9 ms·

A Single Small Map Is Enough for a Lifetime

128 points by Thevet 3y ago

Zickzack 3y ago
> It showed an area totaling just 20 square kilometers, a tiny place. The map was divided into 400 individual grid squares, outlined in light blue — a single square kilometer each. He means 20 kms squared, as opposed to 20 square kilometers. The map should be 80cm x 80cm then.
justincormack 3y ago
I bought his book the other day I kind of liked the idea.
- johngossman 3y ago
  Coincidentally, his pictures remind me very much of the time I tried to walk from Cambridge to Ely
  - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
    Minnesota? How long did that take?
    - johngossman 3y ago
      UK. They are a lot closer together…
    - pjc50 3y ago
      Cambridge, England to Ely (also England) is about 17 miles. Not an everyday trip but very feasible for an experienced or determined walker. People quite often cycle it. It's also extremely flat.
      - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
        Ah, I see. Cambridge, MN to Ely, MN is a bit longer, 203 miles, to be precise. Hence my surprise. https://maps.app.goo.gl/2U99gUwjmxhNjuNF7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/2U99gUwjmxhNjuNF7
    - mashygpig 3y ago
      I think that could be a pretty interesting walk itself though!
jacknews 3y ago
the pictures clearly don't do the idea justice one is led to believe visiting electric pylons is the new 'adventure' unless ...
- mlyle 3y ago
  This exact cynicism is what he pushes against. We can collect superlative pictures of unique places-- sometimes jostling among hundreds of tourists to do so. There's certainly joy in this. But we can also let our curiosity be engaged, and find surprise and wander right next door.
  - jacknews 3y ago
    So post some photos of dragonflies darting across a small pond, rays of sunshine piercing the forest canopy to glow fresh bluebells, etc, etc. There are myriad pleasures in easy reach, but Pylons? Sure they can be attractive, but maybe aren't the best way to convey the message.
- mikestew 3y ago
  Well, to me the "unless..." is doing some heavy lifting. I run under electric pylons nearly every day (there is a soft surface trail under the power lines). Sure, they're man-made, represent civilization, or whatever. But they're there, and that's part of the adventure, too. The pylons are in a different setting nearly every day, be it fog or sun, or just the usual PNW drizzle. And really, how often have you taken a good look at those pylons? How often are you even near them? How they're built, how would you put one together, how heavy are those power lines? Anyone with an engineering mindset could ponder those pylons for quite a while. And despite all of that "civilization", I see deer, coyotes, and a beer on very rare occasions. Despite using that trail for over twenty years, it's a new adventure every time I go down it.
- bjornlouser 3y ago
  Unless... it's the Powerline trail in Kauai. Then my friends and family will think I'm special for having visited there. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/kaua-i--2/powerline-trail-from-the-south https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/kaua-i--2/powerline-t...
nritchie 3y ago
Its a different experience in the UK where trespass laws are so different. Here in the land of the free, where we value property rights over freedom of motion, we are restricted to explore only a fraction of the land around us. One man's freedom is another man's bonds.
- elheffe80 3y ago
  In the US we also have the largest park system that is quite cheap/free. Not every area is covered with parks, but there are enough green spaces within a short distance (less than 1 hour) that exploring should be possible. Further, a lot of people will let you go on their land if you ask them and are polite about your time on their land. Regardless- I agree that we do not have it as fun as they do in the UK and some other areas that treat land like they do.
  - Solvency 3y ago
    Let's also not forget BLM land, where Americans can and do load up a F150 Raptor and run 90 mph across the desert, camping anywhere they want, shooting semiautomatic rifles into the air freely, living out their freedom fever dreams. Try doing that in the UK.
    - ninju 3y ago
      The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) even has a portal with maps https://www.blm.gov/maps/georeferenced-PDFs https://www.blm.gov/maps/georeferenced-PDFs
    - samschooler 3y ago
      This is what I'm doing this weekend. I'm not even joking, headed to Moab.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      BLM land is a million square kilometers. That's about ten times the size of the UK. There is something to be said for the UK traipsing laws from time immemorial - because you can explore something other than a million square kilometers of mostly unused land.
simonbarker87 3y ago
At the risk of being part of the problem: gosh that sounds terribly boring. I’m glad the author finds enjoyment in that kind of adventure but after 10 minutes my brain would be wishing for a mountain bike trail to ride down, a rocky outcrop to climb, or simply some sun and blue sky.
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  One of the opening quotes says that one mountain range is enough for a lifetime. You just need to move out of the prairie...
  - simonbarker87 3y ago
    That’s fair, but he’s not in a mountain range, he’s in a small flat part of the UK
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  I guess I'm the opposite. I find travel to be highly overrated. If you're going to visit someone, that's one thing. But just to go somewhere and wander around, nah. I don't find any happiness doing that.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  The interesting part to me was that the author spent 20+ years traveling around, and started to reduce the distances only "in recent years". How long will they keep enjoying these distance limited, more local discoveries ? Will they progressively expand back and buy a boat when their kids leave home ? I don't know if people who fundamentaly enjoyed change will be able to fit in a box for the rest of their life.
