Anytime I think about getting another tattoo, I ask myself where could I fly with the cost of that chunk of permanent artwork. It always stops me dead. It isn’t that I’ll be stuck with wearing something on my skin for my whole life. When I go places, that leaves an indelible mark in my memory. Deciding between travel and a new tattoo can mean the difference between a new piece of body art, or an experience which will never fade, yet probably needs a retouch now and again.
The Pain of Deciding Between Travel or a New Tattoo
Often the experience is just as uncertain and even painful. The outcome is no less beautiful on the outside. People will notice when you come home again that you are not the same as when you left. If they don’t notice, either you haven’t allowed the experience to change you, or they don’t know you well enough to see a difference.
Every time I go somewhere new, it changes me. I leave a piece of who I once was behind. Sometimes I wonder if one day I might not even recognize myself anymore. Every trip is a pilgrimage in a spiritual quest to find meaning, however subtle.
It’s All a Matter of Choice
It is a personal choice to allow myself to be open to the experience, just as getting a tattoo is opening yourself to something you know will change you physically for the rest of your life. The needle introduces a foreign element into your body, and it is absorbed, replicated, and now it covers you. It sparks conversations with the curious, it categorizes you with others of like mind, and it can alienate you from those who don’t understand.
Adventures soak in deeper. They change us below the surface. The markings are surreptitious. A worn pair of boots, a casual air in the way someone walks, a tendency to listen more than speak, a quiet resolve and a glimmer of curiosity in the eyes.
There is No “Safe” Choice
Tattoos and travel are similar in that both have tourists. The safe choices. The lack of commitment when it comes to allowing something to change you. Tattoos on your hands might limit you to working as a barista. Whereas going to another country and having an experience that changes your attitudes and perceptions about home might limit what kind of bullshit you are willing to put up with at any job. You might be better off having HOLD FAST inked across your knuckles.
Feeding the Addiction
I’m not saying one is better than the other. I’m saying that I’ve made my choice as far as something goes that is ridiculously expensive and unnecessary to most people, which will permanently affect my life. After all, we could just sit at home and watch the world burn on the news, self-medicating with Lite Beer. Or we can sit in an uncomfortable chair for several hours and grit our teeth through the beginning and open our eyes to something else on the other side. One is a tattooist chair, and the other is a seat in Basic Economy. Both experiences, to the right mind, will require this monkey to be fed again and again, being fully aware of the discomfort and the sting.
I would take plane tickets over a tattoo every time. But that’s just me. Maybe the compromise is getting a tattoo while you are traveling, as a souvenir. Although the cost of a tattoo could easily pay for car rental in Ireland for an incredible roadtrip experience. But hey, you do you.
Either way, people feel that itch. For those addicts who need both, I hope you have some really good side hustles going. Either is an addiction that doesn’t come cheap. Now, if I had to choose between coffee and a trip someplace, that might be a much harder decision.
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Check out the link for Origin, which made a damn fine pair of boots for my travels. Use the code HARRIS10 for 10% off your total purchase. I’ve been wearing mine for nearly 4 years and they are still taking me where I need to go.
Use this link for Osprey, who made my day pack and backpack that I haul my life around in when I am solo traveling. Guaranteed for life, I wouldn’t have any other pack.
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