I met with an old friend this week.  We sat over a western omelet, fulfilling the ritual catch-up, reminiscing about the past and predicting our future.  It is interesting when you meet with someone after a long period time of being apart, especially if that person knows you well.  In a way they can gauge how much you’ve changed, or how much you’ve stayed the same.
Like some people, he thought vacation was going to be his escape, maybe even a small answer to all his frustrations and worries.  He learned quickly that this wasn’t the case.  He had been looking forward to his trip and when his expectations didn’t live up to reality, he was inevitably disappointed. He returned home, back to his routine, spending hours and days in his place of  business, disillusioned by his travels.
This got me thinking about the expectations we have when go abroad. If you’ve traveled a lot you may start to feel overwhelmed. Churches and cathedrals all start to look the same and you may even begin to get a little pretentious. My vacation spot is way better than yours. I went to Machu Picchu way before it became one of the New 7 Wonders. Long term travelers can also be perceived as running away from responsibilities, problems, or the ‘real’ world. People may ask what exactly it is that you are looking for or running away from. These are difficult questions to answer because we all travel for different reasons and in different ways. Because of limited vacation time, most Americans travel for short periods of time. Some of us may want to get drunk in Cancun, while others want to climb mountains, learn a language, or live abroad.
In my experience, one of the great things about going away is the feeling you get when you leave a place behind.  It isn’t completely rational, it’s probably not entirely healthy either, but there is nothing like knowing that tomorrow you will be somewhere new. Not everyone will agree of course, but when you get that itch you will recognize it right away.
For this reason it is easy to think that once you’re gone all your troubles will be left behind. Of course this isn’t always the case. Similar to the way some people may find comfort in a brisk jog around their neighborhood, or more appropriately a couple pints of beer, travel comforts too, but as we know a carton of Ben & Jerry’s won’t get rid of the problem and neither will picking up and flying to the South Pacific.
Traveling isn’t always easy. I’m not talking about a resort vacation with a massage therapist and daily yoga, that seems rather easy to me, but rather the decision to travel long term and see the world, often on a budget.  You won’t get the comfort and amenities of home and you will spend significant periods of time away from family and friends. What travel can do, however, is bring you in contact with a different way of thinking. Read Rick Steve’s Travel as a Political Act if you want to get inspired. He talks about the ways travel can broaden your perspective and help you answer some of the pressing questions and problems you have back home. Experiencing something outside of your comfort zone may be difficult at first, but it will teach you something.
Travel itself won’t answer your problems, but it can aid you in figuring out just what you want to do in life, what makes you happy, and what situations you can handle. It can help you grow, and frankly, like a small carton of Ben & Jerry’s it can make you feel a hell of a lot better, at least in the moment.
Image via: alicepopkorn
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