I always hear people talking about how they wish they could travel more freely in their lives.
I totally understand where they’re coming from – it’s awesome to take a break from life and go off on an adventure to see some sights – but I also don’t think they’re very realistic about what traveling entails.
As someone who travels often for work, I can tell you that it’s not all that it’s chalked up to be. Most likely, you won’t be flying first class. You won’t be staying in some beachfront villa with a private beach. And it’s unlikely that your photo gallery is filled with insta-perfect destination photos unless you devote endless hours to curating the perfect picture. In my experience, traveling has been a jarring and unpleasant experience, for the most part. In the past two days, for example, I’ve existed across multiple climates and air temperatures. I started in the hot and humid sub-tropical south only 48 hours ago. The temperature was balmy and warm, and there was a stillness to the air. A day later, the temperature had dropped about 40 degrees in my new location. There was a lot of wind and cold moisture on the ground adding an extra chill to the air, and we were nervously increasing the indoor air temperature degree by degree. Flash forward to today; we’ve arrived at our final destination and the outdoor high is -14 degrees. We’ve put on all our heavy winter clothes and tried every trick in the book to warm up on this trip, but nothing can compare to simply existing in a moderately warm environment and staying there.