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  > I’m glad the author finds enjoyment in that kind of adventure From the author's bio: "He has bicycled around the world, walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic, run six marathons in the Sahara and trekked 1,000 miles through the Empty Quarter. He was named one of National Geographic’s adventurers of the year in 2012." He was also like you before.
smeej 3y ago
I grew up with no real sense of "home." I think probably because of that, traveling was never exciting for me. I did it. I spent months bouncing around various places, but it didn't feel like anything unusual to me. Each was just one more new place. It wasn't until I turned 30 and abruptly made a decision to pick somewhere and stay there that I found the kind of satisfaction it seems like most people get from traveling. It's not challenging for me to adapt to new situations and experiences. It's challenging for me to navigate the depth of experience of the same people and the same places, day in and day out. It's especially challenging for me to face the depth of myself that I have encountered since deciding to put down roots. It's a lot less glamorous to invest my time into trying to understand and solve local problems with local people than it would be to create highlight reels of exotic locations, but I feel like I'm growing more this way than I would otherwise. It makes me think whichever type of experience you didn't grow up with might be the challenge you need as an adult. If you grew up with all the challenges of a small town people rarely leave and where everybody knows you, maybe you need the challenge of new places where nothing is familiar and you have to start all your encounters from scratch. But if you didn't "belong" anywhere as a kid, maybe what you need to develop in adulthood is the opposite.
- xyzelement 3y ago
  Perhaps different but connected - in my mid-30s I realized that I had "maxed out" travel. I was going to 20+ countries a year between work and pleasure and was super-confident that you can drop me anywhere in the world and I'll figure it out. In contrast, I realized that I didn't have a ton of experience "staying." Naively, settling down, marrying, having kids, buying a house sounds "boring" compared to picking up and going to Senegal on a whim, but at this point of my life the boring was much more of the adventure and unknown than the whirlwind. Looking back on it, I am definitely growing and learning much more from being a husband, a dad, a homeowner, neighbor, etc than I would from going on another 20 trips.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    Now you get to combine the two when you start taking the family on some of those trips to share with your kids the perspective and situations of other people and places.
ajankelo 3y ago
Small discovery is highly underrated. Reminds me of how earlier London taxi license required the "Knowledge" a deep understanding of routes and wayfinders.
DoingSomeThings 3y ago
Unfortunately in my area of the USA south, there simply isn't much free land to explore. We have contained city parks and a few state parks. Less than 2% of all land in state. Everything else is either developed or privately owned. "I studied my map for a while and found what appeared to be its most boring grid square: no roads, houses or rivers, just a single footpath, one pond and the merest flutter of a lonely contour line. Here, it seemed, was nothing at all, neatly outlined within crisp blue lines." Near me that boring grid would almost certainly be fenced off. Untouchable.
- ToucanLoucan 3y ago
  "How come kids don't go outside anymore?" Then you look outside and it's nothing but 4-lane stroads, fast food places, payday loan/pawn shops, and liquor stores. Where the fuck are the kids meant to go, the local casino?
  - Lord-Jobo 3y ago
    I believe the system and those who pull the levers currently would prefer if the kids were in juvenile detention(1) or working low wage jobs at risk of their own health safety and future(2). Might be better off with the casino option. 1: https://ips-dc.org/whos-profiting-americas-private-juvenile-prisons/ https://ips-dc.org/whos-profiting-americas-private-juvenile-... 2: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172544561/new-state-laws-are-rolling-back-regulations-on-child-labor https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172544561/new-state-laws-are...
    - ToucanLoucan 3y ago
      The success of Minecraft proves that the children yearn for the mines.
- graphe 3y ago
  Illegal activity is as American as apple pie. I don't have much free land around me and I have a lot of fun going into abandoned buildings despite it's own set of hazards such as asbestos and mold.
maxglute 3y ago
If it was, we'd still live like most humans throughout human history, live and die within a few kilometers of where they were born. As a homebody, single floor plan is enough for a lifetime. For a Hikikomori, a single room. Until it isn't.
morelisp 3y ago
The further you go, the less you know.
morninglight 3y ago
About 25 years ago, I threw together a program to create my own maps from Google maps. After specifying a rectangular border and level of detail, the software proceeded to fill a directory with small maps that would be stitched together. This technique allowed me to explore my surroundings in a similar manner, and I was amazed at what was to be found. If you're into walking / hiking, it is especially useful. These days I annotate my maps and keep them on a local device. Perhaps someone could suggest software for personal use that would allow non-programmers to create their own maps.
peebeebee 3y ago
It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. T.S. Elliot
tsunamifury 3y ago
I used to fly all over the world pre covid and that has since come to a halt. Over the pandemic I started just roadtriping in California and after 3 years of that I realized I could spend the rest of my life just going to new places here.
graton 3y ago
The article mentions buying a custom map for a portion of the UK but then didn't mention the website. For anyone else curious about a custom map for a part of the UK here is the site: https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/custom-made/ https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/custom-made/
- duskwuff 3y ago
  And, if you're in the US: https://store.usgs.gov/maps https://store.usgs.gov/maps
thereikiway 3y ago
