherent (1) in my frequently embedded personal, authentic travel Anecdotes acquired over 30+ years and the Safe Practices those Anecdotes have taught me, AND, (2)  my well over 1250 Youtube solo indpendent travel videos.

The following anecdote is of my 3 month Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize small RV road trip, which jumpstarted my 20 years of foreign travel and illustrates many of the  Goals & Characteristics of the free independent traveler.

ANECDOTE: 1 Mexican month explodes into 3 months more, alone, in Guatemala & Belize.   After 35 years AND my 1st tremulous solo, independent RV van trip into Baja, Mexico, I finally had enough courage to enter Mexico again for a month-long trip throughout Mexico.  Entering at Agua Prieta and down the west coast, then inland to Mexico City, and then deeper into southern Mexico & back to USA.

But, alas, parked on tiny San Francisco village’s ocean-side beach 30mi north of Puerto Vallarta luxuriating in the balmy solitude of my little RV Van far from MY America, I heard a deep American voice from behind my van say, "What part of Wyoming are you from?”      … and I thought I had escaped …. 😀.  

Matt, an American & a most accomplished traveler, spent weeks each year in a San Francisco village with friends. That night’s dinner with his friends, just before I would turn east to Mexico City, he challenged me to “just keep driving south thru Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, & back into Mexico's, Yucatán.”    

Early next morning I arrived at ‘the’ intersection, ... thought of his challenge, ...  looked briefly east toward Mexico City… then kept on driving south for 2 1/2 months more along Mexico’s West Coast, through Guatemala & Belize into southern Mexico’s Yucatan back to USA’s Texas. 

I camped on Mexico’s ocean beaches, ate in seaside village restaurants, walked the open markets of larger towns, solo kayaked huge coastal bays alongside fisherman’s flying nets, & spent days exploring Mayan’s magnificent ruins.

In a small bay side village, Las Negras, parked on the beach. Juana ran up the steep hillside to get me 5 5-gallon pail of fresh water that I could dip a bowl into and pour over myself as a shower. Thank you, M'Lady. That evening, I danced on the beach by the campfire with the women & their children.

In Guatemala, I parked near a family’s oceanside home, where they welcomed me in like a long-lost relative. I almost fell in love with a daughter, played music with the sons, and had two vicious dogs tied to my van to protect me at night. 

Then, to Antigua, Guatemala’s former colonial capital draped in rich Spanish architecture, then, on a long dirt road  thru Guatemala’s vast forested jungles to its legendary Mayan site, Tikal.       

Entering Belize I was shocked at the overwhelmingly, dominant black-looking population, and my own prejudice, which fortunately quickly eroded away. (Note: actually a mix of Mayan, European, African & many others) A quick drive past the old capitol, Belize City, to more Mayan temple ruins, & a croc-infested river kayak paddle. …and ….     

On to Yucatán’s ‘Tulum’ Mayan site … purposely by-passing American ‘tourist’ infested Cancun  for Chichen Itza’s famous Mayan site & its Kukulkan Serpent. Then, driving long, near-vacant jungled roads to Palenque, a Mayan site deep in southern Mexico. 

Police roadblocks warned drivers to “never to stop for anyone,  even in uniform,” until the next town because of potential woman-baited bandito traps. Got my attention, but no issue.           Finally, from Palenque up Mexico’s east coast to Texas.

A true independent solo adventure.

Quote:  "We were a different breed-of-cat, they walked on the ground. We flew the air.”
General Chenault, WWII-Burma’s  “Flying Tigers”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Independent Solo Travel

This 'independent traveler' seeks immersion, while the tourist seeks diversion. 

I. GOALs of a (FIT) free independent traveler!

The solo traveler seeks the true essence of a culture; it's famous as well as tourist-ignored historical, cultural & natural wonders AND equally compelling,   its ‘down-in-the-dirt’ gritty underbelly.

They obsessively explore the sights, smells & sounds swirling around them: Barcelona's Sagrada Familia's soaring colorful towers, an Indian street-food vendor's tantalizing aromas and an Italian village's Mediterranean shore's lapping waves.

A FIT traveler is NOT a tourist. The ‘tourist’ pretends ‘ to ‘experience the culture’ protected by the capsule of a bus or taxi … shepherded by an all-knowing guide & … nestled securely each night in a cruise ship’s cabin or a tour company’s efficiency hotel … constantly wiping away the dirty culture’s imagined debris from their clothes.

Today’s free independent traveler is a “Renaissance Man’: a 14th-century notion that men (there were some women) should pursue all knowledge & experiences, including the uplifting & uncomfortable, and develop all skills within their capacity.     

Always seeking 'what's around the next corner."

A FIT traveler's goals are often 3-fold:
    1) deeply research & explore Tier 1 sites: 's most  iconic tourist sites,         
    2) ferret out & deeply explore Tier 2 sites: uniquely interesting, but seldom visited. 
    3) reasonably immerse themselves in a culture's authentic, often gritty back-street underbelly.  

1) Famous Tier 1 tourist sites: hopefully with a novel twist.

Ancdote: Teotihuacan, Mexico’s huge pre-Aztec ruins:  before all tourists ... to sit alone on Temple of the Moon.

Arriving late afternoon in the small town of San Juan Teotihuacán, next morning, I was at Teotihuacán’s gate an hour before Entry time because I had learned that when early & 1st, I can create opportunities. 

I chatted with entry ticket folks a bit when they suddenly asked if I wanted to enter early. I was all smiles to enter almost an hour before all but the maintenance crew. I roamed around this massive site by myself as though I were Elvis.

