My best friend from high school has finished the first draft of her second book and as I was reading it last night I had to laugh. Not because it was funny, but because two of her characters were doing drugs. Drugs aren’t funny, kids! But Ann writing about teens doing drugs sort of is.
Ann was always a bit cooler than me, which wasn’t hard because I was a supremely bland teenager. Too straight to get into drinking or drugs, smart-ish but not motivated enough to be a true nerd, and liked by just enough people not to be a cool loner, I was that kid that no one bothers to write into the high school comedy because… what would be the point?
Ten years later I find myself Googling what the eff molly is (see? I’m not even colorful enough to swear), so I guess I’m still as boring as ever. At least as far as drugs are concerned. What can I say, I’m just too terrified of death to have ever experimented, so I’ve remained clueless.
Except…
Reading about the characters’ experience with drugs I realized that a lot of it seemed familiar. Not only have I experienced those same feelings, but I’m pretty sure I felt that same exact high half an hour ago when my plane took off for Norway.
Yes, I am writing this on an airplane and no, gentleman sitting next to me, you may not read this over my shoulder. I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just that travel blogging is really embarrassing, mmkay?
Now, I know what you’re thinking: how is travel like a drug?
Well, let me just tell you the ways:
It alters your perspective
If you’ve been following my blog you might have noticed that basically every place is The Best Place Ever! My New Favorite! The colors are more vivid, the food tastes better, and I just love everyone I meet while traveling! Exclamation points foreveeeever!!!!!!!!!!!
I just spent a week back home in the U.S. and really tried to approach my time in Massachusetts with the same enthusiasm I have for new places. It sort of worked! But did that slice of American pizza which I know is much better than anything I tried in the Balkans really taste as good? No because it wasn’t from Kosovo!
I guess travel has made me realize I don’t want to live in the United States. But on the flip side, even this short trip away from Trondheim showed me how much I really do love life in Norway, even if adjusting has been a struggle at times. It’s all about perspective.
Travel has shown me how universally good people are, how drop dead gorgeous the world is, how privileged I’ve am, what that privilege has denied me, and how many different, equally good ways there are to live these lives we’ve all been granted.
It makes you both more courageous + more fearful
That’s right, I watched Pineapple Express, so I know that being high makes you both bold and a total scaredy cat, which is exactly how I feel when I’m in a new country.
It’s like, oh hey, mafia man in Tajikistan, why yes I will get in your jeep even though your driver has a knife scar across his neck. There aren’t many cars on the Pamir Highway, so I’ll take any ride I can get!
But ask me to go before you in line at this Soviet-style canteen? Oh Heck No. What if I mess up? I’m pretty sure it’s your turn to go first anyway. Remember when you made me buy the train tickets in Russian last week and I left the ticket counter in tears?
When abroad a lot of the simplest tasks become inexplicably terrifying. The plus side is that this provides lots of opportunities to conquer my fears and feel like a rockstar. Small wins, guys.
Your problems disappear
I’ve talked before about traveling as a shy person and how I no longer feel awkward when abroad – or rather, I can blame my awkwardness on being a foreigner, not on being me.
And when I’m hanging out with other travelers it doesn’t seem to matter that I don’t yet have a career because no one else does either!
And if I still think I have problems then I’ll just talk with my host family in Armenia whose children have all had to move to Russia to find work and I’ll realize that I have nothing to complain about ever ever.
It’s addictive
Did I just spend yet another day I’m supposed to be job searching instead reading about travel in Pakistan and writing yet another article about Central Asia? NO.
Ugh fine, but can you do me a favor and schedule my intervention for after October 7th? It’s just I found this really cheap flight to Moldova…
You spend all your money on it
And I mean all my money. While working in Japan I saved over $40,000 in the name of travel and since have barely let myself spend any of that on food or accommodation (I’ve gotten better at this since moving to Norway, though I did only spent $132 on food here last month).
It starts to interfere with your everyday life, relationships, and work
Is life just boring without drugs travel?
Some days I’ll have a minor freak out over adjusting to “normal life” with a lease, bills, and work commitments. And then I’ll take a step back and remember that I have a KITCHEN! I can totally bake apple crisp this weekend if I want.
My friends don’t really seem to mind that they only see me over Skype, or in person every few years. Well, the friends that I have left, that is.
Does travel blogging count as a career? No?
