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Your Motherland Offers More Adventure Than You Think

Oftentimes we get so busy and enticed in exploring the uncharted territories of our planet, that we forget our own country is actually pretty freaking fantastic as well. We spend so much time experiencing other cultures and languages and countries that we skip right over the one that we call our own! I am here today to shed some light on this little misunderstanding.

While I was living in China I met so many non-Americans that had seen more of my own country, the good ole’ USA, than I had seen myself. They’d done cross-country road trips, spent a summer in Southern California, trekked the Grand Canyon, and even flashed hundreds of people at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

I am still yet to do any of these things! (“Yet” being the key word in that sentence!)

After hearing about everyone else’s adventures in the US, I realized that I’ve spent so much time obsessing over seeing everything else in the world that I forgot my own country has endless things to see and do as well. It has endless uncharted territories that I am yet to step foot on, different cultures and twangs and people from region to region, and every kind of adventurous landscape I could wish to explore.

I mean come on, rednecks can be pretty fascinating, and so can the guys on Muscle Beach in California! Woo Hoo! ;-)

This Is Your Hometown

On a personal level our home country couldn’t be more important in how we’ve become the people we are today. Think of all that you’ve done and learned in the country you grew up in.

I had my first kiss in America. I fell in love in America. I drove my first car here, learned some of my most important life lessons here, and met some of the most unbelievably amazing individuals here.

Wherever it was that you grew up, it’s part of who you are. Why not embrace that? Why not explore that?

But Domestic Travel Is Less Adventurous!

Okay sure, you don’t have the whole adventure that comes with language barriers, foreign foods, foreign customs and traditions, and foreign beauties be it landscapes, or architecture or hot babes.

But who says domestic travel can’t be adventurous?

Do you think people from Germany hate Oktoberfest? (Okay, well maybe all the tourists get annoying, but they still love the beer!)

Do you think all 50 states in America are exactly the same? Think about New Jersey vs. North Dekota vs. Texas. (What’s in ND anyway? ;-) )

Do you think Australians don’t find adventure in scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef or exploring the Outback?

How about the French getting bored with the ability to within one week  go skiing in the Alps, eat cheese and drink champagne in the French Riviera, and then go sightseeing in Paris?

There is plenty of adventure to go around in your home turf!

Now Go Find Some Hometown Adventure!

No matter what kind of country, city, town, state, province you are from,  your homeland has more adventure to offer than you realize.

So don’t feel like in order to explore the world you have to go to some little island in Indonesia or speak Chinese to someone in China or go Bungee Jumping in New Zealand.

These are all amazing things, but these don’t make you anymore of an adventurer than the crazy things you can do within your original borders.

You can even do as little as to drive or take a bus three hours outside of where you’re sitting right now and explore a mountain or city or extremely strange landmark like a giant ball of twine. (You’ll find that in Darwin, Minnesota, USA by the way.)

Take it from someone that just got back from a year abroad and is planning on staying state-side in the Motherland for the next 8 months. Adventure and exploration are in my blood. Just because I’m in the country I grew up in doesn’t mean I can’t still experience that adventure. And the same goes for you.

Now go pull up Google Maps and find something amazing to explore in your own country!

Image Credit

PG

Lauren Rains

Lauren Rains is a crazy, sexy, cool chick on a mission to live a life of abundant adventure, meaning, and substance. She is addicted to the following: WORLD TRAVEL: Experiencing new languages, cute boys, outdoor adventure, crazy transportation, variations on toilets, cultural differences and similarities, crazy food. Everything! WEB 2.0: Web design to social media, she's proud to be a dedicated geek. ENTREPRENEURSHIP: At 12 months she knew she couldn't work for the Machine. WRITING: Check out TheMadtoLive where she blogs about how to live the wild, crazy and meaningful life we're all meant to live! You can also start up a conversation with her about the meaning of life on Twitter at @LaurRains.

4 Comments

  1. 1 year ago
    Justin Hamlin

    There is way too much of this country to see before I start to head overseas. I have done 2 cross country trips driving, one was 2700+ miles, one was 3300+ miles, seen a number of national parks, 40+ states. I also got to do an 800+ mile tour of the north east.

    And now I am moving from So Cal back to NY state.

    I havent even scratched the surface.,

    I keep a PDF of a map of california on my desktop. Every so often, my wife and I will crack open the PDF, pick a spot we havent been before, and go exploring for a weekend. Grab the dogs, toss ‘em in the truck, off we go.

    Not enough people realize how much history and beautiful country there is here in this country.

    Reply
  2. 1 year ago
    carole

    good point. you could have a new adventure every week, and still live near your family and friends. being in a foreign country doesn’t define an adventure. going someplace and doing something you’ve never done before does. and that can happen anywhere.

    Reply
  3. 1 year ago
    Mark Bonsignore

    I feel like I have been saying this to myself all along. Just coming back from living abroad, I have been eager to get back out, but I forgot about my hometown pride. Yes, definitely, there are great things to see around the world, The Eiffel Tower in Italy, The Great Barrier Reef along the coast of Brazil and the Running of the Bulls in India….I bet you travelers are going crazy right now haha don’t worry it’s a joke, of course the Great Barrier reef isn’t along Brasil, the country’s land locked!
    haha Again jokes…

    America is one of the craziest adventures you can have in the world, and hey I’m and American. Yes, I want to live abroad again, but I just got back and I know that I will need to save money but that doesn’t mean I have to stop living the crazy Mad (this is a paid advertisement for the web site MadtoLive.com, no blah blah blah without the written consent of Mrs. lauren Rains haha jk) travelers life.

    I live in the New York City metro area so there is tons of things to venture off and see, eat, and conquer. This weekend I will be traveling to Boston to see some of my friends I studied abroad in Italy with in 08′. Prob eat some “chowda” by the “harba” with a pint of “bea” haha.
    I also joined a local outdoor club to do things like hike part of the AP (if you don’t know what I am referring to, please…get off this site and go back to NYSE.com), scale the Catskills, and conquer the mighty Hudson (dodging yachts and garbage liners can be quite an adventure).
    And whata ya know, Canada is only a couple hundred miles away, care for a road trip, “EHH?”

    Not only are these things unique and thrilling, they are also with your fellow Americans, spending money in America, exploring America, seeing how many Americans are like you, learning from other Americans, giving advice to other Americans, supporting the American dream…Man if only I had a Ford and a house out in Long Island with a wife and kids haha jk. These experiences are not usually available when your abroad, shore its cool hiking the Himalayas with the Dutch but when you wanna reminisce about “Salute your shorts” or “Adult Swim” they are left saying things like “aaah yes hmmm”.

    So explore your homeland, whether it be America or abroad. Take the traits and hospitality you learned abroad and adopt it in your own travels. Take the tourist bus in your city, a food tour, or a road trip to the one cool site in your state and see how it is in the opposite shoes.

    Reply
  4. 1 year ago
    Amanda

    I’m all about local travel! It’s often a great alternative to traveling abroad if you’re poor like me. I live in Ohio, and, while it doesn’t have beaches or mountains (well, not REALLY, at least), it still has a lot to offer if you know where to look. I’ve created a section of my blog dedicated to Ohio, and it’s fun to seek out new things to write about.

    Like you, I’m “stuck” in the US for the foreseeable future. So I’m going to make the most of it by traveling America as much as I can. I’m kicking off my year of US travel with a trip to Hawaii in February, then heading to Chicago in March, and then tackling the rest of the country with my sister on an all-American road trip in August.

    I can’t wait to discover all the awesome sights America has to offer!

    Reply

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