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The Road Less Traveled

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Because of where Pogradec is situated, to get to the southern parts of Albania there are two options. You can go north, to Elbasan then across the center of the country (where there aren’t any mountains) and then down a relatively new highway to the south. According to Google, it would take about four and a half hours. The second option is to go south along SH75, a windy, pot-hole filled road that is typically about one and a half lanes wide. It skirts the border of Greece, while passing by village after village and through the mountains in the south. It typically takes closer to five hours, if not more. If you know me, you know which road I take.

Driving this route had me thinking about an article I published a few weeks ago about why, if you’re visiting Albania, you should get outside of Tirana. More broadly, though, the kind of traveling I’ve fallen in love with. Granted, it would be a much easier, simpler, and smoother drive to go the northern route. It’s the route that almost everyone takes to get to Gjirokaster, and has some nice views along the way. It’s also the route that has exactly what you would expect along the way. That’s not me. Why take the highway when a more exciting route exists? Not only that, a route that you’re not quite sure what the next turn will bring. One that the majority of people in Albania have never been on, nor ever want to try. That sounds like a real adventure.

As I think about these two routes in terms of my life as a whole, it’s a fitting example. Although some day to day things can get monotonous, I like to think that my life is far from ordinary. When I think about the fact that my monotony is happening in this tiny country on the Adriatic Sea, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Little decisions throughout my life and my travels - like taking the road that other people wouldn’t want to just to see what’s along that journey - has shaped and changed my entire existence.

After all, didn’t Robert Frost say “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” If I could go back to my 16 year old self sitting in American Literature class and show him this practical example of these poetic words, I would have immediately understood.  

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It Only Takes One

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I heard a quote one time that went something like this:

“One person can change the whole world for the better, as long as they don't give a damn who gets the credit.”

-Unknown

As you can see, I don’t know who said it. I don’t remember where I heard the quote, and throughout the research I did I was unable to find who originally said it. In either case, I think it rings true, but not quite in the same ways I used to think.

When I first heard the quote my first thinking was changing the entire world, as in every single person, place, and thing. But if you think at a much smaller scale, the impact of this idea can become so much greater. If you think in terms of how a country could change, or even a community. Not only that, the quote says “change the whole world for the better.” Better is relative. It doesn’t say save the world, or even just change the world. Those three little words at the end of that sentence make a huge difference. Changing something for the better doesn’t mean every aspect of it has been flipped, just that it is headed in the right direction.

When I started making YouTube videos in Albania I had one distinct goal: To change the world’s perception of Albania. The hope was that by showing what the people, culture, and landscapes were actually like, we could move away from the stigma of Albania that was created through the help of films like Taken. I thought that I would get famous by being the guy who is showing the world Albania. As it turns out, I gained a bit of fame and a was noticed for a short time, but it quickly faded when the next foreigner with a bigger following than me decided to come through the country. As first I would get a bit annoyed thinking, “I have been putting in the time in this country, why does that person get the recognition that I deserve.” And then, the quote came back to my mind; “…as long as they don’t give a damn who gets the credit.” I thought about my goal for my videos from when I started, and realized that my goal could be accomplished even if it wasn’t me being the face of it. I have no way of proving this, but there’s a good chance that my videos spurred someone to come visit Albania, which inspired someone else, which moved another foreigner, each of them with bigger influences than the last. Slowly, my goal is being accomplished, and I will likely never be thought of in it. I have helped to change this tiny world, now I need to stop giving a damn who gets the credit.

So now, in a similar vein, we come to my friend Sam, who also happens to be my supervisor at the nonprofit I work for. Sam has been devising a new permaculture project on a small plot of land nearby our campus. Agriculture is a big part of the Albanian livelihood and Sam hopes to figure out a way that the farmers around the country can shift from their monoculture farming to more of a polyculture practice. He has been doing small experiments with the plot he’s working on, in order to find the best methods for this climate and environment. His goal is not to be known as a revolutionary farmer in Albania, but rather to help make a small change in agriculture in this region that could vastly impact the entire world of the farmers that live here.

