Time is the most valuable asset we have, yet we often fritter away the minutes using money.
Instead of walking up the mountain, we pay to take the lift. Instead of using the local train, we hop in a more expensive cab ride. Such convenience circumvents the lived experience.
The most memorable experiences are the ones that stem the pace and allow us to notice the minutiae: the smells, the way people move, communicate, and dress. Ceasing the fight with time, life generates novelty.
Travel, while requiring the funds to do so, is nonetheless a priceless activity. Writes Kevin Kelly in his piece More time is better than more money, living in the present opens a secret vault.
“Here is what I learned from 40 years of traveling: Of the two modes, it is far better to have more time than money.
When you have abundant time you can get closer to core of a place. You can hang around and see what really happens. You can meet a wider variety of people. You can slow down until the hour that the secret vault is opened. You have enough time to learn some new words, to understand what the real prices are, to wait out the weather, to get to that place that takes a week in a jeep.”
Kevin Kelly
No one is doubting that money makes one’s life easier. But we can either like and enviable Instagram photo or try to live it.
Money cheats time by replacing experiences with immediate gratification. The challenges along the way are the richest experiences in disguise. “So if you have a choice,” Kelley writes, “travel with more time than money. You’ll be richer.”