Open Parachutes

One tip I could give any traveler is to never hold any expectation of a destination.
Go somewhere prepared to indulge in whatever comes your way, never for an expected experience.

People talk about traveling to areas of Australia to experience the traditional aboriginal culture and have come back disappointed because of the indigenous violence and alcoholism.

My expectation of London shot me down, I wanted that "British" feeling which i thought would be awesome. in reality I found that the people were not very nice and Big Ben was not that big. Where as my lack of expectation towards La Paz, Bolivia, literally it was just going to be a stop over between Argentina and Peru, had me loving it because I had hopped off my bus with an open mind.

I first saw the quote in the picture above on a guy's t-shirt. We were sharing a ferry between islands in the Philippines while it was bucketing down rain around us and the boat was rocking so ferociously I forgot was stillness felt like. I landed in Manilla in the midst of a typhoon a year before the devastating Yolanda. Prior to leaving Australia I had been googleing images of my island destination, with excitement I had painted a picture of bright turquoise waters, white sandy beaches and some of the best scuba diving in the world. Mother nature brought me down to earth very quickly. the skies were cloudy, the seas were grey, the storm had washed broken coral all over the beaches and jelly fish swarmed all over the best dive sites.
What I hadn't been able to find out on Google images was how beautiful and accommodating the Philippine people were or how good Adobo Baboy tastes (the national dish of the Philippines, if not then it should be).

I had a similar earthly lesson in Ireland when I traveled across to the west coast to see the the Cliffs of Moher, I was looking forward to seeing something like this:

But instead I got this:

 

 

Go somewhere, indulge in the opportunities that are presented to you and avoid expecting a certain experience. Be content in building your experience as you go and you will find that when you leave, looking back memories will be fonder. I may have had shit luck at the cliffs, but that day I shared a hot meal and some Jameson with a lovely Irish man, and the next day he showed me around his family's farm.

Didn't expect that.