Even if only a dozen people have their perceptions of Albania changed through my videos, or the stories of people that I’ve inspired to come here, this country’s world has been changed for the better. Even if only two or three farmers see Sam’s practices, decide to give it a shot on their own farms, and realize how fruitful it can be, that is changing the world of those two or three farmers - and potentially their descendants for generations - for the better.

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Photo Walk - Tirana, Albania

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A few weeks ago, I had a few hours in Tirana before my flight to Germany. So I decided to try to spend some time practicing one of my favorite hobbies; photography. Because I had to be in the city anyways, I elected to go on a photo walk and see what sort of images I would be able to capture.

I decided to challenge myself. In more ways than one…

First of all, my go-to way to take photos is to just wander around and snap as many frames as I possibly can and find the good ones later. So the first way challenge was to only allow myself 5 frames. I did not use a burst mode, or try multiple angles of the subject, I found the frame I wanted, and waited for the right timing.

The second challenge, was confining myself to a determined space. In the center of Tirana you have Skanderbeg Square. A large open area, mostly for pedestrians, that many people will pass through on their way to and from work. I set the square as my boundary, and forced myself to find the five photos in the confines of the general vicinity of the square.

And if you’re interested in watching me try to pick out the frames I wanted, the video is below.

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Off the Beaten Path

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Since coming to Albania for the very first time in 2017, my eyes were opened. It was a country I’d not heard of before, and honestly had to Google where it even was before getting on the flight. But upon arriving not only did I fall in love with the country, I fell in love with this new way of traveling. The kind of traveling where you skip over the places that you see all over the internet, you don’t seek out the spots that you’ve seen on Instagram. Instead, you put yourself as far away from those places as you can. You look for the beauty in the places that are overlooked, or underrated.

Since coming to Albania, my desire to go to well-known countries is slowly diminishing. I want to visit those kinds of places that are so obscure that I have to look on Google Maps to even find out where they are. Not only that, upon arriving in those countries, I want to get lost in their cultures, in the countrysides.

When people tell me they visited Albania, but didn’t even leave the capital city it almost makes me cringe. Were it not for the airport being there, I could very happily live my entire existence in Albania without setting foot in Tirana. Not because I despise Tirana, but because to me the beauty of traveling and living in another country comes in the differences. In Tirana, many people will speak English, so communicating would be too easy. In Tirana, there are shopping malls much like the ones I would find back in the United States. They have Burger King, KFC, and rumor has it that Pizza Hut will be opening soon. But that’s not why I moved outside of the United States. I didn’t pack my life into a few suitcases just to find my little comfort bubble under the rule of a different government.

When people ask me what they should do in Albania, my first answer is almost always to leave Tirana. Sure, it has its uniqueness from other big cities around the world, but at their core all big cities are more or less the same. The charm of Albania - and likely many other countries - comes in the people, the cultures, the traditions… Many of which are dwindling in the capital. It is so quickly becoming westernized that it’s becoming harder and harder to find true Albania in it. Pockets of it exist, sure, but if you want to go swimming would you rather splash from one puddle to the next or jump, headfirst into the deep end of the pool?

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Before Visiting Albania

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Before traveling anywhere, most people search for a few insider tips on what to expect, how to conduct yourself, and the best times and places to visit. In this video I went over all of those things so that anyone who is hoping to visit the country will get all the information they need. I discuss the currency, how to get around, the language, where to stay, and more!

If you have ever considered coming to Albania, be sure to watch this video before you arrive!

Weather

To someone who has spent time reading my website, or watching my videos, it will come as no surprise that I have had struggles with my mental health. Honestly, I’m sure I’m not alone in that by any stretch. I would even venture to say that at some point in their life everyone will wrestle with their mental health in some capacity, some more severe than others. However, what I’ve been making a more conscious effort to do over the past few years is pinpoint the triggers that cause changes in my mental health, whether that be positively or negatively.

