The Shaheen Trip Across 50 American States

One of our favorite stories about crossing lands indefinitely is Ali Al Ghfeli’s tour around the states of America. With a curiosity to meet the different communities that exist on the west side of the world, this Al Ain born national decided to ship his truck (which happens to be the stereotypical farmers car in the deserts of Abu Dhabi) to New Jersey to begin his tour of the 50 states. The photo below displays the merging of culture, city norms and how far one can go in discovery.

A photo of Ali’s arrival to Times Square, New York.

We asked Ali how he had planned to do his trip to which he said, “The main purpose of my trip was not numbers. It wasn’t about how many kilometers I drove or how many states I passed. It was about the people. I wanted to take back roads, meet locals, hear their stories, go to places they recommend.”.  

“I’ve been traveling and backpacking in my breaks throughout college but never did a road trip. I’ve decided that this would be the right time to do it and I didn’t want to do it in a traditional way. So I had the car quickly outfitted and shipped to New Jersey to arrive as soon as I ended my internship. My dream to pass through the fifty states was happening every day.”

Is this something you would do back home? What was your past-time where you came from? 
"I didn’t have the time before to do this back home, since I went abroad to study immediately after high school. I know there is a lot to explore in the UAE and in the neighbouring countries, and I have plans to do so once I come back.”

This story is a quick depiction of how the wander has taken us far, into alleyways we have never seen and across communities we may never meet. Somehow, we manage to live through the stories of those that venture far and it fills a puzzle piece into our ideologies about the world. Allow this story to take you through this mans goal to see the world - in his own way.

As Ali aims to complete the remaining states in time to come, we will be living through his stories on instagram and YouTube.

For updates on Ali’s travels, subscribe to our mailing list on www.wander.ae/subscribe.

Are we an inclusive community? The study of Wander across the years.

While jumping dunes and curving roads, we have made friends in places least expected. We experienced moments, discovered lands and lived to tell the story. 

As we grow in passion and number, our main focus is to create thoughtful impact on the community through our Wanderers. To listen to their journeys requires a certain degree of understanding and communal efforts to create a cohesive belonging in a land that has seen diversity like no place on earth. But in a rapidly developing country, an overwhelming number of new trends that make the more recent ones obsolete - what is authentic to our belonging? What do we harness and protect as we ride the wave of modernism and how do we do it? 

We are not necessarily trend setters - we are just living the truth of who we have always been. By still engaging in activities that our elders enjoyed is not a statement of us remaining in the past rather revolutionizing a timeless activity into a modern face-lift.

Community is not dead. Naturally, as we continue developing into a metropolitan hub we feel a disconnect from (human nature) and find it much easier to say “we no longer connect”. In reality, this is the most absurd illusion you can live in. With social platforms we have worn our hearts on our sleeves - expressing emotion and interests to the world. Listen to everyone’s story, respect everyone’s mission.

Innate Connectedness. We are far from being strangers. In fact, we are the closest we have ever been because of the little windows in our pocket. The world is closer than we thought, especially when someone in Canada wants a Wander sticker (hey Daniel!). You have more things in common with a stranger as you do with someone that has shared your life. Connectedness is not measured by quantifiable interactions rather emotional connectedness.

Throughout the years of running through this community of beautiful beautiful people, we have come across experiences that cannot be put into words. The synergy of a few people that in turn becomes a mission to cross the deserts of the UAE, Wanderers that carry the emblem on their sleeves, people we have never met creating stories we have never seen, an undying philosophy of travel, adventure and seeking the unsought. But most of all, the soul. The amount of authenticity we have experienced, the raw reality you allow us to exist in, is what we are celebrating today and everyday. Thank you for making Wander real.

The Teachings of Ibn Majed: The Lion of the Sea

At times I find myself pondering the realities of people that have crossed lands indefinitely prior to our existence. What had they prioritised in their travels and how had they imagined a world much smaller than what we see today? The stoic will persuade you to visualise the people of the past as idols that have set benchmarks for our discoveries, growth and achievements — in this piece, we reflect on what one could learn from a man with a passion to ride currents of the sea according to the placement of the stars. 

