A Conscience Act of Serendipity

Written by Kyle about United States. Feelin' thoughtful

We had a car full of gas. We picked up some lunch for the road. The iPod was loaded with enough tunes to keep us busy for hours. So, as a friend and I headed out for an impromptu trip to Madison, Wisconsin, we only had one question.

"How do we get to Madison?"

I'll save you the drama and let you know that we did make it there safely. The smart people at the Illinois Department of Transportation have large green signs with white lettering that state a town named Madison can be reached by driving on Interstate 90 in a Westerly direction.

The real question that you are asking, though, is: Why didn't we bring a map? Or print out directions? Or turn on some sort of GPS enabled device? Why did you choose ignorance over information?

Quite simply, the only answer I have is: What fun would that be?

Right now it is easier than ever to find what you want when you want it and get it as fast as possible. For instance, say you want to go get some Korean food. You can search for a Korean restaurant in your town from Yelp, see people's reviews, and even decide on what you want by looking at an online menu. You can then plug the address into your smart phone or Garmin device, which will tell you turn by turn how to get to the restaurant in the most time efficient manner. On the whole, this is a good thing.

We're losing something, though, when everything is perfectly laid out. We're losing the blissful moment of accidental discovery; we're losing our serendipity in life. When we're tied to a screen or a guide book or, even more antiquated, a map, we sometimes forget to look around just to see what we can find around us. We're missing the sense that we are discovering the world, and instead, we are letting something else discover it for us.

In our undirected adventures, we may find nothing exciting, but everything we find, is our find and no one elses. It may be the most insignificant of places, but it is an insignificant place that we found. We weren't told it was there. We didn't know it existed seconds before. But now, it's our little discovery.

Back in Madison, we had a bunch of our own little discoveries. We "discovered" a fruit smoothie lady who makes excellent drinks for $2.50, only to request that the $0.50 be put in the tip jar. We "discovered" a store that sells a miniature pick-up truck used to hold toothpicks. We "discovered" that Madison has at least two car washes featuring a large, rotating octopus for a sign. Most importanly, we discovered that there is a lot of beer brewed in Wisconsin.

All of those things might not mean much, but they are our little discoveries, our littlie serendipitous moments and they are way more interesting than anything that we might have found on a map or from a guide.

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July 20, 2010 Keith: Really? You went up to Madison and no tweets about it? Come on, this is my home field! I could have shown you around. Of course, that would have defeated the purpose of your trip, I suppose.

July 22, 2010 Kyle: Well, my friend was proposing that we go to Nashville. I kind of figured that Nashville was pretty far away, so we compromised on Madison at the last moment.

I guess that's the bad part about not having one of those smart phone thingies...we probably would have been able to meet up with you! Shucks!

July 21, 2010 Global Granny: You two (Kyle and Bessie) never cease to amaze me with your common-sense but nonetheless sparkling insights. Like this little gem:

"We're missing the sense that we are discovering the world, and instead, we are letting something else discover it for us."

A notion that I've long mulled over but somehow you pinned it down to its very essence in a single line.

Indeed, as I presently grow bleary-eyed researching a gazillion options on my planned trip to Egypt and Israel in August (while simultaneously inhaling every blessed bit of info I can find on teaching ESL in Vietnam come spring), it doesn make ya wonder...

While I do think bountiful research can greatly enhance a trip (reading up on the culture, the history, learning a few phrases of the local language, etc.), I likewise wholeheartedly embrace the notion of "leaving it all on the tarmac" once I arrive, and letting the true serendipity take over for the best of adventures.

July 22, 2010 Kyle: I'm all about doing some research about wherever you are going, especially on local culture. That's just a nice way to respect other people. But there's definitely an upper limit as to how much information is good and I'm not sure where exactly that is at; too much information makes things less exciting, yet too little means you might be a bumbling fool.

Either way, I'm sure your time in Egypt and Israel will be great! It's 2 places that we've never been to but would like to go.

July 21, 2010 Corinne: It amazes me how many people rely on their GPS to do anything. I have a friend who still uses it, wherever she is, to get home. Home! How can you live in the same city for two years and not know how to get home. I love your post. The joy of travel is in the discovery!

July 22, 2010 Kyle: Ha, ha! So true!

My gripe with the GPS is the voice telling me what to do. I guess I just don't like people telling me what I should be doing, especially if it is a computer :)

July 22, 2010 Earl: I actually went on a road trip yesterday with some friends here in Mexico and before we left I decided to check the route on Google Maps. But Google Maps came up empty and in the end, I'm happy it did. We ended up on a bizarre adventure through the middle-of-nowhere Mexico that involved finding a village where nobody spoke Spanish (they spoke Mayan only), a shop that sold psychedelic king-size hammocks and another village that had an absurd number of massive, inflatable castles on the side of the road.

We couldn't have asked for anything more!

July 23, 2010 Kyle: So, you are saying that your apartment is now full of inflatable castles and psychedelic hammocks? Party at Earl's! :)

July 23, 2010 Shannon OD: When I read that you went mapless, I thought, well of course! Because that's how we travel so much on the road, without a plan and willing to stop and ask for directions. I love that you kept that sense of adventure evening coming back stateside where it is so easy to plug in the Garmin and find directions!