First, wandering through the vast complex down to Quetzalcoatl Temple & Citadel (Temple of the Feathered Serpent), then walking casually back up Avenue of the Dead’s 2.5 miles…. soaking in the magnitude & grandeur of this historically mysterious complex …. to the Temple of the Moon.

I climbed the Temple of the Moon as high as allowed, sat down, and pulled out a book to read, NOT because my book thrilled me, but
rather because I was thrilled that I was the only tourist …. with the luxury to indulge my reading amid that colossal historical site of generations of human life.

Truly one of my most memorable travel moments.

2) Unique, but seldom visited Tier 2 sites; Tier 2 sites are often worthwhile, but either too small to accommodate large tour groups, too far off the beaten track for most, too esoteric or too inaccessible for large tour vehicles. Yet, they may be the most unique & exciting.

Anecdote: somewhat remote Lijiashan Village: A couple of overnights in a village carved literally out of the mountain's rock AND  well-off-the-beaten track (2 bus rides, a mile road hike & a trek up a steep mountain road. 😀) I poked around this unique village with beautifully wood-carved fronts to their stone cave homes. I slept on a khan (stone) bed & ate her meals cooked over her wood-burning stove.

My Youtube clip peeks inside a quickly ABANDONED home with everything simply left in place (kids left for the cities, elderly died off) shows the brick 'khan' bed more often sculpted out of the bed rock.      2nd video shows how I/we used it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3) Gritty back-street underbelly: A FIT traveler sees Cairo’s 1900s beauty under its grime, feels & enjoys New Zealand’s jungle mud oozing into their Croc shoes, deeply inhales an Italian’s hearty luncheon aroma wafting from a kitchen window & shakes firmly the offered calloused hand of an Ecuadorian laborer. 

A FIT traveler's self-guided walking tour, walking either aimlessly or between sites alert for any scintilla of cultural authenticity or uniqueness. While searching, they are basking in the smells, sounds & visuals of a culture ever alert for something interesting that pulls them off their route and down another path.

Their pre-trip  research & planning informs what their senses explore
undistracted by a guide's constant commentary.            

Anecdote:  Agra’s neighborhood (Taj Mahal): In Agra, there is a lovely tree-lined Boulevard between Taj Mahal and Agra Fort principally to make tourists feel comfortable by avoiding India's usual filthy environs. It was my main route back to my hostel if I chose to take it, but I chose a different route seeking the cultural reality of Agra's 'hidden' neighborhoods.               

In these back streets, children play soccer on vacant lots as raw sewage trickles endlessly down the middle of their streets. Where in elderly desperation, I felt comfortably un-embarrassed, peeing against a vacant lot's well-stained wall.

My 'India Reflections':  Bundi, India's gorgeously dressed low-caste Dalit sewage women: (excerpt from my "Allegra Letters") "Yesterday, exiting my authentic, but primitive home-converted hostel into India's hazy morning sun and dragging my rolling bag down a street to the bus, 2 women in their traditionally brilliantly gorgeous finery had apparently been working for several hours already digging the sewage & filth out of the 8" wide open gutters along both sides of the street. Their amassed piles of sewage-soaked ‘filth’ was 1 1/2’ high; the smell — foul." 

Shame on a 'caste' society that can send rockets to space.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

sss

Simply, a FIT traveler exercises complete freedom & takes full responsibility for planning, design & execution of their foreign travel experiences including their choice of sites & activities and all the required logistics (transportation, itinerary, lodging, food, etc..

B. CHARACTERISTICS of a (FIT) free independent traveler?

"Accepts full responsibility & risk as the price for
freedom's complete control & instant flexibility's rewards.

  1. Curiosity-driven, alert for unique, unexpected, remote, authentic, dramatic & seamy 
  2. Distasteful, expected & spectacular: cultural experiences
  3. Full responsibility for all risks & gains: safety, health, itinerary, & Complications
  4. Freedom without compromise, so she usually travels alone, 
  5. Flexibility to change direction or plans on a whim,
  6. Solitude to focus, reflect, and contemplate everything: yet open to others  
  7. ‘Life’s a test of personal character. 
  8. Travels ‘poor, ’ regardless of net worth,  to better connect with the host culture’s roots.  
  9. ‘being lost’, expected, sometimes unnerving, but stimulating
10. Research & planning preparation:
11. Highly practical equipment: self-modified. essential boots/socks, rainproof jacket,
12. No recognition sought for travels

Postscript:   Tourists:

1. Seeks diversion from their lives’ normal predictability & pressures

        Anecdote: Tourist chain: Often, I have seen a line of tourists strung out behind their briskly marching guide, most of them unable to hear their guide’s commentary, so simply chatted amongst themselves or plodded along resolutely. 

        Anecdote: Panama Canal’s train ride: a tourist kept trying to chat with me, preventing me from experiencing the train ride until I tactfully asked him to please stop.  Why was he even there?         Bragging rights?

2. Abdicates safety &  responsibility to travel company & guide, presuming they guarantee.

3. accepts or is unaware of specious intellectual value of company’s sparse itinerary & commentary.

4. unaware of their superficial disconnect with the underlying culture they pass through.

5. Self-deluded by cruise ship’s make-believe catered luxury & expensive, lazy “sea days.”

6. Relish their return home ‘bragging rights.’

Again!
My advice is “experience-accurate” based on MY 35 years of travel insights & experiences stated as clearly and completely as I can to maximize your ease of understanding. The credibility of my advice is inherent (1) in my frequently embedded personal, authentic travel Anecdotes acquired over 30+ years and the Safe Practices those Anecdotes have taught me, AND, (2)  my well over 1250 Youtube solo independent travel videos.