I Like Traveling BUT….
Travel can be fun. You get to see a new city or country, culture, food, landscape, interesting sights and activities, people, lifestyle, history and more. Traveling can allow one to walk away with a new perspective of your place in this complex world we live in.
BUT…..
To be completely honest, I find that it gets a bit boring when it’s done for a long time #sueme.
They say “live a life where you don’t need to take a vacation from it.” That sounds nice and idealistic, but isn’t the point of a vacation is to take a break from your normal routine? Wouldn’t long-term or indefinite travel become its own routine in itself?
I’ve heard people say that they need a vacation from their vacation. It’s probably because they got bored with their normal vacation routine and now want to seek something different. There comes a point where the novelty wears off and traveling becomes another reoccurring routine:
- Research general information of a city and/or country
- Get on a plane/train/bus/taxi/Uber to new destination
- Go through customs (if needed)
- Exchange currency (if needed)
- Figure out how to get to your accommodation of choice without getting scammed.
- Figure out what to do and how to get around
- See some cool things
- Meet some cool people
- Eat some good (or not so good) food
- Get a tangible souvenir (optional)
- Then go to the next city or country and do the same thing all over again
Looks like a routine to me.
I recently spent a month traveling around Sri Lanka. I found that some of my favorite moments were when I was hanging out with the locals even if we were doing things that I could’ve done at home. I guess it’s no surprise that a number of my favorite trips were places where I had relatives, a local friend or contact, as well as places where I traveled there for a reason outside of touring (e.g. sports, school, events). Visiting tourist attractions and laying out on the beach all day I can probably tolerate for two weeks max, maybe three if there’s more nature involved. After that, I’m kinda over it even though I’ll continue to make the most of it.
My one month trip taught me that long term travel isn’t for me. My significant other and I both agreed that while we enjoying getting a taste of the culture it gets boring and tiring after awhile. It also taught me that being an expat > being a baseless nomad (for me). I know, I know “expat” is such an elitist term; let’s put semantics aside for now. It doesn’t matter where I go, I’m a true homebody and there’s no place like “home.” Once I return to the US, I will say that there’s no place like “home home.” Even though my current “home” is temporary (and I may be in another temporary place in the upcoming years), I still have established roots because I simply have familiarity here.
I think people fantasize long term or indefinite travel because it looks cool [af] on social media, and it most likely looks a lot better than the content consumer’s current situation in life.
That shiny object syndrome makes things look 1000% better than the reality. That’s the point. I bet that your favorite travel blogger isn’t even traveling [leisurely] full time. They take breaks, “workcations” or a “vacation from their [staged] vacation online.”
Will I ever do another long trip? Sure. However, I know that it could be the most perfect trip ever, I will still be slightly happier to leave than to stay. That’s just who I am.
Sri Lanka is absolutely beautiful. I really enjoyed my trip, and I’d definitely return, especially since I now have new friends there. But right now, I’m happy to be “home.”
