We were in the process of getting rid of our house and almost all of our possessions, and just a couple weeks shy of taking off on our designated two-year trip around the world, when an acquaintance, a mother to one of my children’s friends, said to me, “Traveling for one or two years? Hmm. Aren’t you going to get bored?”
Inside my head, my jaw dropped. Bored is the last thing I figured I’d be. I imagined sweeping into a new city or country and getting stimulated by the fresh visuals alone. I envisioned the restaurants and cafes we would discover, all the various foods we might try, all the interesting people we might meet. I thought about the cultural lessons we would get, in language, story, history and tradition; all the phenomenal sites we would visit, the diverse landscapes we would explore, the adventures we would have, riding elephants, driving scooters, snorkeling reefs.
I also thought about the homeschooling we planned for our kids and our administrative tasks, such as checking our virtual mail, managing our finances, and making all our travel arrangements (securing visas, booking lodging, reserving transportation, scheduling tours).
And finally, there were our own, personal ambitions: I planned to work part-time here and there along the way, develop and write our travel blog, fuss over our photos, keep in touch with friends. Pierre and I both wanted to read more, continue being active in sports, and most importantly, spend some true quality time with our kids.
We would be busy!
Travel Is Not for Everyone
But then I realized two important things. First, the sort of long-term travel we had in mind is not for everyone. Not everyone, like us, re-arranges their entire house or apartment every six months just to simulate change, or takes off on active vacations every chance they get.
I realized there are people for which the whole idea of travel, even the thought of it, is exhausting. All that luggage to carry! All that new information to digest! All that planning to do! Or, there was once a time for travel, but that time is not now. All these people want to do now is curl up in the warm, comfortable, reassuring lives they’ve created for themselves and drink deeply from that.
And let me say this out loud: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! The friend who assumed I’d be bored is a high-achieving physician. Her work is challenging, stimulating, and very rewarding to her, and it’s not the type of work she can take on the road even if she wanted to. Why would she want to be anywhere else? It took her years to get where she is, and I get that.
Travel Is Not Vacation
The second thing I realized is that many people mistake travel for vacation. When we told people about our plans to travel around the world, they assumed we were going on a long, if not permanent, vacation.
But travel is not vacation. Vacation is a good book by the pool with an umbrella drink close by. Vacation is trying to see all the sights in a single day or playing on the beach with the kids or riding bikes through quaint villages. In other words, vacation is a respite from your regular life, a rest or escape. Nothing wrong with that, either. But…
Travel, on the other hand, is not an escape. Nor is it a respite or even a rest, necessarily. Travel is instead a lifestyle choice. It is about agreeing from the start to get involved in another culture, and learn and grow from it. It’s about eating at the local restaurants and taking the local buses and at least attempting a few words in the local language. It’s about meeting the locals and learning and absorbing some of their history, culture and traditions. It’s about seeing all the sights, too! And having adventures! But doing it all in the context that this is your day to day life.
And for us, that includes homeschooling our kids and my working on a consulting project and us taking care of our administrative tasks and having “down” time here and there just to absorb all that we see and experience.
So, I fully understand the idea of being bored from a vacation. My favorite travel writer of all time is Paul Theroux, and he wrote, “I hate vacations. I hate them. I have no fun on them. I get nothing done. People sit and relax, but I don’t want to relax. I want to see something. Sit down and have a massage, have a spa, have a cupcake—I go nuts. If I want to relax, I go home.” I hear you, Paul!
We are not on vacation, folks, we are traveling the world. It is a dream. We love it, and we feel privileged and grateful that we get to do it—even though those croaking frogs, which sound like barking dogs with, um, frogs in their throats, outside our window tonight here in Hue, Vietnam are driving me crazy, I am loving the experience.
This blog post, including photos, is copyrighted (c) 2016 by Cindy Bailey and is an original publication of www.mylittlevagabonds.com. Please join us on Twitter and Facebook. Happy travels!
Love your beautiful pics! Your kids always look like they are having fun. Wanted to know how your kids adjust to eating different kinds of food,
maybe food they have never tried before?
Thanks, Billie! Our kids are good at eating the local foods, although our son occasionally insists on a pizza or hamburger, which we give him. I think it helps that my husband is such a good cook and has always fed our kids a variety of healthy dishes. We also insist that our kids at least try something new or unfamiliar, and they do.
This is so true! Long terrm travel is not for everyone, sure the first few months feel like a holiday but settling into slow travel, homeschooling along the way is a great life adventure and allows us insight into different cultures. After 16 months travelling to USA and Canada in our RV and a 2 month break in thailand during winter we are about to cruise to Barcelona and then travel through Europe for 6 months on motorbikes and camp in our tent.
That sounds awesome, Tony! If you have never been to Barcelona before, I have a list of things to do here on my site (search Barcelona, or look under Spain). You will have a great time. We have two dear friends, Dionne and Mike, who will be motorbiking through Eastern Europe at about the same time, I think. Let me know if you’d like me to connect you. All the best on your journey! (Your site looks great, too, by the way.)
I love your stories and defining “travel” and “vacation” was exactly what most people try to say and cannot put it into words. Your children will remember this for the rest of their lives. Love reading your posts.
Thank you, Sandi! Appreciate that!
Love to follow your travels. Just read your article in Good Housekeeping! Wonderful. We just spent 6 months of of each of the last 5 years cruising on a sailboat in the Bahamas. Have had to stop for various reasons…age being one . We miss the people, stimulation, life style, travel, exploring and excitement!
Thanks, Ann. How fantastic that you traveled six months a year on a sailboat! It’s a fantastic lifestyle, and I’m sure you have memories that will last a lifetime. So glad you had the courage and gumption to do it. Maybe you can still travel in the future, in a different way. All the best.
Love the distinction between travel and vacation. Although when we were in Australia for 4 1/2 months in 2014, it felt like a vacation from our lives in the states, without the sitting around and doing nothing. As we start planning our next adventure [5 weeks this summer, mostly in Vienna, Austria] I am looking forward to being away, going as native as we find comfortable and creating time to think and plan and reflect–something that is harder to do at home.
Thanks, Heidi. Vacations are good for the soul, too! We have been traveling a lot lately, and have been busy with many administrative and work tasks, so we are looking at making one of our stays in the near future a little more of a vacation, to really rest. So glad you got to take that time-out in Australia and that you’ll be doing it again this summer. You are living fully, as your blog says!
Traveling the world.. won’t you be bored? That is almost an oxymoron. Plus, traveling opens your mind so much!
Hi, Valerie – Yes, traveling does open the mind so much, in all the right ways. Not sure I’ll ever be bored with traveling.
I think I stood at that exact spot in that first photo! Halong Bay?
I’m really enjoying your blog and the articles. I used to think people were crazy for not wanting to travel..now I’ve matured and understand that travel means something different for everyone. It’s perfectly okay for people to not want to travel or to not like traveling. As long as we can all understand and accept/appreciate each other’s lifestyle choices.
Hi, Ying – Yes! Halong Bay is incredible, isn’t it? And when I was young, I too couldn’t understand who wouldn’t like to travel, but absolutely, travel is not for everyone and that’s perfectly OK. We all have different passions. Thanks for reading my blogs and articles! Here’s to more happy travels in your future! Take care, Cindy