The Big 150: 16, World – Where in the world do you long to travel? Why?
The Big 150: 16, World – Where in the world do you long to travel? Why?
Man oh man, what a great question for someone who loves to travel. And for someone who’s not one of those “I’ve already been there so I don’t need to go back” types of people. I would love to travel back to Ireland and live there, though I’ve written on this feeling a lot already.
I would happily return to Italy because, of all the places I’ve traveled to, it has (without a doubt, not even a competition, not even close) the greatest food in the world. I loved spending time in Venice, Naples, and Rome, so I would love to revisit all those places and then check a number of other places in Italy off my list. I would also love to revisit Austria because Salzburg was just incredible and I’d love to walk the streets of Vienna again, as well as revisit Scotland because although I’ve been a few times now, it is such a magical place.
I’d love to go surfing again in Costa Rica, spending my mornings and evenings in the water and my days marveling at howler monkeys and sloths (oh, you glorious creatures, you... I just love sloths), and I’d honestly love to go back to St. Petersburg, Russia one day if it’s ever safe to travel there again (I could skip Moscow... felt too much like Manhattan... though I did enjoy my time at Moscow Art Theatre School).
I’ve lived in various places in the US and in Dublin, Ireland, and I have traveled to 40 out of the 50 United States, Canada, Mexico, Finland, Russia, Costa Rica, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Northern Ireland, England, and Scotland.
If I need to think about places I haven’t yet been, then I’d love to travel to Portugal, Wales, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Greece, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Japan, Australia, and Antarctica. Listen, there are very few places I wouldn’t travel, and many that I’m not listing because this list would be unending (which would probably be quite boring for you).
As someone who loves to travel, I think asking ‘why’ is silly, but if I had to answer ‘why,’ it’s because I believe that traveling far and wide and getting lost in a city, in an unfamiliar place, makes you a better person. Traveling stretches your mind, pushes your boundaries, and expands your comfort zone. If there were a feasible way to do what I loved and to also travel for the rest of my life, I’d sign a blood oath tomorrow.
Is there a lesson here? I’m hoping what comes across is that the world is so much bigger than your day-to-day. The more you travel the world, the more you’ll come to find that there are problems everywhere and there are also amazing, kind people everywhere. Travel more if you can. I think some of the best and some of the hardest life lessons I’ve learned (or had to learn) came from my time traveling alone, wandering around places I’d read about as a kid in books from my little local library.
To the world’s museums, artifacts, and dust, and living life always with a touch of wanderlust,
Johny
ICYMI: The Big 150