A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted the following meme on Facebook with an irate comment along the lines of, “What is this garbage?”
Someone else noted that people who say “don’t worry about the money” are frequently people who do not have to worry about money. They are not, for instance, seriously facing homelessness if they get behind on their expenses.
There are a few weird things about this particular quote. It suggests that all young people are “able.” Conversely, it implies that older people are never able to travel — an idea that anyone in the travel industry would find strange, I’m sure.
If you don’t have much money, “just make it work” doesn’t make a lot of sense. You could max out credit cards, I suppose. Or you could do what I did once as a very young woman, and travel on a bus to another city and then rely on the dubious kindness of strangers you meet on the street for food and lodging. (This is incredibly stupid and unsafe. Don’t do this.)
Well, one can find objections to any succinct statement. A lot of what I say on this blog could be picked apart in the same way. And I can respect the intention behind this quote: to say that travel is great.
It absolutely is. I haven’t gotten to go to a lot of places, but I’m grateful for all the places I’ve been, I’ve made wonderful memories, and I want to see much more of the world in the future. I can respect anyone who wants to make it a priority.
Is it always worth it? A couple of people posting on the Facebook thread said they had followed the advice of this quote, and they now wished they had spent the money on a bit of real estate or on paying down their student loans. I’m positive that many other people would say they’re glad they chose to travel, even if it meant a financial pinch down the line. It would be nice if there were clear right answers to life, but there rarely are.
Not everyone can travel, and what’s more… not everyone wants to. There’s nothing wrong with that! If you want to pay off your debts, become a homeowner, fix up your house, spend all your discretionary income on your doll collection, or whatever, that’s great. You earned your money, and nobody knows better than you what will make you happiest.
I believe social media can idealize travel in a way that leads people to undervalue their everyday lives. When we see someone’s vacation photos on Instagram, or images of the world’s most beautiful places on Pinterest or Tumblr, we might get the feeling that everyone else is carpe diem-ing all over the place while we’re sitting at home on the couch eating Cheetos.
We’re doomed to discontent if we believe that travel is the only adventure.
Even if you get to travel a lot, by most people’s standards, chances are you’re still going to be home more of the time. Whenever we get the idea that we have to wait for certain perfect times to be happy — Christmas, vacation, summer, when we graduate, when we get married, when we retire — it screws us all up.
Last year, I considered looking for a job in another city, because I craved change. I decided not to, because frankly, I have a dream job and I would be crazy to leave it. When I told a friend of mine about this, he said, “You don’t have to go anywhere to change your life. You could do anything. Like, you could eat nothing but Indian food.”
It was a random example, but I knew immediately what he meant. Most of us have an array of choices that we never exercise. We tend to eat the same things and do the same things. We could learn new things, make new friends, become a legendary pie-maker, or adopt a new personal style.
Just reading about a whole new topic to us, or losing ourselves in a fiction genre that’s new to us, can change who we are or how we see the world. And let’s be honest: most of us who dream of travel live in places where some neighborhoods, establishments, or wild places outside of town might as well be foreign countries to us. We haven’t even explored our own backyards.
With the same apartment or house, and the same job, we can experience a lot of new things, and we can do that any week of the year.
Anyone can get inspired by a trip to a faraway place. It doesn’t take any special skill. But the person who can get inspired by an ordinary day is going to lead a much richer life.
And don’t forget Bryn, we can always pick up a book that travels to exotic places, from the north pole to the south and it’s “almost” as good as being there. When I was in elementary school, we studied about the islands (not sure now which ones they were) and about Switzerland and I loved those studies. I felt like I was there at those times. I visited the school library and traveled with Tom Sawyer and Gulliver. So, if we can’t travel physically, we can sit in a comfy chair and travel to the moon and back.
Cheryl, that reminded me of the lines from an Emily Dickinson poem: “There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away…” 🙂 It’s really true!
Excellent post. Not everybody has to travel to live a fulfilled life. And people who travel for conformist reasons – because it’s “what you do to be cool” – are probably not going to learn much from it anyway.
