It was funny at first . . .
A little background: for years my husband’s joke was that Robin loves foreign travel . . . books and shows. So true. The vicarious travel thrill was always more than enough for me.
Then one day I did what I swore I would never do: got a passport.
I figured having a passport was like being on birth control–you’d be tempted to use it.
But for some reason I decided it was time, so I got the passport (with the obligatory HIDEOUS photo–can you even get a passport if you’re photogenic?), and was actually so excited to have it I made the entry agent in Canada stamp it, even though that wasn’t their policy. I’m such a nerd.
One thing led to another (does sound like birth control, doesn’t it?), and as you know I just got back from England. It’s my third trip to Europe in the past five years. At one time I thought I might make an annual habit of it, but now I’m thinking not.
So it’s time to confess a little change to my Life List.
I’m tired. Not just jet lag tired, but really mentally tired. For the past two years I’ve traveled a minimum of once a month. And that was funny at first–so different from my life up until then–but I’ve come home from England feeling how much I want to stay home. For a long, long time.
Don’t get me wrong–I’m really glad I went. My adventures were more than I could have hoped for. But going to England just a week after I’d been to New York was too much too soon, and when I look back on all the places I’ve gone since January, it’s a little overwhelming.
I don’t know how traveling business people do it. Am I just being a baby, or does plane travel take its toll? And skipping across time zones really does mess up the internal clock. I keep waking up at odd hours and then falling asleep during dinner. I’m hoping to get back to normal by tomorrow. I can’t really think straight yet, and I need to be able to write.
That flight from England was 10 hours long. And I can’t help but think, sitting here today, that maybe my plan of going to New Zealand next year–with its 14-hour flight from L.A.–doesn’t really sound so attractive any more. Maybe it’s like childbirth, and you forget the pain after awhile. But for now, I’d say New Zealand and Switzerland and all those other Lands are very low on the list.
What’s moving into higher positions are things like writing four novels a year (since I can do that at home). I’m feeling a real need to hunker down right now. Maybe this will pass, and pretty soon I’ll be back to dreaming of far away adventures, but now? Not so much.
I’d love to hear if I’m the only one who’s come to this sort of conclusion–that the traveling life isn’t so glamorous after all. Is it a matter of personality? Is this an issue of nesters versus questers?
Weigh in. I’m mightily curious what you think.
Technorati Tags: Jet Lag, Travel, Foreign Travel, Adventure Travel
July 2nd, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Being a world traveling business person, I feel my opinion is important here. Actually, I think my opinion is important regardless.
I am by nature a nester who trained himself to quest. I lived in roughly the same place for some 28 years before venturing forth and it was out of necessity more than anything else.
I came off the road last year because I thought it was all the travel that was burning me out. Turns out, it was just that people wanted me to work. So, Wednesday, I return to the road life. If I’m going to work, I might as well grab the perks. I did find that I missed something by not being on the road last year. I was glad for the break, but I’m not sure it was traveling that I broke from.
The weird thing is, being a traveller, the perks you get are these great vacation rewards, but when I want a vacation, I just want to sit at my house and do nothing. Oooh, or sit on the balcony of a cruise ship and do nothing.
Incidentally, I look fabulous in my passport photo, but would you expect anything less?
July 2nd, 2006 at 7:56 pm
There was a time when all summer I was lucky to see home 5 days out of three months. Before that I didn’t travel at all for a number of years. Before that I moved 5 states away. Before that I took a trip that lasted months. I haven’t travelled much the last few years. I’m okay with that. I wanderlust in irregular and intense cycles, followed by fallow periods where the thought of sleeping in a strange bed gives me the willies.
If you need to be home for awhile– so be it.
July 2nd, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Patrick, good luck returning to the road life. Ugh. That’s so funny how you earn all the vacation rewards, and can’t bring yourself to leave home again. Boy, do I get that.
BJ, that traveling “in irregular and intense cycles” makes sense. Get a big burst of it, go all out, then back off and be the cave for a while.
And I agree about the sleeping in a strange bed part. Nothing beats your own personal sheets and the mattress that sags right where you remember it.
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:55 am
Travelling makes me tired. Still love it. Living abroad ended up being something I didn’t care for very much, even in countries where I spoke the language, still would go back to NZ in a heartbeat, even if it means that once again, I had to take a VERY VERY roundabout way of getting there (your 14 hour flight sounds like a piece of cake next to my 26 hour one with three hour layover in Taiwan).
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:13 am
A 26-hour flight to get to NZ? Aack! You win!
I don’t know–maybe NZ has to stay on the list after all. I have the feeling it could be the best place I’ll ever visit. How else will I ever live out some of my Lord of the Rings fantasies?
Thanks for your vote in favor of New Zealand, Diana. Maybe I’ve been too hasty.
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:35 am
my advice, no matter where you travel, even if you’re gone for only one night–bring your own pillow–well worth the suitcase space (also your own little bidie or bear, if they’ll fit).
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:24 pm
I must be strange. I don’t mind hotel beds or pillows. I do hate having two double beds and much prefer the single king size, otherwise I feel obligated to wake up in the middle of the night and switch beds.
My advice is, if you are going to NZ, DO NOT FLY COACH. My flight to Hawaii(direct from Detroit, I think) was 100 times worse than my flight to Sydney. Never again will I fly that far in coach.