If we promoted less car infrastructure and more spaces to walk exploration would be built in to our lives instead of requiring ….another car trip.
zhivota 3y ago
As someone reaching 40 myself, it's funny the author doesn't realize they are just getting older. Not all, but most people, as they age, start to lose that wanderlust that they had in their youth. Like the author I have been on many adventures and across many countries, and I will still do a lot more of it. But as I get older I feel the pull far less than I did when I was younger.
- peebeebee 3y ago
  Good observation! It seems that in your 20s there's an inclination towards inspiration: exploring the world, ideas, and oneself. However, post-30s, particularly when you've settled down and had children, the focus often shifts to cultivating your surroundings; Integrating the values and insights acquired to foster a more beautiful, safer pleasing home environment and community. So a next step for the writer would be to step into a more active role, like conservation of some of the parts on his map. I think that would bring even more happiness.
losvedir 3y ago
I agree with this, but so few people seem to like it. International travel is such a luxury and costs so much carbon. It's my goto example of something I would outlaw since it doesn't affect me, and there's no "real" reason for it. Of course, my libertarian sensibilities don't let me actually advocate for it, but I think about it when people want to outlaw marijuana, abortion, drinking, cars, guns, or whatever activity people other than themselves want to participate in. It's too easy to see the costs and not the benefits when it's someone else's activity. But I really do think we'd be better off of more people voluntarily explored around their own home rather than taking far off vacations. Having lived in several countries and traveled to many more in my younger days (yes, I know, I'm a hypocrite), I don't find short travel visits to really help understand other cultures in any meaningful way like people like to claim. Extended visits or living there for several months or years does non-trivially change your perspective, though. As long as the place is substantially different and you make real connections with people.
- angra_mainyu 3y ago
  O_O Why in the world would you ever ban international travel???? Out of all the opinions I've read on HN, that must be the most insane one.... As someone who basically lives the lifestyle of a digital nomad, and has been internationally traveling since I was a kid, I think it's the one thing people should do more of.
- tonyedgecombe 3y ago
  >I agree with this, but so few people seem to like it. You won't see many adverts or travel programs on TV suggesting you go for a ten mile hike starting from your front door. Vast amounts of money are being spent to encourage you to get on a plane and 'explore the world'.
sjshn 3y ago
I've been doing variations on this for decades. I'm fortunate enough to live in a rural area in the US with open space within walking distance, but I've done it in urban areas too. Some ideas: - Walk every road and alley in a small town. - Bicycle every unpaved road in an entire county. - Follow every trail in a park. - In an unfamiliar city, try to walk to destinations with minimal map or GPS use. This can occasionally lead to feeling unsafe, so use care. Before ubiquitous GPS, I used to carry a compass everywhere to help with this. - Pick a direction and walk for a fixed amount of time, then come back a different way. I once walked 50 blocks in NYC this way during a business trip. A friend of mine has spent many years hiking to the top of every publicly accessible peak visible from a hill near his house and has had some wild adventures as a result.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
For a smaller scale of this kind of thing if you live in a city, pick up a game like Ingress or Pokemon Go or one of its many offshoots and just walk to the next node. I found loads of really interesting spots like that, like a quiet graveyard just off the city center.
- bombcar 3y ago
  A deacon I know is making it his goal to walk down every street in his city. It takes a surprisingly long time to meet this goal, even in a small town.
  - wetmore 3y ago
    Check this out: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34168284 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34168284
- hacb 3y ago
  There is also a thing called Geocaching (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching) which basically is a world-wide treasure hunt. I went looking for geocaches around my house when I was youger, and even nowadays when I have to wait for a train for one hour or two in city I've never been, I usually go looking for caches around the train station.
bombcar 3y ago
It used to be that travel was expensive, difficult, long, and rare. Traveling 20 to 30 miles was doable, but rarely done, so if you did it you'd find quite a different area. As travel became more possible (first powered boats, then trains) areas became more similar as people moved about. But it was still quite different to go from New York to Boston, even. Planes shortened it even more; but the real shortening was mass-market communication - radio and then television, and the complete cultural domination of the United States. Now I can travel thousands of miles in mere hours, to visit someplace that every year feels more and more like I've not really left home. You can still experience difference, even in the USA, but you have to work much harder at it now.
dave333 3y ago
Highly inspiring article that will get many of us to explore locally no doubt. Another idea to minimize expense and impact on the planet is virtual tourism. Explore via the internet. There are an infinite number of possible tours you can take for free in and on your own time. You can invent a theme, such as following Alistair Humphrey's travels, or Michael Palin's Around the world or Pole to Pole and so on. Lewis and Clark. Captain Cook. Marco Polo. Darwin and The Beagle.
zubairq 3y ago
I like this, sometimes a small map is enough for a lifetime. I’ve only seen a small part of the world and it is enough for me
dave333 3y ago
Reminds me of Square Mile Living based on the book Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin/Joe Dominguez.

