Road Reading: Exactitudes by Arie Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek

I've always been curious about what other people are doing, constantly wondering if everyone else was having more fun than me. I'm fascinated by other people's experiences and how they process them. Part of the reason I'm traveling is to create my own stories, to feel more like a participant and not just an observer.

After a while you realise there's a fine line between someone with good stories and a great storyteller. Its a futile exercise comparing stories as our experiences are personal to us dependant on our personalities and value systems. People who've been to the same places or have traveled alongside one another will have their own perspective of that time.

There's a comfort in knowing that we only really control our journey, to strive to be the best version of ourself as possible. To quote the great Sly Stallone "We might not be the best in the world but we can be the best in our own life"

I found this book in a Utrecht boekenwinkel. In 'Exactitudes' the Rotterdam based duo demonstrate that there is a sense of uniformity even in our attempts to be unique. It challenges our definition of self, it absurdly realises the conflict we have with wanting to forge our own path whilst wanting to feel a sense of belonging.

Exactitudes: Arie Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek
Since 1995 photographer Arie Versluis and stylist Elly Yttenbroek have worked together on the project 'Exactitudes'. Exactitude is a contraction of the words 'exact' and 'attitude'. It concerns a long-term photo project in which a wide-range of different groups of people are portrayed in an identical frame, in the same pose and with strictly observed dress codes...

I no longer feel the need to compare experiences with my fellow man, now the curiosity comes more from a place of interest rather than envy.

Other people's stories
Here is a listing of blogs I've collected from fellow travelers:

Europe 2011
Australian met in Barcelona, Spain - Spanish Wanderlust
New Yorker met in Utrecht, Holland - Foxx tackles the Globe
American met in Madrid, Spain - Hostel Hopping
American met in Lisboa, Portugal - Todd Geasland

American met in Lisboa, Portugal - Untitled (Because I am just a cloud)
Korean met in Selcuk, Turkey - Floating Chara (Korean)
New Zealander met in Fethiye, Turkey - Quins Adventure

Storytellers met in Lithuania

Dutchman met in Klaipėda, Lithuania - TimToTango

Catalunyan met in Kaunas, Lithuania - Cargol Treu Manya (Catalan)

Frenchman met in Kaunas, Lithuania - Avec moi pendant 4 mois!! (French)

Lithuanian girls met in Kaunas, Lithuania - Kombajns' YouTube Channel

South America 2013
Englishman met in Santiago, Chile - I'm Half the World Away
Chilena met in Valparaíso, Chile - Nada en Realidad
French couple met in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile - Les aventures de Fanny et Jay autour du monde
American met in Mendoza, Argentina - Still Lifes
2 French girls met in Buenos Aries, Argentina - Mochilejos
2 English girls met in Cuyabeno River, Ecuador- Where in the World is Imogen?
Englishman met en route to Lago Agria, Ecuador- SAMUELFENSTERHEIM

Trigger: "Qualidade de Vida" in Casa dos Gauchos, Porto

Soundtrack for "Casa dos Gauchos"
- 'Good Life' by Kanye West

Now I, I go for mine,

I got to shine

Now throw your hands up in the sky

Now I, I go for mine,

I got to shine

Now throw your hands up in the sky

I'ma get on this TV mama
I'ma, I'ma put shit down
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, I'm good

Welcome to the good life

Where we like the girls who ain't on TV

'Cause they got more ass than the models

The good life,

so keep it comin'

with them bottles

Till she feel boozed

like she the bomb with Porto

The good life,

it feel like Churrasco

It feel like festas,

it feel like lindas

it feel like felicidade

It feel like Ribeira

or the Bay or Ye

Ayy, this is the good life

Porto, Portugal: Day 128 - Day 158
In my last Trigger post of my Road Trip from Lisboa, the photos curated were chosen to hint at some of the extraordinary things we got up to. With this set I wanted to contain the amazing sense of family and festivity I felt in Porto. With that said no collection could ever truly capture the magic of this unforgettable time.

To the 'Safado 6' (Alemão, Salsa, Samuka, Amim, Porto and Negão) and 'Familia Feliz' - Muito Obrigado!

