Happiness becomes reality when you share it with someone.

I don't dislike traveling. In fact... if you follow that thought, you probably understand that a positive sentiment follows.
Jokes aside, now that the season of fluctuating temperatures has passed, many people must be feeling the urge to "go on a trip" or "take a long journey" ahead of the holiday season. I suspect that some of you may have already traveled, inspired by foreign tourists.

Despite pretending to be a wanderer, I haven't been on a trip or journey in quite a while. I do think it's about time I wandered off somewhere aimlessly. However, at my age, the reality is that even if I intend to be carefree, it is quite difficult to cast aside the obligations of being a member of society and just head out on a trip.

Such thoughts seem related to my younger days when I used to ride my motorcycle and go everywhere alone.

Getting a medium-sized motorcycle license and riding all over the country

In my late 20s, influenced by my seniors and friends, I obtained a medium-sized motorcycle license and immediately bought a bike from a shop run by a friend's father. From the following year, I would strap a sleeping bag, a tent, and a few days' worth of clothes to the bike, and use my one-week summer vacation to go on a solo trip.

It was an incredibly fresh experience for me at the time. After all, I rode my motorcycle across almost the entire country, from Hokkaido to Kagoshima, for three consecutive years.

When asked what is interesting about solo travel or why I am interested in it, giving a pretentious reason like "because the road is there" is just vanity. The real reason is the manifestation of an adventurous spirit, wanting to see the unique mountains, rivers, plants, and trees of those regions and experience various things.

A trip that is a manifestation of an adventurous spirit and satisfies curiosity

I hate to say it myself, but I wanted to satisfy my insatiable curiosity. Of course, there was also the exploration and visiting of delicious food and public baths, including hot springs. In addition, checking the motorcycle's fuel efficiency was surprisingly important as it could be applied to future rides.

There is also the reason of experiencing such extraordinary things and then sharing the places I was moved by and the state of the scenery with relatives, seniors, and friends, while including a bit of modest boasting, and immersing myself in a somewhat selfish sense of happiness.
The excitement and thrill that lie beyond the daily routine of solo travel are one of the happy things in life.

Actually, I like not only solo travel itself but also novels, movies, music, and paintings that depict travel—or to put it pretentiously, works of art in general.

To be honest, in terms of the order I followed, I came to love traveling because I was influenced by novels and movies. For novels, it's Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"; for movies, road movies like "Easy Rider"; and for paintings, the "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō," and so on.

The 2007 American film "Into the Wild"

It is not hard to understand that the joy of an experience, not limited to travel, becomes a reality as happiness when shared with someone.
Although I brought it up, I introduced this proverb and maxim, "(Joy with marriage, couples, or friends) is doubled, and sadness is halved," even though there are surprisingly many similar ones and it doesn't feel entirely original.

I feel there is something profound in the famous quote, which is largely due to the influence of the film that depicts the main event of McCandless's life. This is because he died of starvation in Alaska while all alone. The process leading up to that is detailed in the 2007 American film "Into the Wild."

It is a film adaptation of the non-fiction book (written by Jon Krakauer, available in Japanese translation) about him, and since it was directed by Sean Penn, who is also an actor, some of you may have seen it.

I remember that the music was handled by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and the poetry of his slightly raspy yet resonant singing voice, set to a melody that felt dynamic yet somehow sorrowful, matched the emotional movements of the traveling character and the landscape footage.

For better or worse, I don't have a survival spirit

There were times when I felt misanthropic and wanted to go on a solo trip just like him. However, for better or worse, I did not possess the tough spirit or guts to continue traveling even by living a survival life in the great outdoors.

Thanks to that, I am who I am today, exposing half my body to wandering and pretending to be a drifter. Oh, traveling is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Christopher McCandless
[1968–92] Born in California. After graduating from college, he went on a journey wandering across the United States. He lived a survival life based in an abandoned bus in Alaska, but died of starvation at the age of 24. The bus became a destination for hikers imitating him, and it was removed after several people died in accidents.