128 points by Thevet 3y ago

> It showed an area totaling just 20 square kilometers, a tiny place. The map was divided into 400 individual grid squares, outlined in light blue — a single square kilometer each. He means 20 kms squared, as opposed to 20 square kilometers. The map should be 80cm x 80cm then.

justincormack 3y ago

I bought his book the other day I kind of liked the idea.

johngossman 3y ago
Coincidentally, his pictures remind me very much of the time I tried to walk from Cambridge to Ely
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  Minnesota? How long did that take?
  - johngossman 3y ago
    UK. They are a lot closer together…
  - pjc50 3y ago
    Cambridge, England to Ely (also England) is about 17 miles. Not an everyday trip but very feasible for an experienced or determined walker. People quite often cycle it. It's also extremely flat.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
      Ah, I see. Cambridge, MN to Ely, MN is a bit longer, 203 miles, to be precise. Hence my surprise. https://maps.app.goo.gl/2U99gUwjmxhNjuNF7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/2U99gUwjmxhNjuNF7
  - mashygpig 3y ago
    I think that could be a pretty interesting walk itself though!

jacknews 3y ago

the pictures clearly don't do the idea justice one is led to believe visiting electric pylons is the new 'adventure' unless ...

mlyle 3y ago
This exact cynicism is what he pushes against. We can collect superlative pictures of unique places-- sometimes jostling among hundreds of tourists to do so. There's certainly joy in this. But we can also let our curiosity be engaged, and find surprise and wander right next door.
- jacknews 3y ago
  So post some photos of dragonflies darting across a small pond, rays of sunshine piercing the forest canopy to glow fresh bluebells, etc, etc. There are myriad pleasures in easy reach, but Pylons? Sure they can be attractive, but maybe aren't the best way to convey the message.
mikestew 3y ago
Well, to me the "unless..." is doing some heavy lifting. I run under electric pylons nearly every day (there is a soft surface trail under the power lines). Sure, they're man-made, represent civilization, or whatever. But they're there, and that's part of the adventure, too. The pylons are in a different setting nearly every day, be it fog or sun, or just the usual PNW drizzle. And really, how often have you taken a good look at those pylons? How often are you even near them? How they're built, how would you put one together, how heavy are those power lines? Anyone with an engineering mindset could ponder those pylons for quite a while. And despite all of that "civilization", I see deer, coyotes, and a beer on very rare occasions. Despite using that trail for over twenty years, it's a new adventure every time I go down it.
bjornlouser 3y ago
Unless... it's the Powerline trail in Kauai. Then my friends and family will think I'm special for having visited there. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/kaua-i--2/powerline-trail-from-the-south https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/kaua-i--2/powerline-t...