Throughout my life, I have lived in a variety of different places and climates ranging from the overcast, dark winters of north Idaho to the seemingly perfect, sunny every day weather of the Hawaiian Islands. Without a doubt, one of the things that is guaranteed to affect my mood more than anything is weather. I know many people suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and while my experiences with weather doesn’t reach that level, it was significant enough for me to take note of.

I never noticed it during the Idaho winters until I moved away and then returned to visit. The days, weeks, or sometimes even months of seemingly endless overcast days was too much for me to handle. I could deal with the cold, or the thick blanket of snow, but not even seeing the sun would wear on me. And still does.

The sun, and its warmth, pulls me out of my bed in the mornings. It motivates me to leave the house. The heat on my skin makes me feel alive. On the flip side of that, when I wake up and see gray clouds outside of my window I’m far more likely to roll over and try to get five more minutes. As you would expect this can quickly become a problem, and destroy any kind of productivity for the rest of the day. Luckily for me, I now live in a place where this happens infrequently.

Albania, on average, has about 300 days on sunshine per year. That doesn’t mean it’s always warm and “perfect” weather like Hawaii is, but the sun is shining. It might be windy, or cold, or even a bit cloudy, but the sun is shining. And even if I have to wrap myself up in two sweatshirts, feeling the sun on my face keeps me balanced.

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A week in Germany (and Switzerland...)

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After a car ride to the Tiranë airport, flight to Munich, bus to Nuremberg, then car ride to Hubmersberg, I finally arrived at Hotel Lindenhof. It’s a 150 year old hotel that was built seemingly in the middle of nowhere, that has been added on to throughout the last century and a half. Because of the restaurant and bar at the hotel, many of the farmers from the surrounding area would come to have a drink or to eat with their families eventually resulting in the village of Hubmersberg being built surrounding the hotel.

Because this hotel is a partner of the organization I work for in Albania, I was asked to go and take photos in order to update their website, and have social media content. I spent a couple days at the hotel, before traveling to Switzerland and another part of Germany to take event photos for other partners of my work.

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Why I Travel

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It is my firm belief that everyone travels for some of the same reasons. However, it is also my firm belief that everyone travels for some different reasons. When I really sit down and pick through all the thoughts in my head I can think of countless reasons that I enjoy traveling, some of them more typical than others.

Like so many people, exploring new places is a prominent reason for me. Seeing things for the first time with my own eyes, despite never being able to be the first to discover them. Learning about new and different cultures. Broadening my experiences and knowledge so that I can better understand myself, my fellow man, and everything around us. Pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. To grow as people we must be pushed, and the easiest way to do that is to push ourselves. Tasting new foods, hiking different trails, feeling the vibes of a city we have never been to… The list of reasons we can all relate to could go on forever. But, honestly, those all feel like the easy answers. They feel like something I would say in order to avoid diving into the real reasons…

For a long time, traveling felt like the only way I could feel appreciated. I would often choose traveling alone and meeting new people over diving deeper into preexisting relationships with friends. The depth scared me, and it seemed like if someone saw who I really was they wouldn’t come back. It happened a few times, so it seemed like a logical reason to go off in search of new acquaintances in order to protect myself from the potential hurt of being let down yet again. People seemed to enjoy talking to me at first but without a doubt, many decided their life would be better without me in it. Few cared to be loyal through my rough patches. So, I traveled in order to feel loved, even if it was only for a single conversation at a time.

Things have changed, however. Over the years I have moved into a place where I crave depth over breadth in my friendships. I have moved on from fair-weathered friends, and not shied away from showing my true self. If they don’t want to accept that, so be it, but I’m not going to run from it any longer. Life is too short.

So now, I tend to fall back to the typical reasons for travel, but with new eyes. Realizing that it could be an escape, yet not letting it be that. I could keep these experiences and wonders for myself, but that starts to feel selfish. There are wonders out there that I have been blessed to see and others have not. So I have places to show. There are adventures that I have been gifted with. So I have experience to share. There are places that are overlooked, and unknown, with some of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever known. So I have stories to tell. 

And that, is why I travel.