That’s probably the oddest thing you’ve ever heard I am sure. Who in their right mind would say that having a new experience in a foreign land could be negative? I mean, sure there are the people who really don’t enjoy leaving their home turf, but for the most part I expect people really enjoy going on a vacation right? What better feeling could there be? Well, I guess I should explain myself then.
In 2006, my eight year relationship fell apart and I was utterly and completely hopeless and void of meaning or direction. I was just floating aimlessly thinking my life would come to me and tell me what direction I should turn to next. I ventured to Europe on a month long excursion to eight different countries that completely altered everything I THOUGHT I wanted. Kids, marriage, a steady job and a family? Sure, they could possibly be rewarding at times, but nothing could amount to the rush that I gained when marveling at the fascinating art in Barcelona, sitting in a room full of strangers and discussing various cultural differences, or riding on the back of a scooter through the hills of Tuscany. It was blissful, amusing, and entertaining to say the least. What could be the problem then? Well, you see, that trip single-handedly set the bar for my future life experiences. I could almost relate it to a drug addiction. I experienced a high of sorts, and in order to achieve that same amount of high, I had to keep travelling.
So, I went to Australia a couple of years later on another solo trip. This trip, along with mini road trips and weekend shenanigans, kept my adventurous spirit at bay for a couple years, but I feel the need to go now quite regularly. Yes, I have the wanderers disease. Yet if had never gone on that trip, I would never know exactly what the Blarney Castle looks like, or participated in a tomato fight, or got lost in the streets of Venice. I would have just kept going on from job to job, making money to pay rent for the space I was rarely at because I was constantly working. You try to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money, and then you die right? (had to throw in some Bittersweet Symphony) I would have found fun of course, because that’s just my nature, but now I’ve meddled with my dosage of life experience, and I need a bigger, better, stronger fix!
I believe as humans we are fairly adaptable, and perhaps that’s the reason not all celebrities are happy. They have just become accustomed to generous doses of life experience and can’t reach a higher level. (hence drugs and alcohol make an appearance) Now don’t think I’m writing this as a spoiled rich kid sitting here whining because my life’s so terrible that I can’t eat brie at the Eiffel Tower every day of my life. I’ve suffered losses in life, I’ve paid for every trip I went on with my hard earned money, and everything I have I earned myself. I greatly appreciate everything I’ve had the chance to experience in life–I’m just trying to figure out whether I’m on a slippery slope of wanderlust spirit that may NEVER be fulfilled because traveling is so amazing it makes everything else so… BLAZEH. In the meantime, I guess I’ll be eating dirty burritos because I’d so much rather spend very little money on food and save my fortunes for the next adventure. Who am I kidding? I’m in the thick of it. How much is an African safari again?
Obnoxious rants from a cynical idealist 