How I Stopped Traveling Too Much

In my younger days, I opted to quit my job and travel around the world, which I surely don’t regret.

However, I had to quit that way of living as well.

I could not bear to be a lifelong traveler and I chose to stop traveling too much!

Let me share why.

During my initial days, I enjoyed each day of my solo travel. By the age of 30, I had already visited 30 countries of the world, but I had started getting tired. My body was the worst sufferer than my mind. Even though I wanted to travel more as a fulltime traveler, I had started realizing that excessive journeying was taking its toll on my body.

I would frequently experience high and low blood pressure, and my heart beat would fluctuate too much. Whenever I took the all-inclusive meals on lucrative offers, I could not stop eating too much at the buffet breakfast. And whenever I would travel on budget, I had to suffice myself with cheap fast food options. On some days, I would try to calm my stomach with unhealthy snacks and chips. I knew that I was doing the wrong practices, but travel forced me to do it over and over again.

Traveling in an airplane is the worst experience of all my fulltime travel time. I just hate airplanes, but I cannot help taking a flight at times for long journeys. If the distance that I have to cover is 3000 kilometers, for instance, I would never use any car booking app to hire a Car Rental. I would surely look for the cheapest possible flight that would save me time and money. In my heart, I knew that I was exposing myself to harmful pathogens, for which my body was possibly not prepared. Still, I had to do it because I could not travel such an enormous distance by car on my own.

Being a solo traveler for life was not fun after a few years. The agonies of solo travel had started aggravating and I had already started thinking of living a regular life. I had to search for work in a new country almost every six months. If my employer knew that I would leave work in a few months, they would hesitate to hire me, which made it even more difficult to earn and live in an unfamiliar place. My savings were always meager and I was always desperate to find work, the stress of which would not let me enjoy my journey.

Irregular workout routine also harmed my body. Sometimes, I would start losing weight, and sometimes, I would start losing it quickly. It had began becoming difficult to understand my own body that I had nurtured for 20 years in India under the supervision of my lovely mom.

Finally, as I turned 30, I promised myself on my birthday that I would find a healthier life in Indonesia as it was the place where I found my heart belonged. Now, at 35, I can happily say that I don’t have any regrets in life, and I am enjoying running my hotel in a little island in Indonesia.

And I don’t intend to leave this lifestyle any time soon!  

How I Found Myself Addicted to Travel

I was having lunch with a colleague in office and scrolling through the news feed on Facebook. My friend, Nikhil, observed that I looked carefully at the pictures of people who had gone to a vacation. I was not interested in the poses they had made or the cute faces of their babies. I was more absorbed in the places in the background. I noticed each and every detail of the buildings or woods that lay behind the people. Nikhil was trying to have a conversation with me, but when he realized that I was more interested in Facebook, he quietly left after eating.

I apologized to him for not paying attention to him after I reached my seat.

He asked, “Are you getting itchy feet again?”

I nodded and started thinking of arranging my bike and clothes for my upcoming road trip.

“But you have just come from Africa?” he said.

“I know but I have already booked my tickets for Thailand” I said and smiled at him. I told him that I cannot live without traveling to a new place every month. I did not know this truth earlier, but I realized it a few months ago when I could not concentrate on anything in office.

I had become tired of getting restless after every trip, and then I observed that I am addicted to travel. As soon as I finish one trip, I come home thinking that I would sleep for at least a week out of tiredness. However, as soon as two days pass post the trip, I begin feeling irritated with everything. People with narrow mindedness frustrate me, I don’t like being around people with hermit-like tendencies, and I just cannot eat same food every day. I have tried so many recipes around the world that I try to make them at home as well, which in practice has made me a good chef.

One day, I found myself sleeping on a bench in a park near my home. I had come to the park with a family of toddlers. It was fun watching to toddlers for some time, but I was already tired from my month-long vacation in Bhutan. I was scrolling through the MyChoize Car Booking App to get an idea of the prices of the Car Rentals in Delhi. I did not realize when I fell asleep on the bench itself for an hour. When my friends returned from the garden after tending to their toddlers, they clicked photos of me and laughed over me for being a sleeping potato.

Incidents like this make me grasp that I have become a true traveler who does not need the luxuries anymore. There is a huge difference in the interior of my house before and now. Every room in my home used to be chaotic with loads of stuff, which I now understand that I don’t need anymore. I live a minimalistic life and I don’t need to buy expensive things to live a comfortable life.

I am happy to be a traveler at heart. And I intend to be like this for many more years to come!