I confess! I have an addiction...

It's been a week since I returned from Puerto Rico. In four days I leave again.

I have to admit it…I have an addiction.

My life slowly becomes stale when the scenery doesn’t change. Without travel experiences, I struggle to find any excitement in my life. Without excitement, boredom takes over. Once boredom takes over I become a zombie slowly limping through what could be a marvelous life. Trust me, I am not exaggerating! Or am I…? NO! Because whenever I spend more than a year without changing my setting my eyes become dull and negative speech takes over my tongue. I stop feeling like myself…

I’ve told people that I need to leave the country at least once a year to keep my sanity. I still don’t know why this happens to me!

One of my friends recently posted an article on becoming a minimalist and how it can help people save money. I told her that I like that lifestyle but that the money I end up saving is spent on experiences. I guess some people are shopaholics, hoarders of physical items...then there’s people like me. I hoard memories and experiences. I can’t say one is better or worse than the other. I think both can be equally bizarre and maybe dangerous. Why do I need those experiences to feel that my life is complete…is it not complete without those experiences? It should be!

BUT NO! I crave experiences! Even when I feel sheltered and scared, I crave a change of scenery, a trip to someplace I’ve never been to. Just to set the record straight the experiences I seek are not usually extreme adventures…I don’t think I’ll ever sky dive or bungee jump off a cliff…but I will ride an unofficial taxi to take me from Negril to Montego Bay or to take me from the airport to my hotel in the Czech Republic. (Yeah, I might not do that again…)

Here’s the thing, you won’t walk into whatever corner of the world I call home and find a collection of figurines or stamps or whatever...and if you ask me about my trips I probably won’t show you many pictures (because in my 20s I relied on my brain to remember those experiences …I thought pictures never come out as good as my photographic memory, I’m realizing in my 30s that that’s bullshit!)

But if you ask me about my trip I will tell you about how the coastal Puerto Rican salty breeze can caress your skin and taste on your lips. I’ll make you laugh describing how hard my heart was pounding when I thought I was going to die hiking Península de Osa in Costa Rica (without any physical training and after a few days of extreme rainfall). Your mouth will water as I describe the taste of falafels in Bethlehem or detail the taste of real Italian cuisine. You’ll even make fun of me when I tell you about the second time I went snowboarding…I fell on my face and my bloody nose temporarily stained the snowy Swiss Alps.

My next stop is New Zealand and the nervous excitement I currently sense is what I travel for. Without my travel stories I would not be myself. Yeah…I’m a travel junkie who doesn’t dedicate enough time to the extraordinary art of travelling.

#addictedtotravel