1. A Map For Saturday. This is the film that inspired me to write this post. It`s a documentary that follows a successful twenty-something as he quits his job to backpack around the world for a year. Watching it, I felt it really captured everything about travel and backpacking that I love. Amazing film. This is required viewing for anyone thinking about taking time off for an extended trip.

2. One Week. Follow Joshua Jackson`s (remember Charlie from the Mighty Ducks?) character, Ben,on a motorcycle journey across Canada after being told he doesn`t have long to live. Awesome soundtrack, beautiful Canadian scenery, and great cameos by Gord Downie, Emme Gryner and Joel Plaskett.

3. Motorcycle Diaries. A future revolutionary and his friend ride motorcycles across South America. Need I say more? The book was good; the movie, better. Great soundtrack too.

Consolation Prizes:

1st Runner Up goes to Into the Wild. Would have got the award too, if the idealistic protagonist didn`t die at the end.

2nd Runner Up goes to The Beach. As a film, it`s not bad. As inspiration for an adventure or a visit to Thailand, amazing.

3rd Runner Up is Y Tu Mama Tambien, which would have taken the prize save for the final sex scene. Shudder. Bad shudder.

And the award for least inspiring travel movie goes to…  Brokedown Palace. Thailand rocks. Thai prison, not so much. Don`t do drugs, kids.

What movies make you crave travel? Opinions please :)

Life would have been just fine without Motorcycles.

I might have bought a reasonably priced sedan or hatchback, got a “real job,” had 2.3 kids and lived happily ever after. Things would have been more, well, predictable. I mean, I used to cringe when I walked past guys wearing Harley Davidson jackets and leather chaps, or guys decked out in full racing leathers. Victims of an under-developed fashion sense, I’d say to myself. And here I am two years later on the peripherals of the club. Now when I pass these guys on my motorbike, we exchange the biker’s salute and chat about our travels in Tim Horton’s parking lots and truck stop restaurants (I wonder: how many people who drive Camaros or pickup trucks wave to each other as they drive by as a sign of respect? I would wager it’s not a high number). Though that’s not to say I’ll ever wear leather chaps.

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I’m addicted to montages.

This one is of Kim and I on our $300 motorbike in Southern Vietnam, off-roading, crossing a river and checking out some waterfalls… just before we got arrested and detained for the better part of three days (story coming soon).

The dirt roads that we drove on for the first week of our trip were a little hairy at times. We crashed twice — once while trying to dodge a rogue cow and another time trying to slowly cross a wooden bridge. The funny part was that Kim actually got the crashes on video (she used to take a lot of videos while we drove — something about being bored because she couldn’t see around my big helmet).

I’m going to post the crash videos (they’re pretty hilarious) as soon as Kim emails them to me.

(UPDATE: The videos were on Kim’s laptop, which got stolen…)

Oh yeah, and that picture of Kim driving: She’s faking it. I didn’t let her actually drive the bike until much later on in the trip…

I usually write about my myself, I know. Yes, I’m self-centered and no, I don’t care. I write about what I know best. That said, I refuse to contribute another “I got up, brushed my teeth, went to the store…” blog to the online world. Something’s gotta be at least interesting to me to write it out, and I have a short attention span.

Writing about my experiences and opinions accomplishes two things: One, it gives me an outlet to record my life; and two, it pushes me to take my life in a direction that is worth recording and sharing with other people.

In the past few years of personal growth, I feel that more anything, the one thing that changed my limiting beliefs and helped me break out of my boring lifestyle has been reading and watching the examples of other successful eccentrics and adventurers. People who are living life and not letting life “live” them. I love to read about how Neil Strauss went from being a college virgin to the worlds most famous pickup artist; how Tynan became the head of an online gambling ring in two years and made hundreds of thousands; and how Timothy Ferris trained for four weeks to become the Chinese Kickboxing National Champion (which is, by the way, a great example of turning the system on its head for one’s own benefit). The people that I read about inspire me to live outside everyday social norms and expectations and consequently have much more fun.

On that note, here’s a video of fun times with Kim and “Georgia” (my motorbike) in Thailand and Laos: