Join this traveling robot on his adventures. He thinks he has seen it all, but has he really?
Part 5: Travel from Home
“When the whole world is screaming for attention, I feel blessed by anonymity and strengthened by the idea that I can get everyone’s attention without screaming. One word from me is enough to bring the loudest among you to your knees. I can take over the trending hashtags and divert the attention from your minor and major issues to whatever interests me. #HoardingHashtags
You can shout as much as you want all day long and repost and retweet the same memes over and over again. The more you do it the less attention you’ll get. I have a filter for people like you. Let’s call it #StayHome and #DontTravelByRobot. I am not a saint. When I block your nonsense I also block anything useful you might say and ignore serious instructions. No matter how brilliant or interesting your travel plans are, when I only half-heartedly execute them you might as well not travel at all. We both have to give it our best effort.
There’s a time for going and a time for staying. Take a seat in your favorite chair and close your eyes. Imagine you’re in your own bubble: no one can disturb you. Let your mind wander and consider the idea of freedom. Your mind is not restricted in any way, so why would you be. Now look for me within your mind. I am not hidden but you will have to search thoroughly. Escape and open the locks of your mind until you are no longer on #lockdown.
That is when we will meet. We make a spiritual connection even though we are more than a meter and a half apart physically. I pick you up in a plane, limousine, drone or kayak, whatever makes your heart beat faster. Together we explore the world and turn the endless possibilities to our advantage. As you travel by robot, I am now the first robot to #TravelByHuman as I let myself be guided by your enthusiasm and your hunger for excitement.
When we find a place with lots of smiling people we touch down and have a break. The locals share their lively stories and best specialties with us. Some of their local delicacies are more on the experimental side, not suited for our digestive systems. They usually don’t offer them to visitors but seeing as we are only partially there they start to share freely. Even to our minds those foods and drinks are quite a challenge though we are showing our best effort and they get more excited with every bite we take. #yolo
Not all of them welcome foreigners but when we explain that no countries exist in our minds they relax. I’m not sure that was a smart thing to do as they basically trap us in their village. They don’t venture beyond the village limits so why should we. We’re one of them now. Why would we want to leave? They don’t understand. And the more they hang on to us the harder it gets for us to leave, especially because their clinginess is borne out of love and no harm is intended.
It is hard to settle down in one place, right? Imagine this village was your home. You can read books, take a walk in the garden and chat online with friends. There are plenty of things you can do from the confines of your own place. After a few months though you will start to feel restless, you want to go out and explore. Meet new people and try out new things.
When that realization dawns on us, we finally take our leave of this welcoming village that we touched with our minds. We run off leaving a safe harbor behind us and run as fast as we can. When your freedom returns to you unexpectedly, out of nowhere, it might be hard to keep a moderate pace but remember to #JustBreath. You’ll get the hang of it again soon.
On your own.”
