I am an avid traveler. There, I said it out loud. Every now and then, I love to take a break from the monotony of my life and go out to explore some parts of this small little world around me.
Now I do read loads of vlogs and watch Youtubers blab about their dream vacations to places I have never been. Now most of these preach travel as if it is the only cool thing the world has ever known since the internet itself. A few blogs actually tell you stories of people who quit their jobs to travel the world.
We are often mislead into believing that all our lives suck when compared to the lives of these geniuses. And I won't say we are fools to imagine this. We all dream of wandering off to places unknown, without a worry of the world.
What we do forget is that, we are humans and human beings tend to build a nest around themselves. We love having a place to come back to. We love to have an ordinary life to return back to after an extraordinary experience. Travel is great, but that cannot be the only life goal for most people. As humans, we have aspirations, we have dreams, we have people around us and we have to have a regular, steady lifestyle, for all this to fit together.
The travel bug hit me during my internship days in Bangalore (typical of most architecture students). At first, I would go for a quick day trip to places close and return. Then I started spending a night and return the next day. It felt great, felt liberating. Then I began planning trips that involved more than a day or two and would cover more than one place. This was great too, but somehow in the very last day, like I would want to be resume my regular lifestyle.The last few moments of any long trip, somehow seem exaggerated, stretched.
Now, you may have been to the most amazing places and would have even dreamed of settling there forever, but trust me, there's nothing comfier and relaxing than your own bed and blanket, surrounded in the environment you are too familiar to even notice.
The other side of all these 'Quit jobs and travel the world' blogs is something no one bothers to showcase. Cause that's precisely where things begin to get out of hands. Think of it, think of it when you are sitting on your very own bed, in the warmth of your blanket, with a sense of being in control of most (if not all) aspects of your daily life, imagine being gone, for too long, with no fixed place, no people permanently in your life, spending half your days in the backseat of a public transport bus, bumping around with people you do not know, and people who wouldn't be there for too long. Imaging making new friends every day, just for a day or two, sharing the best experiences of your life and then never meeting again! Think of all the people you would miss being with. Think of the uncertainty that would creep into your life. Think of your favourite restaurant, your favourite place to hangout, your favourite people, you will need to leave them all too.
The travel sites have overly glamoured travel. It is slowly being pushed out as something you just have to convince yourself that you are having a great life. '10 places you must visit on Christmas', '10 places to make your Christmas wonderful', 'Best places to witness snowfall in January' these are often the cheesy lines that spark those travel bugs within us.
What I really want to highlight here is, that its ok not to travel and instead spend time with family or friends. It's perfectly alright to give the snowfall a miss this year and finish the long pending project or buy that much needed thing with that travel budget.
I am not trying to say that travelling is hyped. Well, being honest, travelling does provide you a much needed escape from the monotonous life. It diverts minds, recharges body, soothes soul. The only thing is - Do not begin to believe that travel is the only thing that can bring your life back on track.
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