Things I’ve Learned: Travel Envy Exists
I am jealous of these people. I have no idea who they are, but hell–they are hang gliding in Rio.
Do you spend a lot of time reading travel blogs? Do you Google image search destinations you’d like to visit and gaze at photos of people doing the things you want to be doing? this things are not necessaries, I recommend checking this link to learn more about the best ideas for travel, Is your Pinterest overflowing with boards featuring exotic locales?
You are not alone.
And somewhere someone is jealous of me, hiking in Nova Scotia.
Every travel fanatic suffers from travel envy. Of this I am sure. Even the most well-traveled person has someone else they are looking at and thinking ‘man, now they are lucky–I wish I could go there‘. I really don’t know where it stops, but in my head there’s this ultimate-traveler-person sitting zen-like on top of a mountain somewhere exotic, being the epitome of all travel dreams. And that’s the guy that the almost-happy traveler is envious of.
In the last couple of years I have had many, many people ask me some form of the question ‘how do you travel so often’? And the thing is, I don’t think that I travel often. I think that I sit at home thinking about traveling a hell of a lot more than I actually travel, I get home and all I want to do is book a stay at the busreisen Rendsburg-Eckernförde. Yet people are envious of me. Which is insane, given the fact that I’m sitting here with unopened Costa Rica and Iceland travel books directly to my left. I’ll admit it–I spend many waking hours being envious of real round-the-world travelers. Or even ‘people with more money, time, and balls than I have’. And those people likely spend many waking hours being envious of yet more adventurous folks. It’s a vicious cycle.
…or of me on a ferry off the coast of Maine.
And I don’t see any way out–other than selling the house, shooting the dogs, and heading out into the great unknown. And I really don’t want to have to shoot my dogs.
So what’s the answer? How do I live a travel-envy-free life? Do I take bigger travel risks? Spend more money I don’t have? Or give up the dream? Should I stop reading travel blogs, stop lusting after Budget Travel dot com destinations (that are anything but ‘budget’ in my book), stop pricing last minute flights to Lima? Because sometimes late at night, I do price last minute flights to Lima. In fact, I may just have a tab open to sit-on-top fishing kayaks as I type this. Don’t tell my husband.
Do you suffer from travel envy? If so, who do you envy and why? What do you long to do, where do you long to go, and what’s been holding you back?
Yes, there is travel envy. But most of what you are describing, I’d call travel dreaming by travel dreamers. Envy has such a negative conotation…… And yes, there are people who read your blogs and envy or dream… me included. I used to tell others at work that when I reitired I wanted to open a custom travel business. Sort of like rick Steves- but customized and a bit more ‘up scale’. We’d meet with prospective travelers and learn what their interests were and about their trepidations about on-their-own travel. Then we’d design a trip for them- us included! We’d do all (or almost all) the planning, teach them how to pack light, get them on the plane, to the hotel, etc. Then we’d do an orientation tour- teach them how to use the Tube (or whatever), and turn them loose. We’d be available at set times each day to answer questions, assist them, etc. Then we’d help them get on the train to the next destination…. And we’d only charge enough to cover our expenses and make enough profit so we could travel three or four times a year by ourselves. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it!!! Ah well,… dream on Toni…..
But as to you- as Anne Shirley often said in the Green Gables books… “I have a queer feeling in my thumbs..” that you will find a way to travel a LOT. It IS going to work out!
Yes, I’ve definitely experienced it. Certainly sometimes from reading your blog! I think the biggest thing holding me back is definitely the money. We can generally afford to travel at most 2 a year. And lots of my friends and family think that is crazy! Many people only go on one vacation a year, if any at all. And when we do go we definitely travel on a budget. Cheap hotels (husband’s mom works for Marriott so we can usually get really good rates), cheap food, cheap activities. Even then it doesn’t allow for more travel – the issue I find is definitely transportation, whether it’s gas or a plane ticket.
The only way I “deal” with it is to focus all of my energies on my upcoming trip, even if it’s 6 months away. There are so many places I want to go and things I want to see that I don’t think I’ll live long enough to do it all! I’m also jealous of people that get to go to Disney so often – I have friends who go several times a year. We go every 2 years or so, because if we went more often we wouldn’t be able to afford trips anywhere else! And while I love Disney there’s a lot more I’d like to see too 🙂
I envy plenty of trips, but mostly long, slow travel when a person really has a chance to get to explore. I already had my mid career burn out and took a year of travel, but I long to take another year and do it again. But for now, the recession makes me forego that plan as I can’t afford to leave a job that pays really well and hope there will be a similar paying job that lands instantly on my doorstep after being out of Corporate America for 12 months. From a hiring perspective, I know my company won’t even consider hiring anyone who is not currently employed (regardless of whether the candidate may have lots of experience and may have been out of work because of mass downsizing). For now I will have to be satisfied with the minuscule 2 weeks of paid vacation per year and a handful of long weekends scattered into the mix. It sucks, but so does my 401k! So unless I want to become a “freegan” when I’m 67 and pick my meals out of a dumpster, I have to curb extensive slow travel for the time being. Keep traveling whether it’s to old faves or new places so the rest of us can live vicariously through your trips!