Travel is Constant Change

Posted on 10. May, 2011 by Steph in Philosophy

“I’m a change addict,” a woman at the Sydney YHA told me as she stuffed clothing into her backpack, “I just love the possibility of new things.”

When you spend enough time in hostels, among other backpackers, the conversation turns to travel a lot. Where you’ve been, where you’re going, how long you’ve been gone, where should I visit in Melbourne, on and on. It’s just what we travel addicts do, talk about travel ad nauseum. Every once in awhile though the conversation touches on something deeper; the nerve of why we travel and the meaning and importance of all this schlepping around. Something about the way those words spilled out of this tiny blonde ladies mouth just made me think “Yes, that’s exactly it.”

She was a fellow American, rare to see in Oz, in her late thirties, on a six week break from real life. Well sort of. She had quit her job back home, broken up with her boyfriend, then taken off to Thailand and Australia for some peace and clarity. She had no idea what she was going back to, but she didn’t seem perturbed. Travel and major life changes went hand in hand for her.

It’s so true, I thought as I sat in the bunk above hers, what IS travel but constant change? New skylines, new food, new friends, even a new bed every few days. What other lifestyle can you think of where you literally have to lay your head down on a new pillow once or twice a week.

A lot of people don’t deal well with changes, and I can understand that too. Change can be scary- you never know if you’re upgrading to something better, or falling into something worse. Purposely changing your life means taking a risk- and making that leap can be hard. Really hard.

You don’t have to love change to travel, but you have to be pretty okay with it. Whether you’re traveling for two weeks or two years, you have to have an openness for learning a new way of living. In time maybe you come to accept this constant change and discovery, to enjoy it, and then one day maybe you find you can’t life without the new and exciting anymore. I think this is the root of many a travel addiction.

photo credit: Phineas H

I’m reminded of an argument I had with a woman I used to work with. Every morning we’d chat about life: personnel changes, boyfriend issues, even just the changing of the seasons.“Change is good,” I would tell her optimistically.

“No,” she would always insist, “change is change.” At the time I thought it was a terribly cynical way of looking at things, but now I think I see what she was getting at. Not all changes are good: illness, losing your job, losing a loved one, so many ways your life can take a turn for the worse.

What I think I was trying to say to her, but couldn’t quite articulate at the time, is that while individual changes aren’t always good, the lessons we take away, and the ways we learn to deal with them, only make us stronger and better people. Even the most horrible changes still contain hidden sparks of possibility. Part of travel, and part of life, is learning to accept changes, good and bad, and to come out on top.

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19 Responses to “Travel is Constant Change”

Cornelius Aesop
10. May, 2011
Change is what we make of it. And like you said, you can take something positive away from a negative, life changing, experience. I think it has a lot to do with perspective and just how you want to perceive it. I’m looking forward to my future changes, I’ve begun counting down…and to me that change isn’t coming soon enough!
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  Sounds like you’ve actually had some awesome life changes lately! But I have to agree, waiting for change can be the worst!
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Flora
10. May, 2011
My husband and I don’t like getting too comfortable with our situation in life, and travel is a good way to “cure” that. Traveling is like one of those choose your own adventure books.
Right now we’re living abroad, but when we have to move back for work-related reasons, we’ll still turn to travel as a way to keep things fresh.
We have learned a lot about ourselves and our relationship through the changes we deal with in life and in travel. I agree with you, it’s a great learning experience.
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  I think maybe travelling also better prepares us to live stationary life in a more exciting way, or to find the ways to make it exciting.
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Annie
10. May, 2011
Great post!
For me, change is a double-edged sword. I hate it when something I love changes or fades and I love seeing a new place. I hate saying goodbye to people but I love meeting new friends.
It almost seems like travel is a way for me to avoid the ‘bad’ change in a static life. Then it brings along its own less desirable changes anyway.
It is an interesting way to look at it but I suppose in the end “change is change” makes a lot of sense because it’s inevitable and hopefully it is something that you will always learn from.
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  That’s an interesting way to put it- by travelling maybe we do get to skip out on some of the slower, more insidious changes of stationary life.
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Global Basecamps Ali
10. May, 2011
Great post! Change is inevitable and I completely agree with you; for me change is great. It keeps life interesting. Like you said, change is not always good but there is usually something to learn from the situation.
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Ana
10. May, 2011
I can totally relate to this article.
Change, whether good or bad, has always been something I’ve embraced. To me it represents an opportunity that its up to us to make the most of. I guess maybe thats why I love travel so much. You never really know what to expect.
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  I think it’s great to embrace change, even if we don’t particularly want it. There’s always an opportunity for improvement in there.
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Alouise
11. May, 2011
Change can be good, bad, or even neutral but it’s a part of life. And like you said, it’s not so much the change itself that’s important as it is how you deal with it.
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Nicole
11. May, 2011
I totally agree with your take away. It’s something I struggle to explain to my parents sometimes with regards to travel. That even though parts of it are hard, parts of it don’t make me happy and life is easier back in the USA, the person it makes you become, or at least makes me to come, is who I want to be. The challenges and the changes, make you who you want to be. Maybe not so for everyone
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  Very, very well said, and something that I think is pretty difficult for people of a different mindset to get.
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Jacinda Green
11. May, 2011
Really like this post. I believe that most of the time, change can end up being good in the long run!
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oliver
12. May, 2011
for me change has always been a good thing so far , the unpredictable future is what makes life interesting
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Pete - Hecktic Travels
12. May, 2011
Change for us definitely makes life exciting. It’s addicting when you choose to embrace it. Sure there are ups and downs of change, but this is living in my eyes. It keeps us wanting to see what the next day will bring.
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  I think that after a few months of travel it becomes really hard to picture a stationary life without all of that exciting change. Part of why travel is so addictive.
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Claire
12. May, 2011
I have to agree with you, change IS good, despite whatever change it is. Because as you already stated, it’s how you handle it and hopefully grow from it that ends up making it a “good” change. Unfortunately, people who do not roll with the punches very well, or those who cannot find it within themselves to view a setback, major or minor, as a way to spark possibility, find change as something to be feared.
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- Steph
  12. May, 2011
  Yes, a lot of it is about cultivating the skills to roll with the punches and deal with change. That’s something that travel is really good practice for.
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Fay
21. May, 2011
I love the challenges of new cultures and making our home in strange places. This kind of change stretches us, teaches us and makes life interesting. Travel junkies like us need the constant change. To stay in one place all our lives doing the same thing everyday is a scarier thought than crossing into an unfamiliar country.
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Travel is Constant Change

19 Responses to “Travel is Constant Change”

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