Swipe right if you want to go on an adventure

Swipe right if you want to go on an adventure.

Climb aboard this red-striped bus, and we’ll watch this town disappear in the rearview mirror. There’s so much more to this country than city lights, so sit next to me and share this private movie screen as the landscape passes us by. Watch the country open up before us on straight roads lined with rice paddies and unopened photo albums. We’ll find a small town that no one’s ever heard of and fill our news feeds with wanderlust-laced beauty. Let’s visit a land before computers, where history meets tradition and the slow life swallows us whole. We have a map and an afternoon, so let’s find something to remember.

Climb with me to the top of this mountain, the tip of this rock whose brothers and sisters have claimed the land around us. Lay down a mat, lie beside me, and let’s paint the clouds with stories from our pasts. Unpack a bottle of soju, a bag of rice crackers, and fill the air with words and laughter while we gaze out at the horizon. Rest your legs and feel the ground beneath us, solid, firm, and unmoving. We are warriors. We are conquerors. We are explorers and pioneers charting these forests with our sneakers. Empty the bottle slowly, for the trail has twists and turns and we must make it back before sunset.

Grab this day planner and draft a weekend with me. Let’s dream of unseen lands and faraway customs – experiences for many but tradition for few. Run your hand along these murals, and feel years and years of paint, reapplied over time to roughly resemble what lies beneath. Tables with warm food and muted laughter, secrets held by those who have swallowed these delicacies for centuries with family and friends. Lay out a sleeping bag and sleep with the stars, the sticks, the stones, the trees, and the temples. Let’s look for something different from the flashing lights and the wifi-enabled beaches in the countryside of this nation. Follow me down this dirt road and turn left at the fork.

Let’s write a history book for the people who live in houses. The ones whose reflections follow them around the fields, knee-deep in water with steady hands and open hearts. Listen to their stories and breathe in their pages, written by ancestors and passed down through whispers and bedtime tales. Travel back to a simpler time, and note that life only gets complicated because we make it so. And when the sun kisses the tops of the mountains, rest your head on the window, and let these wheels take us home.

Swipe right if you’re looking for an adventure, and let’s find one together.

Originally posted on Thought Catalog.