Experiencing travel: A taste is never enough

Chocolate lava cake at Melbourne’s Lindt Cafe

Travel, like chocolate always leaves you wanting more. With the first bite of chocolate lava cake-I was hooked. Dark chocolate may be my addiction, but travel is my vice. A three-week journey in Israel was the longest I’d ever been on a holiday and it was magical. That trip left an indelible memory in more ways than one. At twenty years of age, it was the first one without family, the first that far overseas, the first on a tour and the start of a journey sparking an interest in travel that was longer than just a few days. After university, backpacking through Europe for five weeks was my next big adventure. Again, longer than the norm of my childhood family travel, it still left me wanting more. Each time, extending a bit, but leaving that lingering need for so much more.

Ask any traveler and they’ll tell you it’s never enough. Two weeks, one month, six months or several years-regardless of quantity, once you’re hooked there’s no turning back. We know we’re lucky to have the option and ability to make the choice to travel, but clearly, a beautiful travel bug has bitten us. There are far worse vices to have in the world, but travel is mine. It’s always on my mind. Planning an adventure, dreaming of one, helping others source one, returning from one or in the middle there’s always travel on my brain. If you ask me ‘how long do I need to visit x’, my answer is ‘how long do you have’? No matter the time frame, travel is always beneficial. When asked, ‘should I go?’, my answer is always a resounding ‘YES’.

‘Round the world travel clinched it for me. Gifted with a year of travel, I’ve never since been the same. I still believe each type of travel has its merits. Whichever kind works for you is the right type. A few days on a beach, up a mountain, or sharing a trek on your favorite hike all offer incredible value. Short stays feed the travel desire and fill the soul with new lessons, perspective and sights, but, there’s something special about extended travel.

That first step into extended travel (whatever that means for you) leaves us longing and wanting more. Trying to return to that one weekend a summer or one week a year holiday no longer feels adequate. After that taste those sick days or weeks of leave are consolidated to put together to form a larger holiday. You go to work with a headache just to know that there will be a few more days to add to that trip. You ask the questions, ‘can I buy a week of leave or can I take leave without pay’ or even consider leaving that job just to have the time to travel. Its pull is often stronger than anything you’ve ever before felt. You look agape at those who even suggest ‘haven’t you gotten it out of your system yet?’ There’s more to see and more to explore. With each trip the list gets longer. Not necessarily the list of sites or destinations, but the desire to experience the wonder and watch in awe as your own perspective changes and eyes widen. It’s not about the boxes to tick or the pins in a map, but the personal journey that’s too good to pass up.

That wonderful chance to attempt life as a local for a short while or to delve a bit deeper into that cultural experience takes hold. There’s something special about long-term travel. The daily routine becomes filled with observing, listening, learning, sharing, tasting, savoring and enjoying. You take the time to stop and hear a person’s story or even share one of your own with a stranger you may never again see or one you’ll soon call friend. You get the opportunity to breathe a different air, meet people you’d never before meet, view with your own eyes and experience that which before was solely an image searched on Google. You’ve jumped into the book and are now your own guide.

How many people ever utter the words, ‘I wish I worked more?’ Once bitten, it’s hard to return. Extended travel is chocolate personified. It’s the best bit of that lava cake. From the first bite you taste, savor, smile and can’t believe how good it is but you know there’s more to come. And then you reach the center, the warm gooey chocolate dances on your taste buds and they are forever changed. Could you possibly imagine returning to a life without more of that fabulous deliciousness?

What was your first taste of travel? How did that jump to long-term travel change you?

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