Caz has a well thought out article on the “travel bubble” so many try to stay inside. The travel bubble most certainly does exist, and it exists for a reason.
Why does it exist?
Well, it starts with this statement:
Real life is fraught with problems, stresses, arguments and unhappiness.
Unfortunately, that’s the truth even though we all wish it weren’t. The truth is most people are not happy. The truth is that where you are born dictates (to a large degree) the life that you will live. The truth is many people in America are spending their lives working at jobs they hate, married to people they don’t love. The truth is people stress way too over things that really don’t matter. Contrary to popular belief, money can’t buy you happiness. But people still go work their lives away — often doing jobs they hate. How and why they do it, I have no clue. Those are all horribly sad realities.
Like Caz, whenever I return home from traveling (for instance, like when I got home from Saint Thomas a week ago), I too see the unhappy everyday lives of self-centered Americans looking to make a buck regardless of what that means to their families and happiness. Traveling is addicting and wonderful; you’re experiencing new people, cultures, and sights on a daily basis –never staying long enough in one spot to break through to the reality underneath. The smiles and endless happiness last long enough to allow you to move to the next location to start the process all over.
But the travel bubble’s strength is also its weakness at the same time — the bubble is not entirely reflective of “reality”.
That said, if you can avoid the problems, stresses, and unhappiness of normal everyday life — I don’t see that as a bad thing like many do. If you can spend your time around happiness instead of sadness — why not do it?
As for me — I’m loving the nomadic lifestyle right now and living in the “travel bubble” if you want to call it that, however, I think I’m going to want to settle down somewhere in a few years. But, until then, I’ll keep floating around in my amazing bubble.
Drew Meyers
Drew Meyers is the co-founder of Horizon & Oh Hey World. He worked for Zillow from September of 2005 to January of 2010 on the marketing team managing Zillow’s API program and various online partnerships. Founder of Geek Estate Blog, a multi-author blog focused on real estate technology for real estate professionals, and myKRO.org, a blog devoted to exploring the world of microfinance. As passionate as you get about travel.
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