In the book “Nine complete strangers” by Liane Moriarty, become a successful series with Nicole Kidman, nine people find themselves in a mysterious and ambiguous spa lost in the Australian nature attracted by the promise of changing their lives in just ten days.
I didn't have such an ambitious goal. It was enough for me that my four friends and supporters – because calling them followers seems to me an understatement – spend three days on the road to remember, that they lived an experience to be jealously guarded.
When I proposed on my Patreon page to follow me in thisclandestine weekendI hadn't seen the series yet, but somehow the idea of putting together four people who at most had known each other through the comments on my videos it amused and intrigued me, lo ammetto. I had already seen on other occasions how quickly conversation leads were found, common interests e how easy it is to see friendships being born when in between there are two wheels and a road. What if besides putting them together, I had added the surprise component?
Of this first clandestine weekend they knew the meeting place and they knew the duration: they would be "liberated" by Sunday afternoon, in time to return everyone to their families. In fact, I didn't even know what to expect. Three of them I had already met on different occasions, so much so that they had never seen each other. The fourth was even a new entry just entered the CLAN and, then, I didn't even know him.
The result went beyond expectations. And I can say that I returned home enriched by their knowledge.
Either for the enthusiasm with which all four faced this little motorbike touring challenge, you want for the inevitable little unexpected events that can happen when you travel by motorbike, from the puncture to the sudden bad weather. And as the kilometers went by, I saw the harmony grow. So much so that during the stops I had to start working as a watchdog to get them back on the saddle, otherwise they spent too much time chatting to each other!
Just before saying goodbye, each headed to their own city, I asked them to tell me how it went and it filled me with joy to hear them say that they would do everything again.
The basic idea was shift the focus of attention from the destination to the journey, to the here and now. We keep repeating to ourselves that the destination on a motorbike is the road, ma spesso ce ne dimentichiamo. I wanted to somehow “force” them to do it.
Surely it is an experiment to be repeated. But next time I'll try to make it even more unpredictable. And you, you would participate in a journey without knowing the destination?