Travelling. The way I've always seen it, is that it's the only thing where you spend money but become richer.
I've not spoken to anyone who has said they don't want to travel, or those who did originally say that changed their minds on the matter.
If it fit the definition, I would almost call it a rite of passage. Maybe to some people it is.
It's a wonderful, exciting thing to do, and there is nothing better than being in a city you don't know, in complete awe of everything around you. How big it is. How bright it is. How historic it is. There's so much culture surrounding you. So many stories that you're yet to find out about, but oh my... how you want to find out. That feeling of educating yourself about things you never thought would interest you before then. Things that have nothing to do with the life you normally live at home, in reality, but it doesn't matter, because here you are. Another place. Another time. Another life to live right now. Living for the moment. For the next sight to see. For the next fact to learn.
Living for you.
So, what do you do when you come back home? When you come back to reality?
Well... you go back, to what now seems like such a mediocre life. Back to the 9-5 job. Back to looking after the kids. Back to the cooking. The cleaning. The life that now just seems so...bleh.
Don't get me wrong. You love your job, you love your kids. The cooking, absolutely. Cleaning...eh not so much. But there's just something... missing now. You've explored the world, or parts of it. And now you're back in your part of it, back to what you had been doing before. Or something similar anyway.
How do you get over it? Those post travel blues? A week, a month, two months, from arriving home. It hits you. You're not travelling any more. You can't do something for the hell of it, because who cares, you could only be here once.
How do you find a way to love the life you're living? The life you're going to have before your next adventure?
For me, the way I'm getting over my post travel blues is simple. I'm falling in love with my city again.
I fell in love with all these amazing places while I was away. And yes, to some people, they might not be that amazing. Maybe you live there, maybe your love of your city is gone. Maybe you just don't see it. But for me, these cities... I just adore them. I ache to go back to New York, to visit all the places I couldn't see in my few days there. I long for the days I can go back to Anchorage to visit my grandma and the friends I made in my short time there. I wish for the days I add more cities, more countries, to my list of places I've travelled.
But for now, I'm here. In my own city, which I need to learn to love again. I need to stop aching for my next lot of travels, and start travelling in my own backyard.
I need to let myself remember that there are amazing things to do here, within an hour of my house. I need to get out and do things instead of moping at home, wishing I was overseas still.
I need to go to the parks, the beaches, the museums, and all of the other wonderful places around me. Learn things about my city, and my country, that I don't yet know. Be excited to learn these things.
Yes, I still have to work, but I have the weekends. I have to make the time to do this exploring. If I don't, I'll forever have my post travel blues.
There will be more adventures in the future. More chances to fall in love with places I've yet to go. But for now, my city will do, and I'll make my own adventures around here.
Like waves at the beach, or the sand running through your fingers. Opportunities come and go. Travelling being one of them. The hardest part, is deciding how to figure it out once they're gone. How to move on with it.
Try falling back in love with the places around you, maybe then you'll remember why it's home, and why you'll always come back.
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