5 Remedies for a Bad Case of Wanderlust

My wanderlust is acting up again!

I’ve been living with this travel bug for a while but every now and then it flares up.  It was great when it hit hard just as I boarded a plane for London or packed my final bag back to Vancouver, but sitting at my desk almost three months into my school term does not bode well for my wanderlust.

So how do I fix this? Well, I came up with a few quick remedies…

1) Start planning my next trip!

Whenever the urge to pack my bags and get on plane hits, I start doing research for my next adventure.  Everything from googling destinations, taking travel-personality quizzes, flipping through planning books and comparing room rates helps to keep the bug at bay.  It makes me feel more prepared for future trips and I love filling my head with all this travel knowledge.

Though I have to admit, this tactic is a lot more effective when the trip I’m planning is actually happening in the near future.  For now it just seems to be vague planning for the eventual future.  So, yes, I’m looking into cruises to Antarctica (it’s a thing and I’m doing it…eventually!).

2) Look for opportunities to travel!

I enter random travel contests (that trip for two to Tuscany has to go to someone, right?) and apply for things like a semester abroad and the international service learning program at my school.  Applying for things like that make travel seem more real and I feel like I’m actively working towards my next travel adventure.

3) Travel close to home!

Over Thanksgiving I had a staycation in Vancouver with my momma! It was great to spend time with her, forget about school/work and rediscover Vancouver.  It’s scary how much of this city I haven’t seen. I completely take for granted that I live in one of the most beautiful places in Canada yet it takes a lot of convincing for me to haul my butt off campus.

I always say I need to spend the summer in Vancouver to really appreciate it but there’s still lots to see in the other months (though the constant downpour seriously affects my motivation).  It’s hard to fit it in with school and work and general life-planning but I know I’m going to regret not experiencing Vancouver while I have the chance.

4) Travel vicariously through other travellers!

For about a year now I’ve been following travel blogs and keeping up with some of my favourite adventurers.  If I can’t be out there seeing the sights, then I might as well sit back and learn from the best.

For example, Stephanie of Twenty Something Travel just got back from train-ing around Europe, Christine from C’est Christine is settling into her first non-nomadic job in NYC (I desperately want to go to this city!) and Matt is headed to Africa! It’s great to just immerse myself in this travel community whenever I get travel-sick (it’s the opposite of home-sick…).

I’ve recently taken this vicarious travelling business to the next level! And by that I mean I’ve started watching The Amazing Race! It’s terrible TV (which I not-so-secretly love) and it follows regular people in these amazing situations around the world.  I love seeing the sites with this human view but the constant yelling by the racers gets a big annoying.

I’ve also started watching “Departures”, a Canadian travel show about two guys who take off for a year that I’m really enjoying so far.

5) Figure out how travel can be part of my long term plans!

I’ve recently been thinking more seriously about journalism and travel writing as viable career options.  Everything I read about it promises that the industry is extremely hard to break into and even if you do manage to find work, it will pay next to nothing.

Needless to say, I’m worried! But, it’s also something I know I’m passionate about.  I love to write and I love to travel! Yes, I’m terrified of not finding a job, going from freelance gig to freelance gig and making no money, not to mention no savings! But, I love it.  And I know the career I choose at 20 isn’t going to last my whole life.

I’m not signing away my soul and putting all my eggs in the travel writing basket.  But I am seriously thinking of pursuing it.  It’s exciting to know that even though I’m sitting at my desk with homework open in front of me, one day (hopefully soon) I will be out there travelling and writing about it!

And until then I’ll rely on my remedies to keep my incurable travel bug in check!