nritchie 3y ago

Its a different experience in the UK where trespass laws are so different. Here in the land of the free, where we value property rights over freedom of motion, we are restricted to explore only a fraction of the land around us. One man's freedom is another man's bonds.

elheffe80 3y ago
In the US we also have the largest park system that is quite cheap/free. Not every area is covered with parks, but there are enough green spaces within a short distance (less than 1 hour) that exploring should be possible. Further, a lot of people will let you go on their land if you ask them and are polite about your time on their land. Regardless- I agree that we do not have it as fun as they do in the UK and some other areas that treat land like they do.
- Solvency 3y ago
  Let's also not forget BLM land, where Americans can and do load up a F150 Raptor and run 90 mph across the desert, camping anywhere they want, shooting semiautomatic rifles into the air freely, living out their freedom fever dreams. Try doing that in the UK.
  - ninju 3y ago
    The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) even has a portal with maps https://www.blm.gov/maps/georeferenced-PDFs https://www.blm.gov/maps/georeferenced-PDFs
  - samschooler 3y ago
    This is what I'm doing this weekend. I'm not even joking, headed to Moab.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    BLM land is a million square kilometers. That's about ten times the size of the UK. There is something to be said for the UK traipsing laws from time immemorial - because you can explore something other than a million square kilometers of mostly unused land.

simonbarker87 3y ago

At the risk of being part of the problem: gosh that sounds terribly boring. I’m glad the author finds enjoyment in that kind of adventure but after 10 minutes my brain would be wishing for a mountain bike trail to ride down, a rocky outcrop to climb, or simply some sun and blue sky.

readthenotes1 3y ago
One of the opening quotes says that one mountain range is enough for a lifetime. You just need to move out of the prairie...
- simonbarker87 3y ago
  That’s fair, but he’s not in a mountain range, he’s in a small flat part of the UK
SoftTalker 3y ago
I guess I'm the opposite. I find travel to be highly overrated. If you're going to visit someone, that's one thing. But just to go somewhere and wander around, nah. I don't find any happiness doing that.
makeitdouble 3y ago
The interesting part to me was that the author spent 20+ years traveling around, and started to reduce the distances only "in recent years". How long will they keep enjoying these distance limited, more local discoveries ? Will they progressively expand back and buy a boat when their kids leave home ? I don't know if people who fundamentaly enjoyed change will be able to fit in a box for the rest of their life.
dukeyukey 3y ago
> I’m glad the author finds enjoyment in that kind of adventure From the author's bio: "He has bicycled around the world, walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic, run six marathons in the Sahara and trekked 1,000 miles through the Empty Quarter. He was named one of National Geographic’s adventurers of the year in 2012." He was also like you before.

smeej 3y ago

I grew up with no real sense of "home." I think probably because of that, traveling was never exciting for me. I did it. I spent months bouncing around various places, but it didn't feel like anything unusual to me. Each was just one more new place. It wasn't until I turned 30 and abruptly made a decision to pick somewhere and stay there that I found the kind of satisfaction it seems like most people get from traveling. It's not challenging for me to adapt to new situations and experiences. It's challenging for me to navigate the depth of experience of the same people and the same places, day in and day out. It's especially challenging for me to face the depth of myself that I have encountered since deciding to put down roots. It's a lot less glamorous to invest my time into trying to understand and solve local problems with local people than it would be to create highlight reels of exotic locations, but I feel like I'm growing more this way than I would otherwise. It makes me think whichever type of experience you didn't grow up with might be the challenge you need as an adult. If you grew up with all the challenges of a small town people rarely leave and where everybody knows you, maybe you need the challenge of new places where nothing is familiar and you have to start all your encounters from scratch. But if you didn't "belong" anywhere as a kid, maybe what you need to develop in adulthood is the opposite.

