Travel is what I live for. It’s enticing, mysterious and, if I dare say, addictive. Wandering through wide open spaces and discovering new experiences all pique my curiosity. Even the most enthusiastic traveller can sometimes run into a dead-end. Running into a dead-end can be completely unexpected, unwanted and even inconvenient. These dead-ends, as much as they’re undesirable to travellers, can be timely. So how can we travel when we don’t feel like travelling? How can we keep that constant in our lives without losing faith that we’ll lose our wanderlust? How can we break down the bricks and mortar in front of us so we can continue our travel ambitions?
Take a much needed rest
A dead-end in our travels may mean we’re tired, even burned out or fatigued. Take this time in our travel to rest the body and mind. If you’re tired or fatigued, you’re not at your best and you’re not able absorb the benefits of travel such as gaining new knowledge, experiencing a new culture or widening our awareness. Travel burnout does exist and can happen anytime, and it doesn’t do anyone good (I’ve previously written on my own experiences about travel fatigue if you want to read more about this). Rest any way you can, by taking extended sleep, eating nourishing and healthy vegan food, drinking lots of water and disconnecting from devices. If you have enough energy to do it, pack your car and head to the nearest B&B for a restful and rejuvenating weekend.
Plan a smaller scale trip
If it’s not the right time for that big travel adventure, opt for a smaller scale trip. Rather than a lengthy journey, plan a daytrip to an unexplored part of your city or go for a bushwalk with a picnic lunch packed in your backpack. If you can’t be bothered to venture past your front door, take a ‘staycation’ of sorts and set up your travel within your home. Spend the day or weekend cooking some new recipes, host a morning tea with your friends or simply tuck into a good book while sipping your favourite beverage. Just to give you a wide-ranging list of inspirational local travel ideas that I’ve written about, specific to Melbourne, you can do some extensive reading here.
Let someone else do the planning
If you don’t feel like travelling, it may be because of the amount of time and effort it takes to actually plan a trip. If this is the case for you, then remove the planning out of the equation and let someone else do the planning for you. Book through a travel agent, travel concierge or tour company, or ask a travel buddy or relative you’re travelling with to take charge. Then you may be able to take a backseat; all you will need to do is hand over your cash, pack your bag and turn up.
Have you ever experienced that feeling of not wanting to travel? How did you keep travel in your life, despite the lack of motivation or energy to go? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below and your tips on how you’ve dug yourself out of this feeling and maintained travel in your life.
