Blind Lyle Films

By the time you get this blog posting, we will already be in Ibarra, Ecuador in South American.  This will be our new home for 10 weeks.  Though we are here to do humanitarian documentary work, we are also here because we love to travel.

One of the many reasons I love to travel is because it gets me out of the virtual world that I now live so much in, and puts me right smack down in the middle of the real world.  I can see and smell things I normally cannot do from my computer in my dark editing room.  When I get out of my home, and especially out of my country, I find that more often I’m aware of the fact that I can actually touch things instead of looking at the photoshopped images from my news feed.

There is no doubt that traveling allows me to interact with the real world and real people in real situations.

Of course, what I do at work and home is also real.  It’s just that sometimes I miss the feel of having my hands in the dirt and tasting and smelling things completely new to my senses.  It seem that when I travel,  I have more interesting and thought provoking conversations with strangers in a market, or a street food stand. I walk through a park and feel the sun on my skin and the wind in my hair.

So why don’t I do this when I’m not traveling?  This is a good question.  For me, I think there is something quite addictive about new things and places. Trying a food I’ve never seen or heard of before is intoxicating.  Speaking to people I would otherwise never have a chance to, is fulfilling and enlightening.  Being on a bus where you have no idea of it’s destination is an exciting adventure.   Couchsurfing with someone you just meet on the internet is emotionally satisfying, and life changing.  Going to a spiritual place opens my eyes and let’s in more peace.

There is also the challenges that travel proposes.  There are times when I’ve used a toilet that is exposed to the public, has no toilet paper, no running water, and maybe just a hole in the ground.  This can be challenging, but there is always something exhilarating and life transforming about it.

Maybe I can find those things right here in my back yard, or maybe I’m Dorthy trying desperately to find my way back home and it’s not in “my own back yard” after all.

For whatever the reasons, traveling the world will always be one of my favorite things to do in my life and I hope to continue to explore more of the globe  for many more years to come.

When was the last trip you took?  Did you leave your country?  Did you change some from your experience?  Tell me in the comments below.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Prosthetics-For-Life-Documentary

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Jaime Byrd is an award winning director, DP, and editor for Blind Lyle Films.  She studied Fine Arts and Music at California State University of Los Angeles. She is now producing a documentary in Ecuador for the Prosthetics For Life Foundation.

She has produced, directed, and/or edited multiple shorts, a TV pilot, several award winning commercials, an award winning web series, multiple documentaries, a cooking show, and music videos.

She helped produce the TV pilot show “Talker” (featuring Jay Thomas, Tim Matheson, and Sharon Lawrence), which won best actor, best director, and best comedy at the 2011 International TV awards in Los Angeles.