I recently looked after a house (and four ducks and a dog in the process) for some friends in Germany for three weeks. Despite giving me a wonderful glimpse into Bavarian life and what it would be like to live in this terrific part of the world, it also helped me learn something.
That the small slice of routine that being stationary for three weeks afforded me gave me back my excitement to move on again.
Let me explain.
Back in the day when I used to sit in my office frantically searching for flights to India, New Zealand, Thailand, China (wherever the hell my heart was currently desiring to go), I longed for the day when I would no longer be stuck in a routine. Work, eat, sleep. Work, eat, sleep. That’s all it seemed to be for long stretches of time. And I couldn’t wait to get out into the big wide world and not be stuck to any kind of structure or monotony.
And then I started travelling and as any who have travelled for a long period of time will probably tell you, you get burned out quite quickly. You start to resent the days when you have to pack your backpack up again and move on, just as you had started to enjoy being in a certain city. You dread having to make decisions on where to go next, when all you really want to do is watch TV shows and cook your favourite meal.
And please don’t think that by me saying this that I resent travel or that I don’t enjoy it any more. But sometimes, when it becomes the every day norm, it lacks the shiny excitement it once carried, as things always do.
 |
Which was why the three weeks I spent in Munich was apparently just what I needed. I stopped and took root for a few weeks. I cooked. I had a dog again, and a routine. I had a local pub and would watch TV boxsets or movies every evening.
It was bliss, even though funnily it was very similar to the kind of life I’d been trying to get away from.
But then when the time came to leave, as sad as I was to say goodbye to some of the elements of the lifetsyle I had been enjoying, I was excited to put my backpack back on and start a new adventure; a feeling I hadn’t felt for a while. I didn’t resent having to spend hours on a train to get somewhere new, because I hadn’t done it for a while.
 |
By having a routine for three weeks, I had got back my longing to travel again.
So I guess what it really boils down to is that I needed a break. Not from wonderful new experiences, food and people. But from the exhaustion of not always sleeping in the same bed or speaking the same language, or getting lost. I wanted a semblance of familiarity for a while, and I got it. And it was the best thing I ever did in terms of re-igniting the love for travel I had started this trip with.
Leave a Reply