I watched the documentary A Map for Saturday last night and I knew within two minutes I was going to not only love it, but that it would be today’s Wanderlust Wednesday post. A Map for Saturday is a documentary about Brook Silva-Braga who gave up his career to spend 11 months traveling abroad. It’s called “A Map for Saturday” because he says when you’re involved in long-term travel everyday feels like Saturday. He highlights about a dozen of the 26 countries he visited. This film was incredibly inspiring and has me really itching for some long-term travel. As always, I have some quotes that I want to share from this that really stuck with me (these quotes are made by different people being interviewed from different countries- hence the not-perfect grammar):
“People say, ‘Oh, you’re so lucky’ it’s not lucky, it’s an attitude.”
“You’ve kinda got no choice, ’cause when you of away you realize, okay, I”m going on my own, I could spend the next 12 months on my own or else I can make an effort and go out and meet people.”
“It’s funny because you think you’re on this search all by yourself and then you come across all these other people who are doing the same thing.”
“Well, sometimes situations make me recognize that I am born in a Western Country, and somehow I can adapt to another culture but only to a certain grade… The more you see of the world the less exotic it gets for you. You just get to know the differences between countries are smaller than you expect them to be.”
“Americans aren’t familiar with long-term budget travel because we don’t do it. Of the thousands of travelers I meet in my time away, only two are Americans traveling for a year.”
“I took the trip because I wanted to get something out of my system, just the desire to go to these places and to do these things, but it doesn’t work because I think the one thing that’s changed about all of us as we take this trip is that a normal life really doesn’t seem that attractive at all anymore. I can’t imagine not traveling again. I can’t imagine going back to a real job.”
“Everyone’s so much friendlier when they’re backpacking.”
“No one understands, no one gets it when you get home and everyone says, ‘Ah, so what did you do? How was it?’ How do you explain to someone who has a 9 to 5 job, that does that every single day?”
I hope you guys enjoy this documentary and please let me know if you have seen a movie, documentary or show that you think I should watch!
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5 Comments
liz
April 17, 2013 at 4:04 pmYeeeessssss!!!! 🙂
inspiredanthea
April 17, 2013 at 4:27 pmI totally agree: “People say, ‘Oh, you’re so lucky’ it’s not lucky, it’s an attitude.” That’s what I hear from people all the time when I tell them I left my job previously to go backpacking. It’s something everyone must experience to actually get. I wish there were more films like this, I think most people enjoy that whole eat pray love thing because they don’t realize there are tons of people already doing it all the time!
ashleypaige4
April 17, 2013 at 7:03 pmI am really impressed with you for doing that! Good for you! I want to do that when I finish school. I still manage to get away a lot, just not for a year 😉 it takes work too. That’s what frustrates me sometimes is people act like I’ve just been given this gift, but I work hard to save money and budget really well at home. It takes discipline and the attitude of making it happen. I hope to read all about your trip! Thanks for reading and commenting.
Shelley
June 6, 2013 at 11:26 pmI loved this movie also, and it definitely inspired us to take off on our own year long trip! It’s true, travel is a choice.
ashleypaige4
June 9, 2013 at 9:04 amIt is so inspiring! I’m so proud of your decision to do a year-long trip. I haven’t had that experience yet. Thanks for reading and commenting!