Other adventures with "Familia Feliz"
- Trigger: "Qualidade de Vida" in Casa dos Gauchos, Porto
- On top of: Ribeira jump
- Trigger: The impressions of Porto
- Portugal: eat, pray, LOVE - Portugal sure is warm!
- Camp Geres, near the border of Portugal and Spain

Road Reading: Massimo Vitali, Natural Habitats

Piazza San Marco, Venice

Some travelers take pride in finding places that are "not touristy", discovered by a chosen few. As a person fascinated by social cultures, I'm drawn to the visual spectacle of people congregating. At its best its reminiscent of National Geographic portrayals of the animal kingdom. A well-attended event still has its exclusivity as access is always governed by affordability, awareness and interest. Interestingly these social gatherings can be misleading because the mass is made up of people in their own bubbles.

Its been fun finding these arbitrary gatherings in each city, Sunday afternoons at La Latina (Madrid) to Monday nights at the Ribeira (Porto). Alternatively joining a weekly pick-up game, or school/work social can give you access to a big group.

On my regular romps passing the time in bookstores, I found this gem in a Utrecht boekenwinkel:

Massimo Vitali: Natural Habitats

Massimo Vitali: Natural Habitats
Since 2007 Vitali has modified his perspective, shifting between an architectural background and a volume Natural Habitats, comprises seventy photographs, spanning from 2004 to 2009 - also includes a "genealog - ical tree" of his photographs

Spotted: Shopkeeper shames Cheese sampler

Spotted at 'Henri Willig Cheese & more' store, Amsterdam. 4pm, 12 Juli 2011.

A man gets called out for taking too many cheese and savoury samples.

"You cannot just come here like its your dinner. You were here yesterday! If you want to try you should also buy"

On top of: Jumping into the Riberia in Porto, Portugal

Jumping off the iconic Ponte D. Luís bridge in Porto

1 de Julhio, 2011. 4:30pm - Porto, Portugal
On the final few days of our time in Porto. The boys decided to jump of the iconic Ponte D. Luís at the Ribeira. It was a spectacular end to our time in this amazing city. I had the privilege of being the first to take the plunge days earlier. With the boys, I attempted it off the top rope.

Qualidade de Vida!
Obrigado Brothers, Obrigado Porto.
Day 128 - Day 158

Art imitating life: The power of Horizons

Day 134: On a moonlit night at a [Foz] beachside bar for a typical ERASMUS night, I'm sure we can relate to feeling alone in a crowded room. This was one of those evenings. Staring into the abyss that was the Atlantic ocean only amplified the feeling. The horizon makes you wonder about what's on the other side - Friends and family across the pond, how far from home you really are and the "meaning of it all".

This photo collection is by French artist Jacques Mataly, exhibited in Serpente Contemporary Art Gallery (Porto, Portugal)

Jacques Mataly - Ligne

The horizon is our limit.
Suddenly we contemplate our finitude and we know that beyond this line, it continues, amplifies, the immense stretches, chaos reigns as lord, the magnetic fields are developed, the background noise murmur, disorder thrives. Behind the horizon is infinite, all things, everything that we do not know, all that eludes us and upset us, all that we can not grasp in his hands embracing, watching, everything that our intelligence can not master and subdue, behind, right behind, opens up the territories of our ghosts, fears and beliefs.

Alain Monnier

The price of freedom?: Traveling, Selfishness and Friends

My blog posts tend to either be experiential or existential. I've been leaning towards experiential posts lately as I've been wanting to contain the special moments. I've always kept daily audits of my activities but its been rewarding to embed photos and musings to solidify the memories.

Thinking existentially is unavoidable when days are spent alternating between awe, solitude, discovery, constant leisure and conversation. Its a charmed life that makes you question your current place and your life going forward. When thinking and talking about the "meaning of it all" I've discovered that we all essentially come to the same epiphanies and conclusions. The only difference is the experience that informs them - so they might as well be interesting right?

It can be quite disheartening to find that we're all sharing the same crisis yet there is comfort in knowing we're all in this together.

Via dear friend Dear8blue:

what do you hear...
I think that I would rather recollect a life mis-spent on foolish, fragile things, than spent avoiding moral debt...

So by-the-by I am content to continue playing the fool and simply make things up as I go along... Times change and we with them...

And yet I fear that perhaps my life has become so light and free from responsibility that I might fly off the earth entirely and never return... for there is far too little tying me to the ground...

Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker that with great power, comes great responsibility....
But sometimes with great freedom, comes NO responsibility... I wonder sometimes if I could ever truly be responsible for something or someone other than myself...

This isn't the first time i've quoted Dear8lue and I have a feeling it wont be the last