My entry submission to the travel contest

Although I came in third for the contest, I still wholeheartedly believe in my entry submission.  So I post it here as another blog to file away with the others. Just 'cause I'm not about to take 8 trips to places around the world, doesn't mean the reflections of past and current experiences cease to exist.  Here's to truth-telling life experiences, now and always.
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By Melissa Robbins                      December 2, 2010
Travelers are like snowflakes, unique with a collective power that could change the world. An ardent travelphile, I’ve been fortunate to have breathed the air in many places. Though I have my Masters degree, it's not my 19 years of formal schooling that's taught me the most, but my adventures outside the classroom.

I’ve gone hang-gliding over Rio de Janeiro, paragliding in the Swiss Alps, lion-hunting in the Serengeti, and have lived in Spain, Italy, Brazil, and El Salvador. I believe true travelers seek out the local lifestyle by learning the spoken language and relentlessly immersing themselves in the unspoken rhythm that keeps the people and town running; they then carry those experiences with them in that uncomfortably-heavy-and-unforgiving travel backpack thereafter.

Zig-zagging around the globe is—let’s face it—not always as glamorous as it sounds. It is, however, a true representation of life at its core. In blogging my way through South America, I chose my words carefully to avoid publicizing that, in Brazil, I’d been held up at knifepoint. Physically, I escaped unscathed, but the memory of that 30-second-frozen-in-time moment has shaped my life. Not only did that teach me that I could run fast in flip-flops, but I was also forced to experience something that unfortunately plagues Brazilians daily in their quest to survive. I now see that travel blogging isn't merely reporting the smile-inducing adventures in a reader-friendly way; truly capturing the essence of a place also means painting a picture so vivid, readers can envision themselves living the blog.

I’m not going to try to “beat the system” to win this contest. I believe voters can recognize someone’s genuineness and innate desire to use all experiences—trials and tribulations alike—to make positive changes in the world, one step at a time. If you want a fictional, light-hearted-full-of-fluff-beach-read, don’t vote for me. If you wonder what makes other places tick, as lived by someone who blogs even when she doesn’t have her passport in hand (http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com/), I’d be very grateful to receive your coveted vote.

Meanwhile, I'll be abiding by the ever-relevant Confucian philosophy: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

You gotta fight...for your right...to beeee equal

The first week of the new year is over, and the results of the competition have been announced.  Alas, I did not win...in fact someone else with the last name Robbins won, which essentially means that the "wrong" Robbins won.  But, I want to take a minute to thank all the people who voted for me, who told their friends and families to vote, and who voted with multiple email addresses.  Even though the contest people disqualified me for 5 days (before I got them to reinstate me into the competition) because they believed that there was an "unnatural number of votes for my entry in a very short period of time" (thus, in their minds, *necessarily* constituting voter fraud, since, G-d forbid, people actually like my blog at the same time), I ended up with 1124 votes, when all was said and done (and after they took away 100+ votes of mine).  By the numbers, it looks like I ended up in 3rd place, but there's no way to know for sure about the validity of the votes received by the two people with higher numbers than mine.

At first, I was disappointed -- who wouldn't have loved winning tens of thousands of dollars' worth of travel?  Hell, that's what I spend my money on anyway, so why not just cut out the middle man?  But then, upon further reflection, I realized that the competition was the very antithesis of its intended purpose.  If the purpose was to allow someone the $70,000+ opportunity to travel to 8 different destinations and blog about it, what the contest people essentially did was further polarize the blogger from the "bloggees."  The average person doesn't have the opportunity to do what the grand prize allows this contest's winner to do.  And it is very unlikely that the people whom the winner will encounter on each of these trips will have had a similar opportunity.  Thus, the true winners -- I believe -- are the people who make this grand prize happen for themselves.  16 trip packages (8 trips for 1 +guest) do not just fall into one's lap with no strings attached.



Am I bitter that I didn't win?  No -- a little disappointed, but not bitter.  Would I like to have won? Of course.  Do I hold a grudge against the "other" Robbins?  No.  Since she won the competition, she should get the grand prize.  I don't know if I'll check back to see her blogs or not whenever she ends up taking her trips, but I do know that the perspectives of someone who receives $70,000+ worth of opportunities on one winter day in January are going to be vastly different from someone who works for those same opportunities every day of his/her life.  That doesn't make one viewpoint any "better" than another, but I think it needs to be acknowledged that every day, people fight to survive and to make life better for themselves and their families, and it's *those* people who deserve a wealth of opportunities.

So, although I stand on the 3rd place step of the podium, perhaps it's not so bad...after all, I'm the closest to the ground or, in other words, closer to the people.  And therein emerges a new interpersonal relationship in looking into the eyes of the person in front of you, rather than looking down on them.  (Note: I'm only 5'5", so even though I'd be on that 3rd place step, I'd still be looking into the eyes of the people in front of me, if not up at them.)

Thanks again to all of you for all of your help. You have given me new insight that will only continue to fuel my drive.  Now let's raise our glasses and toast to the creation of an extended community of hard workers and equality fighters...but since equality doesn't fight for itself, put those glasses down and let's get back to work.