Does Anyone Else Have Wanderlust?

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 #solotravel #backpacking #wanderlust

Surrendering to Wanderlust

In about a year(or so) I am planning on selling everything I own(almost) and embarking on a solo travel trip to...well I don't know yet. I am 45 years old and live with my soon-to-be-leaving 18 year old son in Nova Scotia, Canada. I substitute teach, have a small lawn care business and live a very minimalist lifestyle. I love travel and have done some but it has been a few years since I have a had a chance to do any. That is about to change.

Reasons I MUST Travel

To experience different cultures and see how people live in all different areas of the world.

To meet new people, to make friends, and to talk to people from all walks of life.

To live outside my comfort zone for once and have to deal with unfavourable situations.

I could get a job and work 9-5 for the rest of my life like everyone else, but I NEED to do something different! I want to experience the world through long-term solo travel rather than two weeks of vacation every year.

I want to travel HERE!

To try new and crazy foods!

To prove to myself that I can do it!  

To be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, with nobody to have to please except myself.  

To improve my photography by capturing new and unfamiliar surroundings.

I don’t want to be lying on my death bed with regrets. I know if I don’t do this now, I’ll probably never do it, and it’ll end up being one of my biggest regrets. This world is so incredible and while I know I will only be able to scratch the surface in my lifetime, it’s better than seeing none at all.

 Some people are born with inherently nomadic spirits. Their drug of choice is adventure.
They find it difficult to stay in any particular place for an extended period of time.
It’s not that they’re afraid of settling down, they’re legitimately incapable of remaining static.

These perpetual wanderers are silently urged forward by the planet’s rotation, finding it impossible to rest until they have seen and heard it all.

For some, this is simply a product of youth and possessing an innate curiosity about the world. For others, it’s a fundamental aspect of their characters, and it might even be genetic. My parents are not like this really. They are almost the exact opposite: afraid to go anywhere.

This is not me.

Indeed, wanderlust, or the inexplicable desire to explore the world, is a very stubborn condition. The only viable form of treatment is to surrender to its symptoms.

 So I am going to surrender to my own Wanderlust. I am not a young man but I am not old either. My son is about to head off into the world on his own so I will finally have a chance to follow my heart. I was fortunate enough to backpack around Europe for a summer in 2009. My goodness how that changed me. Solo travel, staying in hostels, meeting all kinds of interesting people from around the world.

It was amazing.

 

Why Do Some of Us NEED to Travel

 

People who seem to have this innate desire to travel, true travelers, genuinely seek to understand and experience. They become so deeply immersed in a new place, they end up leaving parts of themselves there upon their departure.

True wanderers can’t help but fall in love with other cultures and peoples. In the process, however, home becomes an elusive notion. It ceases to be a place, and transforms into a feeling; it is in your heart and your soul.

Traveling opens your eyes to the fact that regardless of the disparities of our various cultures, the vast majority of humans simply desire to find happiness and peace in their own harmless way. I so want to have a connection with other people of the world. To experience other cultures. To see the world through their eyes. So this blog is going to be a chronicle of my travel preparations, travel planning and different ideas I have about solo travel and how to go about making this happen.


"Quit your job. Travel the world."