There are many reasons that people love to travel. It is something that nearly every person in the world longs to do. From the office worker stuck in a 9 to 5 job, or the housewife who just doesn’t manage to get out enough. Ask either of them and they will probably say that they are working toward something. And usually, that is a vacation. A holiday. It is their longing to travel.
I am not writing this article to discuss that, however.
This is a personal blog article. It is not meant to be a list of reasons why people love to travel. This is why I love to travel. It is about me.
Which means, it COULD be about you too.
Let’s see.
I have been all over the world. Granted, most of it was years ago. The world has changed a lot since then. But ever since I sailed (literally) off into the sunset all those years ago and got my first taste of life away from home, I was hooked.
My life, and love, would always be on the road. I realized it then, and have known it ever since.
I have never really had a home. I grew up in Australia, and if anything, I guess that will always be my home. By that, I mean that it’s where I come from. It’s who I am.
But I have never felt like I had an ACTUAL home. Somewhere that I was happy. Where I could sit back and say, “I belong here”. There was never one place that I would be content to just stop and stay, never to leave again, other than on some annual vacation to an over rated holiday park on a beach somewhere.
No. My life yearned for more.
Don’t get me wrong. I have lived in some wonderful places.
I grew up in Brisbane, in Queensland Australia. I lived the early part of my life between there and the Gold Coast, and for anyone who has visited Australia, that probably seems idyllic. For me, I didn’t know much different, and the name of a city such as Sydney just seemed so far away that it was out of reach.
Then I joined the Navy. I moved immediately to Melbourne, and my life of travel began. I saw a new life open before me, and with eyes wide I began to realize that the world was so much more than the tiny bubble I had always known. Brisbane was in my rear-view mirror, and I never intended returning.
In the coming years I travelled the world and then settled, for want of a better word, in Newcastle, Australia. I loved Newcastle, and as I raised a young family, I could not have found a more beautiful and diversified place. I travelled to the United States, New Zealand and Bali in that time. I developed a passion for snow skiing which exists to this day. (My daughter is now an instructor, so maybe I passed something along).
But when the opportunity came to move thousands of Kilometers away to Perth, I jumped at it. Western Australia is an amazing place, and I loved the few years I lived there. But still, I yearned for more.
After a few years I moved back East. This time, due to circumstances and job opportunities I ended up back in South East Queensland and in my old stomping grounds of the Gold Coast and Brisbane. I knew from the start of this move that it would not last. I knew I would move on.
So, I planned. I had an exit strategy and I set a date that I would leave. Once I had that date, I saved every penny I could, and when that date came, I left. I headed to Bali.
As luck would have it, Covid-19 had set the same date.
I have been in Bali now for 14 months. The start was a little rough with lock downs, but where would you rather be locked down? What was driving me up the wall was that I had made the move, jumped on the plane, and then come to a full stop!
So, when lock downs eased, I made a move. My feet were so itchy I didn’t even hesitate. I jumped on my scooter, rode halfway across the island to the mountains of Munduk, and hiked alone for several days. I just needed to get out.
Now, nearly a year after that I have seen the entire island. I have visited over 50 waterfalls and seen almost everything that you could want to see. I literally could not get lost on this island!
But I want to keep moving. I want to keep exploring. I never intended to spend so much time in one place, and even though it has had benefits, I am almost fully vaccinated and want to get back on the road.
Bali is wonderful, but once again, it is not my home. I don’t have a home, and if I do, it is the road.
The strange thing about being a nomad is that you are literally happy everywhere. I have spent single nights in places so remote that people haven’t heard of them. I look back on that place with the same nostalgia that I look back on a place I lived for years. Because for that one night, it WAS my home.
I once stayed in a hostel in Japan. It was a great place, located below the ski fields on Hokkaido. I was visiting my daughter that month, as she was working there. The entire time I did nothing but ski, and read my book by the fire. It was an idyllic holiday, spent in a hostel, sharing my room with another traveler from Australia. When I look back on that place, that 10 days, I feel the same nostalgia that I do when I look back on any place that I have actually lived.
Because for those 10 days, it was my home. And I was happy.
That’s the life of a traveler. Everywhere is home, and the people that you meet are your family. It is a difficult concept to explain to someone who has not experienced it, but it exists.
As for me, I am still in Bali and making my plans to move on. My second Vaccination is in 2 weeks, and then I will move west to Yogyakarta. From there, who knows? It will depend on what countries are open. At the moment it looks like a choice between Thailand and Turkey. Not bad options!
If you ever run into me on the road, ask me where home is. It will be an interesting answer, because it always makes me stop and think. Where is my home at the moment?
For now, it is with my girlfriend, Jo. She has become integral to my life and my plans, and we have travelled Bali together, discovering and exploring. I could not imagine moving on without her, so she is coming with me, no matter what.
If she is with me, then I am at home.
Just so long as we keep moving!
IF YOU LOVED THIS ARTICLE, then check out THIS article that tackles the question, “Is Travel a Hobby?”
The results might surprise you…..
DON’T FORGET to leave a comment below. I promise to reply!
This article may contain affiliate links. If you click on those links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you I will get a small commission. This will go a long way toward keeping this website running. As always, thank you for your support! Click HERE for more information.
Leave a reply