xyzelement 3y ago
Perhaps different but connected - in my mid-30s I realized that I had "maxed out" travel. I was going to 20+ countries a year between work and pleasure and was super-confident that you can drop me anywhere in the world and I'll figure it out. In contrast, I realized that I didn't have a ton of experience "staying." Naively, settling down, marrying, having kids, buying a house sounds "boring" compared to picking up and going to Senegal on a whim, but at this point of my life the boring was much more of the adventure and unknown than the whirlwind. Looking back on it, I am definitely growing and learning much more from being a husband, a dad, a homeowner, neighbor, etc than I would from going on another 20 trips.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  Now you get to combine the two when you start taking the family on some of those trips to share with your kids the perspective and situations of other people and places.

ajankelo 3y ago

Small discovery is highly underrated. Reminds me of how earlier London taxi license required the "Knowledge" a deep understanding of routes and wayfinders.

DoingSomeThings 3y ago

Unfortunately in my area of the USA south, there simply isn't much free land to explore. We have contained city parks and a few state parks. Less than 2% of all land in state. Everything else is either developed or privately owned. "I studied my map for a while and found what appeared to be its most boring grid square: no roads, houses or rivers, just a single footpath, one pond and the merest flutter of a lonely contour line. Here, it seemed, was nothing at all, neatly outlined within crisp blue lines." Near me that boring grid would almost certainly be fenced off. Untouchable.

ToucanLoucan 3y ago
"How come kids don't go outside anymore?" Then you look outside and it's nothing but 4-lane stroads, fast food places, payday loan/pawn shops, and liquor stores. Where the fuck are the kids meant to go, the local casino?
- Lord-Jobo 3y ago
  I believe the system and those who pull the levers currently would prefer if the kids were in juvenile detention(1) or working low wage jobs at risk of their own health safety and future(2). Might be better off with the casino option. 1: https://ips-dc.org/whos-profiting-americas-private-juvenile-prisons/ https://ips-dc.org/whos-profiting-americas-private-juvenile-... 2: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172544561/new-state-laws-are-rolling-back-regulations-on-child-labor https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172544561/new-state-laws-are...
  - ToucanLoucan 3y ago
    The success of Minecraft proves that the children yearn for the mines.
graphe 3y ago
Illegal activity is as American as apple pie. I don't have much free land around me and I have a lot of fun going into abandoned buildings despite it's own set of hazards such as asbestos and mold.

maxglute 3y ago

If it was, we'd still live like most humans throughout human history, live and die within a few kilometers of where they were born. As a homebody, single floor plan is enough for a lifetime. For a Hikikomori, a single room. Until it isn't.

morelisp 3y ago

The further you go, the less you know.

morninglight 3y ago

About 25 years ago, I threw together a program to create my own maps from Google maps. After specifying a rectangular border and level of detail, the software proceeded to fill a directory with small maps that would be stitched together. This technique allowed me to explore my surroundings in a similar manner, and I was amazed at what was to be found. If you're into walking / hiking, it is especially useful. These days I annotate my maps and keep them on a local device. Perhaps someone could suggest software for personal use that would allow non-programmers to create their own maps.

peebeebee 3y ago

It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. T.S. Elliot

tsunamifury 3y ago

I used to fly all over the world pre covid and that has since come to a halt. Over the pandemic I started just roadtriping in California and after 3 years of that I realized I could spend the rest of my life just going to new places here.

graton 3y ago

The article mentions buying a custom map for a portion of the UK but then didn't mention the website. For anyone else curious about a custom map for a part of the UK here is the site: https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/custom-made/ https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/custom-made/

duskwuff 3y ago
And, if you're in the US: https://store.usgs.gov/maps https://store.usgs.gov/maps

thereikiway 3y ago

If we promoted less car infrastructure and more spaces to walk exploration would be built in to our lives instead of requiring ….another car trip.

zhivota 3y ago

As someone reaching 40 myself, it's funny the author doesn't realize they are just getting older. Not all, but most people, as they age, start to lose that wanderlust that they had in their youth. Like the author I have been on many adventures and across many countries, and I will still do a lot more of it. But as I get older I feel the pull far less than I did when I was younger.

