The Grand Canyon Experience - Preface

Around the world, many wait lifetimes. Some are scared, while others are excited upon the arrival of the day - When they can finally visit the Grand Canyon.

The average visit to the canyon by tourists lasts for 3 hours. That is not a long time, compared to 2 weeks - and many wish that visitors would spend more time in the canyon, exploring and appreciating surroundings. Some might think 2 weeks in the canyon is a long long time, others would see it as a great opportunity for being away from society. In my trip, I actually perceived both sides of that coin.

I have had many chances to bail out of the trip, and I think when writing, I should be honest about some things: Yes, for a long time, I did not like being at the canyon. Too much work without motivation. For me, motivation is important in order to experience something - and at the South rim I did not receive that. This is why on the 6th day, I became very quiet and went into a mood of "I can't wait to go home!". I even counted down hours, minutes, and seconds until my return. I felt that 2 weeks is a long time. Not only this, I could not understand why these people care. "Why would they want me here? I don't make a difference!"

Then as the river trip progressed, this changed. I had so much fun on the river that by the time of our last day, I was simply sad to leave. It was too hard to leave the river, that natural disconnection from society. When I first stepped into the pizza place with our group, I felt like an immigrant who just entered this foreign society - a feeling I have not experienced since my come to America 6 years ago.

Looking back to the trip overall, it was a good experience. If you have watched the leading the way 2009 promo video (link on this blog), you will note that at some point, a guy says "there isn't one day that I don't think of my trip." and this is true. At the time when I first heard the video, I didn't understand why he'd say that. But now I can relate. And I can respond to his comment by making my own reflections upon this trip.

My goal, then, is to help you relate respond and reflect upon my experiences yourself. Although recordings of the trip might take some time to appear - since my voice recorder fell in the boat right on our 12th day - I can still write and write about how it felt to be in the canyon. My journal entries are also lost, since they were all recorded. So it will take time to publish those as well. This is why I have to write NOW, before the trip turns into one blob in my mind, one flowing river of experience. Right now I can still go back through the individual days I spent on the rim and on the river. With time this will fade.
At first, I will try to write a daily account of my experiences. But as we move further in the trip, you will notice how memories simply meld into one long timeline. So about the 5th day, I will simply write long posts on what we did on the river, instead of breaking it down. It is during the river where everything seems to be one long experience. Once you have read all of the posts, I would gracefully wish to ask that you reflect upon the ways I viewed the Grand Canyon and this trip and then comment at your will. In this way, we are also incorporating Global Explorers philosophies in this blog - the RRR (Relate, Respond, and reflect). Once recordings become available, I will post more so you can understand the trip in depth. Photos (or pictures) will also be available with time. If you are on my facebook friends list, check tagged photos of me regularly since I didn't take any actual pictures.