It heals you (if you don’t abuse it)
If travel is a drug, then it would be the kind that’s originally meant to be a medicine, and we probably each have different tolerances for it. Some people never do it, some people can do it their entire lives and feel amazing, some people only do it for short spurts and then need a break, and some people think they’re on it for life only to realize that they seriously need to slow down.
I’m probably the last person.
Which person are you?
PIN IT!
EmilyAnne (Eat All Over The World) says
I totally agree travel is a drug!!!
Leonie says
Sure is. I’m definitely addicted.
Leonie ♥ Lo On The Go
Edna says
Totally agree, especially on the part about it altering you — I’m a completely different person at home versus who I am abroad (friends from home have barely recognized me when they visit me overseas!) and strangely enough, I think who I am out here is the ‘real’ me. Which is why I’ve been living abroad for the better part of the last seven years now! What’s the travel version of alcoholism?
Juliet says
I just stumbled upon your blog and I already love it! I will definitely stick around. Too bad I couldn’t find a bloglovin link.
Oh and travelling is definitely my personal drug 😀
x, Juliet
Silvia says
That’s so lovely to hear! The bloglovin’ button is in my sidebar 🙂
Rachel says
Silvia, this post is amazing!
I’ve never really thought about it this way, but woah, this is totally spot on! (although like you, I’m a totally scaredycat – travel-is-the-only-thing-that-possibly-makes-me-cool – kinda girl that has never touched drugs!).
There is no way I’d have ever done some of the amazing stuff I’ve done if I’d never become addicted to travel: it really does make you feel super courageous (but yes, please don’t make me go up there and buy bus tickets in that rammed ticket booth with all those shouty angry people). I even get in cars that don’t have seat belts without totally freaking out!
Travel has made me so much more sociable yet at the same time totally anti-social (sorry friends that knew me before the addiction).
Silvia says
Haha “I even get in cars that don’t have seat belts without totally freaking out!” I think we might be the same person.
Tempesst says
yes, definitely a drug! and i hope that you make it to pakistan because i would love to read about it! i’ve been day dreaming about it as well. have a great weekend!
Silvia says
I would LOVE to go to Pakistan! I was actually planning to this past spring but English boyfriend wasn’t home long enough to get the visa 🙁 Soon though!
Anca | Globaloud says
For me, travel is something in between a drug and a complicated relationship. Although I’m pretty addicted to it and I’m spending every cent on it, from time to time, I feel like I need a break, sort of rehab to get back to normal life. And then, after just a while, I need it even more and I’ll just do anything to make it happen.
Yep, sounds like drug.
Silvia says
It is funny how we need breaks but then have to go back to it. I keep waiting to be grown up enough to stay in one place, but…
Hitch-Hikers Handbook says
I must confess, I am an addict. I have all the symptoms you have described and the worst off all is that I don’t want any therapy. I’m just fine being a travel addict!
Silvia says
Haha!
Mary says
I agree! Travel keeps me going. It renews me and keeps me feeling happy.
Silvia says
Even browsing flights makes me happy, haha
Vanessa @ The Travelling Colognian says
I couldn’t agree more, Silvia, travel is definitely a drug! I am lucky enough that I travelled already when I was a little child and even in my baby age thanks to my Mom who is as much a travel addict as I am. But in the last few years it got “worse” 😉 Especially in the last six years I have visited many places which I didn’t even think of ten years ago Yunnan and Tibet, Borneo, the Chinese Silk Road, to just name a few. In the future I hope to travel to places where I even haven’t thought of while travelling these roads.
Silvia says
I love the idea that I haven’t even thought of places I’ll travel in the future 🙂
mellissa williams says
YES! I love travelling and experiencing new places, but I am almost ashamed to admit, sometimes the planning is almost as exciting as the actual trip 🙂
Silvia says
Haha right? I’m definitely planning a bunch of imaginary trips right now…
Van (@snowintromso) says
Yes to all of this except the problems part. My problems don’t disappear through travelling – quite the opposite, it makes me worry about my future and finances a lot more. However it is addictive, that’s for sure!
Silvia says
Ugh I wish that happened to me, because I seriously should be starting to worry about my future and finances!
Jackie | The Globetrotting Teacher says
Great post! I love your voice. It’s so true how when you travel, you realize you have nothing to complain about ever. It brings everything into perspective and leaves you wanting to see more of this amazing planet. I totally get it.
Silvia says
Right? I think it’s so helpful to have that reminder of how lucky I really am.
