Travel bliss is extraordinarily personal
“We can improve our travel by paying attention to our wellbeing. And conversely, travel itself can improve our wellbeing.”
I have an unshakeable memory that comes to me as more of a feeling than anything else. I’m in London, a city I lived in briefly as a child and am back to explore as an adult. I notice only a vague sensation of familiarity, like seeing things that I’m not sure are from experiences or stories.
I’ve just spent time navigating the Tube underground. Being below ground for a while I’ve adapted to the stale, concrete smelling air, the artificial lights, the bustle of people. I’ve crowded into an elevator, or lift as they say, that is taking me directly to the street surface. There are a lot of people crammed into this tight space. My nose is inches away from where the door will open after the clang and ding of reaching the destination.
As I think back to this memory, what I remember so viscerally is the moment before the lift doors open directly onto the street. My anticipation is on high alert, my level of uncertainty is through the roof. I am excited and scared and yet my heart feels deeply content. I know that in a moment my vision and brain will be barraged with unfamiliarity, I’m ready to figure out my next move.
That scene is in my hall of fame of Travel Bliss moments.
Far from stress-free and easy, the Swedes describe the restless race of the traveller’s heart, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together before a journey, as resfeber. And like my London moment, I don’t mean that everything went perfectly or that it was a stress-free, easy experience. Travelling inescapably brings up many feelings. At the end of the day, however, people who love to travel, love it all and the complexity of it is part of the draw.
In a recent social media post, hundreds of self-identified travel lovers wrote about why they love to travel. The comments were in the hundreds and the list below doesn’t do it justice, but the most common responses were to feel or experience things like:
Alert all my senses
See my companions/child excited
Discovering differences and commonalities
Addicted to the joy of arriving somewhere I’ve never been before
Experiencing how people around the world live, eat, work and play
Builds confidence
Learning about ancestral roots
Humbled by experiences
Helps me be a better person at home
To see places in books or films
Thrill of adventure
Freedom from routines
Meeting new people
Learning about other cultures
Food, food, food! (and beverages)
Seeing, smelling, exploring history
The unexpected and unusual
People watching
Learning and hearing different languages
Seeing beautiful landscapes
Limitless photo opportunities
Navigation adventures in a new environment
Travel is extraordinarily personal.
Learning is a common theme
People who love to travel also love to learn. It may look different and be about different things, but many of the outcomes listed above include an element of learning. Some of the obvious travel lessons include history or cultural awareness. Less obvious lessons are often about yourself as a person and yourself in relation to others.
How open are you to learning (which often means growing and changing)? If you are ready to deepen your travel experience, ask yourself if you are open and then plan your itinerary with space and opportunity to learn.
Discover What Drives Your Wanderlust
Research over the years suggests some common explanations for the love of travel. But since human nature is multi-layered and dynamic, beyond the typical are individual factors that also influence your travel motivations. For example, personal nuances like how much security and routine you prefer plays an enormous part, as does how extroverted you are. What contributes to my Travel Bliss may be different from yours, research in the areas of both tourism and psychology point to some common motivators.
The life you have led doesn’t have to be the only life you have.
Anna Quindlen
Try this:
Pause and think back to a treasured travel moment in your life, like my London underground experience. What comes to mind may help point out your strongest travel motive. Remember, it is rarely the location or the event but the feelings.
Your emotions before, during and after the experience shape your travel story and that ultimately determines your Travel Bliss.
Now take a simple, fun quiz to identify your top travel motive.
“The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.”
Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel
Travel Bliss Barriers
Why don’t we all travel well and travel more (me included)? Unless you are in a very privileged minority, very real barriers keep most people’s travel dreams just that - dreams.
Not enough money
No time
Lack of confidence because of fear or inexperience
The pressure of “perfect” or “once in a lifetime”
Too many options end in paralysis by analysis
Haven’t figured out how to travel in your Travel Bliss sweet spot.
The mindset that Travel Bliss can only be experienced when you are far away from home.
I have literally battled with the demons of every one of these barriers. I still do, in fact. What’s different now is that I have an arsenal of positive strategies to navigate through them, diminishing them from dashing my dreams.
The research is clear that travel can simply be good for your mind, body and soul. I don’t mean that it will fix what ails you. I mean that there are components of the traveling process that will prevent ill-being and promote well-being.
I have a bookshelf of travel inspiration from maps to books of unforgettable journeys to “1000 places to see before you die” - type tomes. The travel industry is big business. What is sorely missing, in the barrage of tourism media, is the how-to’s of travelling well, not just fuels for unrequited travel dreams.
The fundamentals include the psychology of travel, the practicalities of wellbeing in travel and the relevance for me (or you). It is a true travel bug tonic!
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Thank you so much.
