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Elsewhere

@elsewheremission

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Elsewhere
Not a destination, but a way of seeing.
Places, people & moments that make us feel alive.

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I once made my Uber driver cry.

Last year, I was in the back of an Uber after a late night.

The driver asked where I was from.

I said, “The United States.”

He told me he didn’t particularly like Americans.

So we started talking.

I told him I didn’t think he actually had a problem with me.

I stated he had a problem with the version of America he had been shown.

The government.
The politics.
The headlines.
The clips online.

I explained that what we see on a screen can be completely different from what we experience in person.

You can form an entire opinion about a country, a culture, or a group of people without ever really knowing them.

Then you actually meet someone.

You hear their story.
You understand what matters to them.
You realize they want a lot of the same things you do.

A good life.
Good people around them.
Something to care about.
Someone to come home to.
A reason to feel excited about tomorrow.

He started crying.

That conversation has stayed with me ever since.

Because the more I travel and the more people I meet, the more I realize how much of the world we experience secondhand.

Through headlines.
Through algorithms.
Through someone else’s opinion.

But real life is different.

Real life is sitting across from someone you were told was different from you and realizing they really aren’t.

It’s sharing a table.
Having a conversation.
Walking through a place you’ve only ever seen online.
Letting experience change your mind.

That’s a big part of what Elsewhere means to me.

Not escaping the world.

Actually going into it.

Meeting people.
Trying things.
Seeing places for yourself.

Because real life is usually more complicated, more interesting, and more human than what we’re shown through a screen.

Don’t just consume the world.

Go experience it. by @elsewheremission

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2 months ago

I spoke to a woman yesterday on my flight home. She told me she used travel as an escape.

I recognized a part of myself in that.

I’ve traveled far. I’ve walked down streets where no one spoke my language, hiked volcanoes, swam under waterfalls, and eaten on the side of the road with complete strangers.

I’ve always had the next trip planned.

And somewhere along the way, I realized I was using travel as an escape too.

A way to get away.

I don’t want to live a life where I’m always searching for the next thing.

I want to build a life where I’m happy where I am. A life lived in the moment.

Lately, I’ve realized that my favorite memories aren’t always from the fanciest places or the biggest adventures.

They’re the small moments.

The random encounters. The unexpected conversations. The nights with people you really care about. The moments where, for whatever reason, you just feel completely alive.

I want more of that.

I want to focus on the people around me. Build community. Create things that bring people together.

I want to dive into the deep end and build something people want to be a part of. Somewhere people want to be.

I don’t know what the final outcome of this journey looks like.

That’s what makes it exciting.

It will change, adapt, and grow just like the people who become part of it.

With the community.

Maybe the goal was never to find somewhere to escape to.

Maybe it’s about creating more life wherever you are. by @elsewheremission

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2 months ago

I came to Hawaiʻi expecting a trip.

I’m leaving with a completely different way of looking at life.

And honestly, the moments I’ll remember most weren’t even the biggest ones.

A view that made me stop for a while.
Long drives with the windows down.
Meals around a table.
A friend opening their home to me.
Conversations that went way longer than expected.
Music hitting at exactly the right moment.

Just little moments where I’d catch myself thinking:

This is what it feels like to be alive.

And I started thinking about how easy it is to lose that feeling.

We’re constantly moving. Always onto the next thing. Somehow connected to everyone, but not really connected to the people or the environment right in front of us.

That’s really where Elsewhere comes from.

Elsewhere is something I’ve been putting a lot of thought into. The idea is built around community, hospitality, and creating spaces and experiences that bring people together.

A reason to slow down.
Sit at the table.
Stay for another drink.
Talk to someone you probably never would have met otherwise.
Notice and learn from where you are currently
Actually feel like you’re part of something.

I don’t know exactly what Elsewhere will look like years from now.

And I actually like that.

I want it to grow and change as I do.

But I know why it exists.

To create more moments that make people feel alive.

Hawaiʻi reminded me of that.

This is where Elsewhere begins. taken in Big Island, Hawaii by @elsewheremission

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2 months ago