How travel memories quench your wanderlust
“It is not the destination where you end up... but the mishaps and memories you create along the way.”
Table of Contents
Travel memories chronicle your wanderlust
What gives you wanderlust?
Learn from your travel memories
8 ways to rekindle your travel memories
Travel memories chronicle your wanderlust
I moved around a lot growing up. I have a vivid travel memory from the summer I was 10, when my father took a job in London, England. My Dad went overseas a few weeks before the rest of the family to get settled. This particular memory starts with our arrival from Canada, knackered with jet lag, arriving at our new home. I had been bombarded with so many new things that day from cars on the right, to the cage-like elevator, to the way the toilet flushed! It must have been early evening because my Dad said that we needed to stay awake and we were going out to explore the city. It was dark and rainy and we set out into the city by foot.
You are, perhaps, waiting for the story to unfold to learn what happened on that walk around the city, but your wanderlust may have already become attuned to the feelings of the story, rather than the plot. Even though I was tired and bewildered, setting out to explore the unknown was amazingly surreal and intensely energizing. Interestingly, my memory of the evening actually stops there, at the intense feeling. I don't recall the actual details about what my family did or saw that night, yet the power of that experience is so incredibly vivid that - even 40 years later - it continues to compel me to go and explore! The feeling is what matters most about this memory, and the fact that it has endured makes me suspect that it sparked my love of travel. It’s a feeling that I often seek to replicate.
When did you first become aware of your desire to travel?
How old were you?
What was happening in your life?
Were there books or movies that flicked the travel switch?
Did you learn something particularly intriguing in a history class?
Have you had role models in your life that shared their travel stories?
Did you have some travel-related experiences in childhood or in your youth that laid a foundation for your wanderlust?
There is some evidence of a wanderlust gene and the science of epigenetics suggests that early experiences can change or amplify an expression of a gene. One of the experiences you associate with the origin of your wanderlust may have flipped some genetic switch! For me, I suspect my wanderlust became my reality and part of my personality when I was ten. Whether or not I have the gene, my early experiences living in another country turned a curiosity about the world into a full-fledged love affair with travel.
What gives you wanderlust?
Put on a white lab coat and let’s look at your wanderlust with a scientist’s eye.
Like a junior high science experiment, we can guess what might happen when we mix up the ingredients in a chemistry lab. What happens in the test tube when we add baking soda? What about vinegar? Which combination makes the biggest fizz? This scientific experiment isn’t completely random, however, since science is rooted in facts, rules, and prior knowledge about the properties of various ingredients. This help us to hypothesize what might happen. Scientific knowledge combined with scientific method can produce new and unexpected results.
Seeking aha’s and new insights about your travel desires is similar. What happens if we go somewhere a new way or if we travel somewhere familiar but go alone? What about going at sunrise? Sunset? Middle of the night? Avoid uninformed guesses and unwanted results with scattered attempts to concoct your travel bug tonic. Instead, learn about your travelling-self a bit more methodically, like a scientist, to discover the properties of various travel ingredients that work for you.
The learning process has these steps:
Reflect
Plan
Do
Observe and Extend
(repeat!)
4 stages to Travel Bliss experimentation
Our feelings of wanderlust can be inspiring, depressing, purposeful, anxiety-ridden, expansive and/or downright frustrating. Feeling “all the feels” is human and healthy but understanding those feelings can also highlight how to satisfy your wanderlust in different or unexpected ways. That's good news for planning an awesome trip and it's better news when you are stuck at home and not able to travel.
Here’s the process related to travel:
Reflection is a look back at your travels to recall your enduring memories, including how you felt and what you learned. It's about reminiscing and learning from the memories.
Planning future travel, in this context, is much more than bookings and itineraries, since planning for a travel lover involves extending the period of travel-focused time to eagerly plan and prepare for new experiences. It’s about anticipation.
Doing or the “adventure itself” doesn’t just generate travel bliss. Those who travel with intention and in-the-moment awareness experience more travel bliss than those that follow an itinerary. While the technical term is savouring, I think it’s about being totally engaged.
Observe deeply and widely, preferably in a multi-sensory way. Where a scientist might analyze and write an objective report, a traveller’s observations will include feelings and emotions. This period can be transformational and it certainly is transitional. Spend this final stage making the travel bliss last and, of course, begin the cycle for what’s next! It’s about extending the bliss!
Learn from your travel memories
History is jam-packed with lessons and insights that are relevant today. This relates to humanity in general but also to our own personal journeys through life.
Look back so that your view forward is clearer.
Start with the art of reflective reminiscing
How many times have you read or been told that the answer lies within? Our travel memories are histories that hold the signposts for whatever we are challenged with. It affords us an opportunity to gain a better understanding of connections between the past and present as we envision the future. Simple but not easy! Through a structured exploration of our wanderlust we get to focus on the experiences that connect us to feelings we loved and that make us feel alive and connected.
It starts with reminiscing or thinking nostalgically but it also requires a healthy dose of reflection to learn from those past experiences.
It's good for you!
The COVID-19 years have pushed us into social isolation and many traveling souls have been sadly but responsibly anchored in place. One study suggests that when we are stressed (like living in a global pandemic) our brains are wired to automatically and unconsciously become nostalgic to bolster our mood. Nostalgia and the process of reminiscing connects us to our past selves and to lives well-lived.
Reminiscing is also good for your brain! Studies in the elderly (hey, I’m not there yet but will be!) shows it boosts memory, helps self-discovery, releases stress, strengthens bonds, and reduces boredom and loneliness. Some of these very benefits are all part of the special sauce that we seek in our travel bliss: growth, connection, novelty and even escape!
But like all things, don’t overdo a good thing or it becomes unhealthy. Obsessive and escapist reminiscing are harmful, just as dwelling on the negative or exaggerating the positive of the past isn’t helpful.
The past is like using your rearview mirror in your car - it's good to glance back and see how far you’ve come; but if you stare too long, you’ll miss what’s right in front of you.
Unknown
8 Ways to rekindle your travel memories
Check out the full post on these 8 ways to relive your travel memories and download the accompanying worksheet designed to help makes sense of it all! And have fun with this good-for-you activity of travel reminiscing and reflection.
Photo Albums
Journals
Digital Photo files
Stories
Souvenirs
Span your travel timeline
Food and Drink
Movies & books
What gives you wanderlust is complicated. It’s a beautiful mix of emotions, experiences and travel. With greater awareness, you can harness and leverage your wanderlust to create a life with more travel bliss.