peebeebee 3y ago
Good observation! It seems that in your 20s there's an inclination towards inspiration: exploring the world, ideas, and oneself. However, post-30s, particularly when you've settled down and had children, the focus often shifts to cultivating your surroundings; Integrating the values and insights acquired to foster a more beautiful, safer pleasing home environment and community. So a next step for the writer would be to step into a more active role, like conservation of some of the parts on his map. I think that would bring even more happiness.

losvedir 3y ago

I agree with this, but so few people seem to like it. International travel is such a luxury and costs so much carbon. It's my goto example of something I would outlaw since it doesn't affect me, and there's no "real" reason for it. Of course, my libertarian sensibilities don't let me actually advocate for it, but I think about it when people want to outlaw marijuana, abortion, drinking, cars, guns, or whatever activity people other than themselves want to participate in. It's too easy to see the costs and not the benefits when it's someone else's activity. But I really do think we'd be better off of more people voluntarily explored around their own home rather than taking far off vacations. Having lived in several countries and traveled to many more in my younger days (yes, I know, I'm a hypocrite), I don't find short travel visits to really help understand other cultures in any meaningful way like people like to claim. Extended visits or living there for several months or years does non-trivially change your perspective, though. As long as the place is substantially different and you make real connections with people.

angra_mainyu 3y ago
O_O Why in the world would you ever ban international travel???? Out of all the opinions I've read on HN, that must be the most insane one.... As someone who basically lives the lifestyle of a digital nomad, and has been internationally traveling since I was a kid, I think it's the one thing people should do more of.
tonyedgecombe 3y ago
>I agree with this, but so few people seem to like it. You won't see many adverts or travel programs on TV suggesting you go for a ten mile hike starting from your front door. Vast amounts of money are being spent to encourage you to get on a plane and 'explore the world'.

sjshn 3y ago

I've been doing variations on this for decades. I'm fortunate enough to live in a rural area in the US with open space within walking distance, but I've done it in urban areas too. Some ideas: - Walk every road and alley in a small town. - Bicycle every unpaved road in an entire county. - Follow every trail in a park. - In an unfamiliar city, try to walk to destinations with minimal map or GPS use. This can occasionally lead to feeling unsafe, so use care. Before ubiquitous GPS, I used to carry a compass everywhere to help with this. - Pick a direction and walk for a fixed amount of time, then come back a different way. I once walked 50 blocks in NYC this way during a business trip. A friend of mine has spent many years hiking to the top of every publicly accessible peak visible from a hill near his house and has had some wild adventures as a result.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

For a smaller scale of this kind of thing if you live in a city, pick up a game like Ingress or Pokemon Go or one of its many offshoots and just walk to the next node. I found loads of really interesting spots like that, like a quiet graveyard just off the city center.

bombcar 3y ago
A deacon I know is making it his goal to walk down every street in his city. It takes a surprisingly long time to meet this goal, even in a small town.
- wetmore 3y ago
  Check this out: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34168284 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34168284
hacb 3y ago
There is also a thing called Geocaching (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching) which basically is a world-wide treasure hunt. I went looking for geocaches around my house when I was youger, and even nowadays when I have to wait for a train for one hour or two in city I've never been, I usually go looking for caches around the train station.

bombcar 3y ago

It used to be that travel was expensive, difficult, long, and rare. Traveling 20 to 30 miles was doable, but rarely done, so if you did it you'd find quite a different area. As travel became more possible (first powered boats, then trains) areas became more similar as people moved about. But it was still quite different to go from New York to Boston, even. Planes shortened it even more; but the real shortening was mass-market communication - radio and then television, and the complete cultural domination of the United States. Now I can travel thousands of miles in mere hours, to visit someplace that every year feels more and more like I've not really left home. You can still experience difference, even in the USA, but you have to work much harder at it now.

dave333 3y ago

Highly inspiring article that will get many of us to explore locally no doubt. Another idea to minimize expense and impact on the planet is virtual tourism. Explore via the internet. There are an infinite number of possible tours you can take for free in and on your own time. You can invent a theme, such as following Alistair Humphrey's travels, or Michael Palin's Around the world or Pole to Pole and so on. Lewis and Clark. Captain Cook. Marco Polo. Darwin and The Beagle.

zubairq 3y ago

I like this, sometimes a small map is enough for a lifetime. I’ve only seen a small part of the world and it is enough for me

dave333 3y ago

Reminds me of Square Mile Living based on the book Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin/Joe Dominguez.