Katja - globetotting says
Hooray for travel and all the benefits it brings – no matter how addictive they are! In particular I believe that travel is the best way to gain perspective on almost anything, that’s why we take our kids travelling as much as possible as it is an amazing way to educate people young and old.
Silvia says
I traveled tons as a kid and it was always so wonderful – sounds like you’re raising them right 🙂
Mar says
Very true, and I am happily addicted. But it is true that it can take all your money away. Every month when I see the credit card bill I am reminded of my inability to stop myself!
Silvia says
Ugh bills, nooo!
Brianna says
Definitely, and like any drug every hit only makes you crave more.
Silvia says
Haha EXACTLY!
Mel @ Footsteps on the Globe says
Silvia, I couldn’t agree more, travelling in definitely addictive! Luckily for us it’s an addiction that is totally legal and is good for us! I spend all my money on travel too! (Btw you are anything but boring you’re blog is amazing!) x
Silvia says
Thanks, Mel! You’re right – I’m glad it’s totally legal 🙂
Laryssa says
LOVE this post!! So true!
Hanna says
Ok, I admit. Travel is my drug. I spent all my money on it, I don’t see my friends and… even my career is about traveling (and it’s not only blogging – I organise tours!) Yes, guilty, but… I don’t want to fight this! 😀
Silvia says
It is pretty cool to be able to make your addiction into a career!
Sky says
I’ve always said travel was my drug but I never actually took the time to break it down and truly compare it. Sooo true, though! Travel definitely provides my natural high!
Audrey says
Great article Sylvia. I’ve never thought about how similar drugs and traveling is, but you make some great points, especially about travel altering your perspective. When traveling, even a trip to the grocery store is cause for celebration. One way that travel isn’t like drugs, though, is that unlike with drugs, you’re not constantly chasing a high. I would even argue that travel gets better with time and experience.
Silvia says
Ah that’s a good point! Sometimes I do worry that now I’m becoming harder to impress, especially with beautiful sites, but I still seem to love everywhere I go so I guess it’s not a real problem, ha.
Victoria@ The British Berliner says
Totally agree with you. Travel can make you lose your mind. They don’t call it “itchy feet” for nothing. Perhaps, we would all have been sent to an asylum 100 years ago being that it wasn’t the done thing for ladies to just take off. And Solo! And to make my “addiction” even worse, I’m not in the least embarrassed to go to places that I’ve even travelled to before!
I’ve “done” them and sometimes I go back and “do” them again. And Again. And Again. And…. It’s never enough!
Silvia says
Hahaha I like doing it again and again too 🙂
Kimberly Erin @ walkaboot.ca says
Travel is 150% my drug, it has always been and likely will always be. It defo heals me and it defo interrupts my relationship with home ahaha
Renate @ Renate's Travels says
Oh, I’m such a travel junkie… Traveling is definitely my drug, and I looove getting high. :p I mean seriously, it’s kind of scary. Traveling is always on my mind, and something I spend pretty much all my money on. When I’m not traveling I’m planning my next adventure, and feel pretty depressed until new plane tickets are bought. I just moved (like this week!) up north to Kirkenes where my boyfriend is working, to live with him here for at least a year or two – and it kind of freaks me out! Not living with him, but trying to cope as a proper adult with an apartment, bills and a new job (or two). What about traveling!? Luckily he’s OK with me running around all over the world, so I guess it will work out quite well. Next big trip coming up in less than three weeks! SO.EXCITED.OMG.
Silvia says
You moved to Kirkenes?! That’s so exciting! And pretty crazy too. I don’t have ANY trips coming up, which is freaking me out for sure. I should probably go and book something just to calm my nerves, haha.
becky hutner says
Such a clever post, Silvia, you travel junkie, you. I would say I’m somewhere between the third and fourth categories — madly addictive traveler for life who also appreciates a stable home aka place to keep my sh*&.
Silvia says
I can’t wait for you to go get your travel fix in Eastern Europe!
Lauren says
I love the last one! It will definitely heal you if you don’t abuse it. Great article!
Silvia says
Thanks, Lauren, I know travel has healed me!
Melissa says
I have been doing it in short spurts since I was 19, of a month to 7 weeks at a time, sometimes shorter when work wouldn’t allow more.
I always have to have a trip on the horizon to look forward to. I don’t know if that is a symptom of addiction or not?
I have been trying to keep life balanced so travel doesn’t take over and I can have an expensive treat now and again that isn’t a plane ticket.