Ahmad Ibn Majed, born somewhere in between Ras Al Khaimah and Oman, was a man of the sea in the 15th century. Attributed to him were his publications that have assisted and expanded the study of the sea from principles to methodologies to tools that have changed the way travellers looked at crossing seas indefinitely. An Arab navigator that played a pivotal role in establishing connections between the East and the West by mapping the part of the world he existed in (we could go into discussion about his assistance to Vasco Di Gama and the controversy behind who initially got the Portuguese to India — but that isn’t my current concern). 

So, what did this man have that can be of any benefit to our existence today? Other than the fact that half the buildings in Ras Al Khaimah are called Julfar and the vague information we have on his background. A penny for my thoughts and I’d be…confused. 

“The Importance of Memory”

As clear cut as this is, it is a common trend among those that follow doctrines. There was a time we ventured into the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, I remember, where we couldn’t for the love of God remember our path. It was apparent how flawed memory can be. In the next statement, I will discuss the ability to imagine navigation which may contradict the current point. However, the studies of Ibn Majed have reflected three key principles from which he learned while sailing alongside his father which made him The Lion of the Sea. Prior to sending him off on his own at 17, the principles set for him were to perfect his reading and writing, to memorise the Quran and to memorise the books his father gave him about seafaring. Imagine the power of a man that need not waste time digging up a reference but consistently pulling guidance from memory as though his rubric was a recitation. The contents in your head are the contents you are. 

“How Navigation Is Imagination” 

Having developed the “Kamal”, a device made of wood and calibrated string used to identify the point on the latitude in accordance with the Pole Star’s height in the horizon, he ventured the sea with a backing knowledge of current movements, winds, reefs, shoals, headlands, harbors, seamarks and stars in which he spent a lifetime studying. Putting your thoughts together, when you reflect on the night sky you don’t necessarily know what stars you’re looking at or where they are placed in comparison to your current location. A belief of Ibn Majed’s with his work is the imagination of your reality. To imagine the sea you will cross, the placement of the stars above you and the current that can only be felt — this is what made him a master of his craft. 

“The Shooting Star”

…he was named. For his fearlessness, grit, and resilience to take on seas rougher than a human can bare. A reflection of a harsher reality that they must have lived. In link to the earlier statement of the Stoic placing idols of the past as guidance, Ibn Majed may very well be a character that has reflected resilience and knowledge in his time. An indication of innovation and perseverance and what it looked like in times before ours. 

The reason we learn about what people have once done and where they have ventured allows us to discover more than we think we can. To think there was once a time where the seas were not discovered like today, or the lands have not been mapped to accuracy, even the language we speak varied — yet they still brought us to today. A globalized world framed and established by stones set before us. This is an ode to all the travellers that have opened the doors to discovery and curiosity and taught us how to wander. 

Stories

Wander to Mleiha

A trip to a place foreign to the modernist and familiar to the heritage. Where the sand meets the rock and where the terrain changes in a short span of time. Mleiha is home to a lot of tombs from the previous times and a haven for archeological sites - if you're curious. This place holds a diversity of terrains from red-orange sand to mountainous paths and a whole lot of farms. It is said, in previous times, this area used to trade with those in Umm Al Quwain. It was like a trade-off between the sea merchants and the land herders. 

Coming into the new year, Wander thought of throwing a dropped pin somewhere new, somewhere authentic (not to say that the other locations weren't that too). Hosting its first session of the year, equipped with enough brownies and conversation, Wander wandered. 

Soul Conversations.

Among the dunes of Dubai. Wander got out with a bunch of souls to bring the winter season to a start. Our seasons are two, hot summer and cold summer, unlike the rest of the world. About 30 minutes down the road from the city we all know too well is a playground that runs for as far as your eyes can see. The desert connects the cities around the Emirates and, contrary to popular belief, there lies plenty of opportunity for discovery and driving routes never driven.

With a growing drive to road trip the world and meet like minded souls, Wander has seen people embrace the concept and run with it - their own way.

How do you celebrate originality?

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Drive With Wander

For sometime the Wander headquarters has been contemplating shooting through mountain silhouettes and curvy roads. As the weather gets better in this region here on-wards, we decided to kick start our season with what we've been contemplating. So! to the mountains we went!

