I'm sure many reading this column share with me a healthy dose of wanderlust.
As the name suggests, it's defined as a "strong longing for or an impulse towards wandering". In fact, it derives from the German of the Middle Ages, combining "wandern" to hike and "lust" meaning desire. So it originally meant setting off with purpose, rather than meandering aimlessly, as "wander" in English suggests.
The Germans now have an even more colourful word, "fernweh", meaning "far-sickness", which is an intense urge for self-development by seeking the unknown and confronting unknown cultures.
When this becomes excessive, it's a psychological illness known as dromomania, or travelling fugue, which is an uncontrollable psychological urge to wander. There also exists a condition called ambulatory automatism, walking around without being in control of one's actions.
I would say that travel writers do develop a kind of travelling fugue, where they can hardly bear to stay at home, no matter how gruelling the preceding trip has been. I was away almost every month this past year and yet, during the few weeks at home, I read jealously of other colleagues' travels, started to feel fidgety and panicked that I would never go anywhere again.
I don't think the body ever gets used to the constant changes in time zones and weather, and the seemingly endless standing in line, flying in artificial climates and adjusting to hotel airconditioning, but the mind does latch onto the routine of packing and unpacking, driving to and from airports, and checking in and out of accommodation. That becomes the norm.
Most of my travel is for a purpose, and I think that's the case for most people who take trips for business or leisure. The very necessity of booking flights and accommodation means we have to decide where we are going. Students taking a gap year, self-employed people, academics on sabbatical and so-called grey nomads have more luxury with time. They can discover what it is to wander.
This year, I spent a month in Portugal and Spain, working every day on photo shoots and hunting down lists for a guide. When I returned home, I felt I'd never been away. On a busy schedule, I hadn't dared take a day, or two or three, to simply hang out, follow my nose, get lost, meet people who weren't on the schedule.
I would have loved to have spent half a day just sitting in a garden, piazza or wine bar, watching the world go by. I didn't feel I really connected with any of the places because I hadn't given myself time to relax into them. I was working, so I accepted it, but it made me reflect on how much we miss when we try to control the agenda too much.
Any kind of travel provides surprises, challenges, expectations and teaches you something new, but if you don't spend some time actually wandering without purpose you may confine your experiences to what you expect and what you already know.
The temptation to plan and prepare is strong, especially when you're spending the big dollars international travel requires. It feels good to go away with a printed itinerary folded in your travel wallet. And there are so many published guides, digital and in print, as well as a universe of travel blogs, that it's not difficult to become an expert before you go.
That's why I'm not a fan of TV travel shows. Reading about a destination is one thing, but being immersed in the place in a virtual way and seeing the sights through the filter of a commentator means there's not much left to surprise you when you actually set foot on the spot.
I'm not suggesting that travellers don't research a destination. (That's why we're here at Traveller, after all.) But an open mind and open heart is key. I try to read a work of fiction or a memoir set in the place where I'm going – these books give you the flavour of a place without revealing everything.
This time of the year, with so many people on the move, I'd like to think that every traveller gives himself or herself a bit of space, physical as well as psychological, to go somewhere unplanned, take an unexpected turn, follow a whim, look and listen without prejudice and, by taking the path less travelled, discover something new about the world and themselves.
