INA WO(A)NDERS: Can you travel too much?
“Well, finally we’ve caught up. Tell me, how was the return journey?” After what was probably the most travel-intensive time of my life, an extensive update with my brother was long overdue. I started chatting away enthusiastically. I had the best anecdotes of my road trip from Portugal back to Germany ready: from Wine Nostalgia in the Douro Valley about diving in Atlantic algae forests to Happy Days in a French Community PlaceBut just as my storytelling skills were getting into full swing, he interrupted me: "Ina, I actually meant the journey back from the Caribbean? On a sailboat? You know, the trip that so many sailors fear?" Oops. That's right. There was something there. I, the travelling storyteller, the Karla Kolumna in cool, wild and adventurous, stumbled upon a pause. Very untypically for Ina, I reported, relatively briefly, on how lucky we were with the weather and unlucky with the satellite phone. About two days of calm and how we met our friend Egbert after six days on the high seas. Almost like I used to do in German class, I tried to at least address the most important W-questions in my summary. What was going on?
"Traveling is like watercolor painting"
My theory: traveling is a bit like watercolor painting. If you overdo it and mix too many colors together, you end up with an indefinable brown-gray color - which makes you wonder why you used up the last bits of yellow for that. With every trip, we paint over and paint over the memories of what we have already experienced. Travel moments that we were sure would be burned into our memory forever gradually fade under an ever-thicker layer of attempts to experience even more amazing things. It's a bit like going on an extensive shopping trip while your closet at home is bursting at the seams. And so I, the full-time vagabond who is never really at home, come to the honest conclusion: yes, you can travel too much!
A plea for less travel?
Our climate sees it the same way: according to the WWF, around 8 percent of global greenhouse gases are caused by tourism – and the trend is rising. But don't worry, I don't want to talk anyone out of travelling – least of all myself. However, I would like to agree with the recommendation of journalist and author Maria Kapeller: it's better to travel far away less often, but more intensively. In her book "Lovely planet“ Maria gives suggestions on how we can travel with our hearts and protect the world at the same time and asks big questions: Why do we travel so excessively? What are the consequences? How can we travel in a more environmentally friendly way and grow internally at the same time? I definitely recommend reading it!
A tip to make trips “last longer”
Anyone who is prepared to travel less often after reading Maria's book will naturally want to ensure that the trips we take "last longer", fulfill us longer, and have a more sustainable effect. To make this happen, I have a very secret tip for you: write about it! For me, every blog article about my visits to our Good Travel accommodations is a celebration of the experience, with letter confetti and colorful pictures. Whether at Ignasi in Hevresac in MenorcaWherein Guillaume and Antje in the Convento Olhao, near Sara and Michael at Gut Neuwerk in the Eifel or at Luca in Sicily – I can always bring back memories of these wonderful people and places by reading the articles again. Do you have any other tips on how we can enjoy a trip for longer? I am always happy to receive feedback, suggestions or questions – please leave a comment or send an email to [email protected].
© Photos: unsplash / Brian Mann, Fons Heijnsbroek Abstract Art, K&S Verlag Maria Kapeller
Ina Hiester
Ina is a digital nomad and travels through Europe by land and sea. The journalist is always on the lookout for special places for Good Travel, philosophizes about travel in her column, takes photographs, makes music and writes articles on all kinds of environmental and sustainability topics.
3 Comments
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Old Man
Hello Ina,
good and important topic!
Yes, you can have/do too much of anything, certainly more than ever these days. It is all the more important — as you write — to *celebrate* your own experiences, to be aware, to reflect, to enjoy them again and again (at least the positive experiences... :)). This applies not only to traveling, but to life as a whole. Otherwise you rush through it, breathless and rushed, killing one impression with another, but in the end nothing remains.
Therefore, any means are acceptable to experience your experiences as intensely as they deserve, to internalize them and to retain them. Specifically: I have all my travel photos on a USB stick that is plugged into a display opposite my favorite chair. Instead of distracting myself with Pinterest, Instagram or somewhere else, I switch the display on as often as I like, in random mode, and have my old and new travel photos presented to me.
This is always a very unique cocktail of emotions; old memories are awakened, new ones are burned into the mind, thoughts develop, and so the experiences become present, real and lasting.
Actually, that's the most important thing: to *take with you* as many good experiences as possible from this life - not just to "tick them off", but to live through them, internalize them, and always have them with you.
Your article sums it up very well using the example of travel. Thank you!
S.
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Ina Hiester
Good morning S.,
That's a really nice idea with the photos! Reminiscing about your own memories is definitely much healthier than envying other people on Instagram and the like and their experiences. Great tip, thank you!
Ina
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Johanna Volk
Because I have rarely been able to travel over the last 15 years for financial and family reasons, I enjoy it all the more when I do go away, even if it is only for a few days. There are all kinds of beautiful places to discover within Germany too. This year I was able to get to know Alsace a little and it was beautiful there, a touch of France and yet very German/Palatinate in the way it was built and its originally German past. This environment with the view of the Black Forest from Mont Odile was simply wonderful. I think I store the memories more vividly because of it. But I also have very fond memories of my trip to the USA in the early 90s when I was just 20 years old, when I lived in Florida in Miami and temporarily in Orlando for 5 1/2 months. This was an experience I will never forget. I am so happy that I have at least been able to get back in touch with my former American family and the eldest son, whom I met in my original home village in the Hunsrück when I was 15 because they needed a babysitter, on Facebook. Then the 3 weeks in Florence to actually learn Italian (among the students from all over the world we spoke more in English) were also a special travel experience at the age of 26 and I would like to see this city and surrounding area again. Or the following year 3 weeks in Sicily were also beautiful but the temperatures were too hot for me in August even though the sea was very close. When I was young and single, traveling was an adventure for me. Nowadays, traveling is about finding a break from everyday life, switching off and finding new inspiration. A day at Lake Constance is always valuable for me too, as we live in the Tübingen district and it is not too far to drive there and there are also beautiful spots in my area between the Alb and the Black Forest. For me, the Kinzig Valley in the Black Forest is always worth a day trip every year, or just to visit my relatives in the Freiburg area. I tell myself that you don't necessarily have to travel so far, even if I do feel like it from time to time...at some point I will definitely travel to England or Italy or the South of France again. Everything in its own time and I believe that less (travel) is more (value). At least that's how I feel...