On this Wander, we took along with us a few coffee lovers from town (a.k.a @dropdubai) and they provided our Wanderers with cold drip coffee specifically brewed for the trip (as seen below). 

It humbles me to see the individuals that yearn for nature come together. We all share a passion, and a drive for wanderlust. This is who we are, and this is what we do.

Yours truly,

Miral Bushnaq

What Makes You Wander?

We have an undying curiosity to understand the drive behind peoples wanders. Why do you do what you do and why do you get out the way you do?

Leave your thoughts below.

Nature. Life.

"Life feels like a blind path. That moment you are stopped before a dune larger than any you've ever driven before, you watch as the grains of sand swiftly move in the direction of the wind almost characterizing it. Taking a deep breath, securing the already fastened seat belt, turning your radio off and feeling your foot slowly press down on the gas and suddenly you're moved with that momentum and you see the once swiftly moving sand is now gushing beneath your rubber, the vessel you're sat in is raging, your heart is racing and the world around you is chaotic. You take the dune for what it's worth at full capacity and for the millisecond that feels like a decade where you're in mid air awaiting the sound of breakage you peak through your squinting eyes only to find you made it to the other side. This is life"

This is my interpretation of winging it, with an underpinning notion of understanding life just a little bit. This is something nature has taught me, and I don't think anything else is more capable of teaching me this lesson. When we go out into nature we are exposing ourselves to a probability of danger, an element of the unknown and a high chance of something new to burst our bubble of comfort. As we all know, society has built compartments of predictability for us to live in, homes we are familiar with and people with the same behavior. "Don't speak to strangers" "Don't ask certain questions" "Just mind your own business".

Under what circumstance is this the right way to move forward? Why is obliviousness in thought a way of life?

We have walked the earth on egg shells, we have always thought most of our impulsive reactions are wrong and disrespectful. We have always journeyed on a path of individualism completely disregarding the natural collectivist within us. Always careful, always thinking we have a say in what the future holds for us. The only say we have is in how willing we are to ride the wave.

Ride the wave, hold on and push through and wait to see what happens on the otherside - always knowing you gave it your all. Whats in the rucksack? A dash of passion, a handful of adrenaline and a whole lot of curiosity.

What I'm getting at is, the way a human naturally behaves in nature is something that has become foreign to us. A behavior we regard as odd. Tell me this, when you're dug deep in the sand and seeking help, are you going to shy away from asking for help? or are you going to wave down the next car that drives by?

Take the stuck situation and apply it to self-discovery and daily concrete jungle struggles. If you are stagnant in life, in dire need of a change but think twice about waving down the next person to seek help how are we going to grow as a society? How are we going to learn? How are we going to find ourselves within others?

Channel your inner impulsive reaction to the world around you. Just like we allow nature to be nature, allow yourself to be yourself and watch where you land - no breakage, no damage but plenty of progression.

Makeshift: How Camping Is About Improvisation

We rode out to Ras Al Khaimah one afternoon, four people ditching the work life and a few responsibilities seeking peace on a ledge in the mountains - let me tell you about our makeshift strategies.
For starters, we definitely did not keep in mind the weather and how windy it may be, secondly we definitely did not expect one of our tents to have damaged rods. From placing an umbrella into a tent to keep it raised to tying a tent down with a car tug rope, we definitely compromised and allowed nature to take its toll on us.
This is what a camp set-up ordinarily looks like at the WANDER headquarters,

When you're out in nature, you improvise. When you've got a few things at hand, you improvise. When nothing seems to go your way, improvise. It's the only way to wander.

Photo credit @m.mnasria

Caffeine Cruise meets Wander

On a corner of an intersection lies a tree-house haven, a fusion of motorbikes and good good coffee is Cafe Rider - a home grown coffee hub built on authenticity and good vibes. Throughout battling the concrete jungle and pushing through the metropolitan lifestyle, people seek comfort in the road most Friday mornings by heading to the furthest point in the Arab Emirates - be it on two wheels or four wheels. The Caffeine Cruise paired with Wander and created memories.