Journeys of a Wandering Wordsmith

Journey with me on my blog!

The Life of a Solo Traveling Boy
Thomas Mark Zuniga Thomas Mark Zuniga

The Life of a Solo Traveling Boy

The life of a solo traveler is oh so solo: I wait solo in the airport, I sit solo on the flight, I drive solo in my rental car, I eat solo at campgrounds and in all restaurants (ie, In-N-Out four times), I walk solo down city streets, I hike solo down long silent trails, and I camp solo for longer, silenter nights. The life of a solo traveling boy can be oh so lonely, and also oh so glorious.

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Let's Get Distracted and Lonely in Las Vegas
Wanderings Thomas Mark Zuniga Wanderings Thomas Mark Zuniga

Let's Get Distracted and Lonely in Las Vegas

Is it a magical experience or humanity’s death knell? Will more and more glowing screens in our pockets and watches and eyewear and vehicles and living rooms and workplaces and city streets and hotels and casinos and concert venues be our ultimate doom? Will we start over one day, looking back with incredulity that we ever inundated our lives with this much distraction? These countless screens and polarizing social media that does more to disconnect us from one another and tear us away from this present moment?

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Journey of No Distractions: An Intro to BiGTRiP V
Wanderings Thomas Mark Zuniga Wanderings Thomas Mark Zuniga

Journey of No Distractions: An Intro to BiGTRiP V

This year for BiGTRiP V, I flew to Las Vegas to rent a car and drive all over Utah and eastern Nevada to visit six national parks — a new personal record for park visits in such a span of time. I booked this trip several months ago without giving much thought to some logistics – namely, that mid-August temperatures in this region would top out at 105 Fahrenheit. Oops. No matter, I reassured myself; I'd just treat this year's BiGTRiP as a literal wilderness journey. This year, more than any other, I would escape to the undistracted wilderness and return to civilization a different man.

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