One late night (or was it early morning) about a week ago I couldn’t sleep. Someone was having party in the apartment above mine and I could hear them too clearly. I was too stressed out and having too many thoughts in my mind. It was one of those nights when you go trough all your life decisions and regret half of them. It was one of those moments when you can’t decide what you want to do with your life and you can’t understand how doing decisions like this seems so easy for other people.
I was sipping tea, staring my maps and listening motivational videos. That’s something I have done lately a lot when I have no idea where my own life is going. And then between changing videos I somehow ended up doing another thing I have done lately. I opened skyscanner and searched cheap flights to anywhere.
I don’t know what was different this time. Maybe it was those screaming neighbors I could hear laughing too loudly and living too recklessly. Or maybe it was the inspirational voice speaking in my headphones and telling me to just do it. It may have also had something to do with all the international and exchange student talks my school has lately kept. And then again it may all be because of this blog.
I don’t know what was different this time but I bought the cheapest ticket to anywhere. To Gdanks, Poland and Stockholm, Sweden to be exact. Right now week later I am sitting in cruise ship writing this while a few older ladies sip coffee around me. Apparently Sweden trips aren’t that popular during winter and ice. Next week will be full of amazing solo adventures around Europe.
I do this literally every time. I end up booking my tickets without any proper planning. This same thing happened with my three months Japan trip and even with my recent London holiday. I just can’t keep myself from leaving and when I try it ends up like this. Flight tickets to foreigner country and surprised friends and family.
And that’s my way of buying flight tickets and planning new adventures… With one small thought that grows to something bigger.
What about you? Do you ever do crazy stunts like this or do you prefer planning your trips properly beforehand?
Every now and then I may have a quiet few weeks from blogging when I don’t even answer any comments. I’m always sorry for that but it’s usually because of a terrible writing blog. I’m always having a lethal case of wanderlust.It’s endless longing to travel that gets even worse when there aren’t any sure travel plans waiting for me.
Wanderlust A strong desire to travel and wander around the world. Longing to see new places and experience new things.
When I was thinking the subject for today’s post one idea stuck out of everything else. How to survive wanderlust and longing to travel if you are in a life situation where you have no way of traveling anywhere. If you have been reading my blog for some time now you may know that even I have had life situations without any means or money to travel
I am sorry to inform you that there is no cure for wanderlust but you can always try to ease the symptoms. These next tips are something I keep doing when a bad case of wanderlust tries to take over my mind. I know there are many people reading my blog who can identify with me. Some of you may be in school or work, maybe you don’t have the money or you just are too shy to even try yet. Whatever the reason is I hope you find help with these tips.
One of the best and easiest ways to help your wanderlust is to plan the trips you are surely going to make when you can travel again. Choose new destinations and add them to your bucket list. I have always believed that imagination is the strongest weapon human can have so why shouldn’t we use it? Daydream. That is my biggest secret of surviving the lethal case of wanderlust.
Make lists. List all the places you want to visit. Beautiful beaches you have to see one day. Interesting festivals, tourist attractions that seem overrated but are still must see things for you and secret spots that are often not talked about. Plan your trips to all those places. Good thing is that there is always new trips you can plan. There is an endless amount of cities, places, and experiences to plan and dream about.
Virtual Travel
I could get lost for hours doing virtual traveling around the world. I use Map Crunchbut normal google maps street view is as good for this. Basically, you go to random place in street view and start wandering around without looking the map. I got hooked with this “fake traveling” when at one point people on the internet started playing a game where you went to a random spot of the world on street view and kept wandering around blindly until you found airport.
You never know where in the world you will end up going. And when you find something interesting you can always add it to your bucket list. My favorite places to see are Eiffel Tower, small streets around the world (especially in China), Japanese shrines and Iceland’s raw nature.
International Friends
Surprising but effective way of beating your wanderlust is to find friends from different parts of this world. Even better if those friends are as interested about travelling as you are. Getting to know new cultures through your new friends is almost as good as travelling and it prepares you for the future trips.
I have learnt so many new things just talking with people from countries I haven’t visited before. I have got new friends because of blogging but also from my school’s exchange student programs and from old trips I have made. I never stop wondering how there can be so many different countries and cultures in this world.
Read Books, Watch Movies
I have always been that bookworm girl who would rather spend evening reading a good book than going out. Maybe that’s why for me the best way to escape has always been by reading. There are millions of stories about travelling. Movies, TV-series and books. Some of my favorites are:
Cheryl Strayed: Wild(Book & Movie)
Under The Tuscan Sun(Movie)
The Bucket List(Movie)
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders(TV-series)
Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love(Book)
Lost in Translation (Movie)
Tracks (Movie)
Hometown Travel
I would bet that there are places you have never been before close to your home. Or even the places where you have been before may seem different if you look them from the traveler’s point of view. If you can’t leave for longer trip do something new close by. Maybe you can do weekend hiking trip? Or visit your city’s tourist information and play tourist for a day in your own city?