Travel doesn’t have to be expensive, though. Lifestyle travel in many countries is actually cheaper than maintaining a house and car in the Western world. There’s a whole subculture of Westerners who live nomadic lives around the globe for this reason. I’m planning to move to Mexico, which is somewhat similar. Not because I’m rich, but because I’m broke. You need a mobile job to do it (I’m a book designer), so it’s not for everyone. Just pointing out that detail so that people who *do* want to travel aren’t put off by the idea that it’s got to break the bank. 🙂
Lia, I never thought about mobile jobs at all. That is a really good point!
Hey, you’re a book designer? I might have known that and forgotten. Link to your website!
Fantastic entry! Right now, I live in a town that the rest of the world thinks of as a vacation destination. I suppose I’d enjoy it more if I was an athletic sort rather than a couch potato, but I’m sure there’s still a lot of stuff I could be taking advantage of here. (In my early 20’s, I actually lived at a resort. lol.)
The only “while you’re young” thing I’d like to do is get my youngest daughter to Disney before she gets much bigger, and only because there’s a whole different kind of magic to visiting there at her age than there will be when she’s older. Not that it’s more fun…it’s fun at any age, but it’s just different when you’re still young enough that the world hasn’t had time to kill your belief in fairies and talking animals and mermaids and ghosts. 🙂
Where you live is sooo beautiful! Yeah, I can totally see how there would be a window for Disney. 🙂
She might get lucky and still believe in fairies and ghosts and mermaids when she’s older. I mean, you kind of do. 😀
Thanks for this valuable perspective, Bryn. My husband recently had a pulmonary embolism and we’re facing the possibility that he may be restricted in his future travel. This will be a huge blow to us but we both take delight in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary, and will continue to do so. You’re so right, social media over-hypes travel.
Ahh I’m sorry you and your husband had to deal with that, Katrina. But yeah… I truly believe that while it makes life richer, it’s not the only thing that makes life richer. 🙂
Thanks, Bryn! Great, uplifting post. It bolstered my waning confidence, as did your awesome post about discontinuing the week-by-week guide for novel writing (I’m looking forward to whatever form that takes going forward!). I can barely afford to drive to the grocery store these days, but I “traveled” as a high school and university student, mostly because people say you have to when you’re young: France was the opposite of the wonderful experience it was supposed to be (for me, not my fellow students), but Australia and New Zealand were amazing and possibly the most fun I’ve ever had away from home. During my semester in Scotland, I mostly stuck around “home” with other U.S. students, with some visits to friendly locals and a few short trips into England and the Highlands. Even when I travel, I enjoy getting back to the peace of a hotel room and calling it “home.”
Hey Kathryn! Aww don’t let your confidence wane… you are awesome!!
It’s interesting how France was supposed to be amazing, but Australia and New Zealand really were! And yeah, as an introvert, I always need some quiet time at “home” or the hotel or wherever, so I know just what you’re saying there.
I travel 45 weeks per year. Of course, this is when I get most of my writing done. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading, Don!
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Aw, thank you so much, Maple!
Agreed. I am a save-now-travel-later type of person and though I envy my friends or workmates going to various places sometimes, I’m an introvert who seeks adventure by losing myself in reading books or watching feel-good movies.Thanks for sharing Bryn!
Thanks for reading, Keith! I think even if you do travel sometimes, you make a big mistake if that’s the only time you satisfy your need for adventure… being get lost in stories is so important to me. 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
The idea that only the young can travel is such crap.
This year, a friend of my mother’s invited her to go to Montana for three weeks. At not quite sixty-five years old. Last year, her cousin took her up to Alaska on a cruise. She had a fantastic time on both trips. And we can’t help wondering…where will she go next, at this rate? (My guess is Hawaii; she has a friend who travels there a lot–who is also not young–who’s just gotten engaged to be married, and I’m betting she’ll have the wedding in Hawaii.)
Only people who have low feelings, themselves, can come up with such bitter memes that drag other people down with them. That’s so cruel. And it’s untrue. It takes away part of the fun of life.