What are your reasons for travelling? Is it the freedom you get when you are on the open road, is it meeting new people and places, or is it the adventure that can come from your surroundings?
Theses are only a few of my reasons for travelling and seeing more of the world around me.
Freedom of the Open Road
You can do what you want when you want. You don’t have to answer to anyone else but yourself. Well, unless you are travelling with a group of people. Still, you have this freedom of not being weighed down by everyday mundane things that you would be if you were home. Such ‘things’ would be work, paying the bills, cleaning, and accumulating more stuff. It is an endless cycle of not feeling free because you are weighed down by ‘work.’
I love the freedom of the open road. Years ago, I made a choice to quit my job and backpack my way through Europe for three months. The freedom of travelling gave me the choices to stay in one place for as little or as long as I wanted. It enabled me to see what I wanted or didn’t want to see. To travel the road less travelled or travel the road that backpackers before me travelled. My choices ….. but freedom none the less because I wasn’t weighed down by all the stuff in my life.
Meeting New People and Places
If you looked up the word shy in the dictionary, my picture would have been next to it. Not anymore. Lost that shy girl years ago somewhere in Europe. Not sure if she got lost somewhere in London on my first day in the city. Or somewhere in between. I knew the shyness would go out the window when I ended up taking this trip myself. There was no way I could travel for three months by myself without talking to anyone. I had to crawl out of that shell of shyness and move into someone who could talk to complete strangers. And places. That is the adventure, isn’t it? To travel to new places and see things you may never get the chance to see. London, Paris, Rome, Cesky Krumlov, Ios are a few places that come to mind along with everything you can see in those places. Who knew going to a gallery would be something I would enjoy? Or seeing the Mona Lisa up close or throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain. These are places and sights one can only dream of but they are something that makes travelling so much fun.
Adventure in Travelling
I love what travelling to new places can bring. Adventure is one thing that springs to mind. Getting lost in London and Amsterdam but finding out that getting lost in another country is completely different then getting lost in your own backyard. I could get lost in California and feel a panic attack come upon me. But getting lost in London and Amsterdam didn’t bring fear, panic attacks or that feeling that I will never find my way never happened. I thought of everyday as an adventure. Couldn’t wait to see what was around the corner …… and what the next adventure would be in travelling the open road.
Again, why do you love to travel? Is it the freedom, meeting new people and places or the adventure that comes with travelling the open road?