Google what other travelers have to say about your hometown. You may find tips and places you have not paid attention to before. Keep in mind that for some people your city seems as interesting as all those travel destinations you want to visit in the future. With open mind and a little bit of imagination, you can travel without leaving your own street or block.
Read Travel Blogs
Finally my last tip is to read blogs and get that travel feeling from the trips others have done. Find you favorite bloggers and follow them on their adventures around the world. Internet is full of travel bloggers so this is probably the easiest way of easing one’s wanderlust. If reading isn’t your thing find travel Youtubers to follow. There are some amazingly beautiful videos that will leave you in state of wonder and bliss. Won’t care your wanderlust but it will make it easier to deal with.
I hope these tips will help you. Just remember to be careful. Maybe I should have started with the mention that all these tips may cause even worse wanderlust than you already have… There is no way out of having the disease called wanderlust if we don’t count travelling. I hope safe travels for you all and fun times trying to cope with the want of travelling!
So, how do you survive from wanderlust if you can’t travel? All good tips or other comments are always welcome.
So, when you are short of time (because I may have got invited suddenly to summer job interview) and you live in Finland there is one subject you can always write without any problems. Our beautiful forests. Where ever you go in Finland you can find forests. It is our tourists magnet and beloved part of our lives.
I could not imagine my life without small trips to isolated quiet forests. I have done something like this before but I don’t think there can ever be enough photos of Finnish beauty. I hope you can enjoy these winter photos from Finnish forest.
Have you ever visited Finnish forest? Or has your home country/city a lot of nature? Like always all comments are welcome. (And you would make me the happiest person on this planet if you followed my new Facebook page.Thanks!)
I am addicted to quotes. What would be better way of using my love for quotes than sharing my favorites with you? So here is 10 travel quotes to awake your wanderlust.
1.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. DREAM. Discover.” – Mark Twain
2.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
3.
“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.” – Azar Nafisi
4.
“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous
5.
“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.” – Isabelle Eberhardt
6.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
7.
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” – Oscar Wilde
8.
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
9.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
10.
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal.” – Paulo Coelho
So, what are your favorite travel quotes? I am always happy to find new inspiring or motivating quotes to help my wanderlust. Also sorry for this short not so good post. School is killing me slowly and painfully…
Happy one year and 1 500 readers for my blog! This is kind of crazy but I have never been able to keep up any blog for more than year so I am quite proud of myself (even if we have had some problems with this one too…)
To celebrate this day I have finally done that long waited Facebook page. I would be forever thankful if you went and followed me there. I promise not to spam anyone’s Facebook walls but you will get to know about my newest post, hear some extra stories and of course see travel photos that don’t fit here in my blog.
But now we can return to today’s real subject… Keeping your eyes open for the extraordinary. You seem to love my Travel Rantsand to tell the truth I love writing these the most. My writing style has always been a little bit random and in travel rants I can just write whatever is in my mind without thinking about it. So, what would be better way to spend my blogs one year birthday than ranting about travelling?
. . .
Keep your eyes open
If I had to present today’s post in one sentence I would do it by telling you one of my favorite travel quotes.
“Traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”
– G.K. Chesterton
Going to new place and not opening your eyes is the worst thing you can do if you ask my opinion. If you don’t see adventures behind every corner or changes in every conversation you have with the locals, your eyes are still closed. It may sound corny but I believe there is magic in the small streets of cities and thousands of untold stories behind all the people you will meet.
Keeping your eyes opens means seeing the change and taking it even if the odds aren’t on your favor. It means seeing the places tourists wouldn’t notice. That cute small coffee behind your hotel, those plainly normal areas of the city or free museums you can only find by coincidence. You shouldn’t be scared to go in places seeming closed or ‘too complicated’ for foreigner.
Always listen locals whatever you are being touristy or adventuring around the destination. They know things you can’t find from the pages of guide book or from google’s endless search results. And it is not only the destinations they can share with you but also stories that will make your trip even more special. Usually locals will find you and you just have to keep your ears, eyes and mind open for them.
One of the best guided tours I got in Kyoto was from the person standing next to me in fully packed normal bus. There is kind people around the world so sooner or later you will meet someone who teaches you what it means to see the destination from the local point of view. And in the end that is the meaning behind keeping you eyes open, seeing the world in different ways you never before even knew existed. Seeing the small things that will make huge difference in your holiday if you just dare to grab them.
So what are the hidden things you have found/seen while traveling? Like always all comments are welcome!
With love,
GoTravelGlobal 