Why do we travel?
it seems like everyone is traveling nowadays... Shall we revisit why we travel anyways?
This tweet made the rounds recently on Twitter saying that July 7th was one of the busiest day for commercial aviation, meaning people on commercial flights going somewhere was at its all time high! Apparently they tracked 134,000 flights in one day, but can I be honest…as someone who doesn’t know a single thing about air travel and its logistics, that number felt very small. Regardless, it was the busiest day for air travel and it stirred up some conversation!
I’m not here to say “We should travel less.” Honestly, I don’t know at this point by traveling less will help our environment anyways. Of course, I know that air travel and all transportation eliminates most of the CO2 in the world and is causing climate crisis, but also just because we travel less, that’s not going to solve the big picture. (Although, of course it will help and if there must be any air travel restrictions from now on, not for a pandemic sake but for the environment’s sake, I’ll be happily on board with that. You see what I did there?) I’m rather more interested in “Why is literally everyone traveling all the time now?” Is it simply just for pleasure? to take a break? to show off wealth? not have much going on? In any case, it just seems like a lot right?
During the pandemic, we get it, none of us could go anywhere so we had to escape to our near farm or local garden or whatever that gave us the ‘getaway’ energy - my god we were so desperate during those times right? Please please please, never again. But it’s nearly been 2 years I would say from air travel not having any restrictions and people being able to travel as freely as they want. I thought last year was peak, because it was essentially the first year after most of the countries allowing all tourists coming in and out, and full tourism was back on board. (* how many more puns am I going to make of these?) There was a thing going on on Twitter I remember that “Everyone was in Italy” at that time. From the looks of it, it seems like everyone is still at it in full swing, despite!!! that the news is telling us that people are getting laid off and we are in a economic crisis as well? (like either everyone does have a lot of savings just like me, or there’s just endless money somewhere. It will forever be a mystery.)
I’m also one of them as well you know!! I traveled a lot this year already. I’ve already travelled internationally twice this year, and went to Kyoto. I usually do one international travel during golden week, and if I’m lucky, one in the summer but two has always been a luxury of money and time. I think not worrying about when I can travel has been a huge prompt for me to travel rather spontaneously. But then the thing is … it’s peak summer and I have no plans whatsoever to go anywhere, and if I may, I feel like I’m coming down with a ‘fear of missing out’ diagnosis. Why do I even travel this much anyways?
My intentions on traveling used to be simply enjoying the solitude in a foreign country and making new friends, but now it seems like I’m running away from something - I don’t want to be home because it makes me sad and as a result, I bolt to a country without a plan really.
When I went to Vietnam, there were multitude of reasons but I stayed longer because of fear - I didn’t want to feel alone from home and see people having fun elsewhere from my screen. There’s a lot of things that can be said here. I can stop looking at Instagram, which I did actually when I was traveling and some friends even noticed that I wasn’t on Instagram. (Funny how that’s the new ‘you there?’) I’m also lying for saying that I’m alone, because of course I can reach out to other friends of mine but here I am *assuming* that they might be busy and doing something else, I’m pretty good at sulking in my own pity if you haven’t noticed by now. If I’m being completely honest with myself, I think I didn’t want to come back to a city where I felt like I wasn’t needed. I have plenty of friends in Tokyo but I also feel pretty useless sometimes. When I was working at a company, it felt like they needed me, that I was wanted. Now, working for myself, I’m all alone in this, which I signed up for so not complaining! but it is something I think about often. I don’t need to go back home, no one is waiting for me and that kind of makes me sad. This is probably also why it pains me sometimes to see other people traveling with their partners as well.
Probably insecure, probably codependent and probably terrified of being alone any longer.
When I finished reading Happy Hour by
I found a passage that was really relatable.I do not like coming home because it is the only place I am unsure of myself - Being alone with myself is being alone with my memories.
There’s a lot of things that makes traveling a learning experience. I traveled alone so many times, I love my traveling version self: the grit I have is astonishing. There is really nothing I can’t do. Holding a 27kg suitcase up a five flights of small stairs in an apartment in Florence? Sure! Done that. My passport was not expired but was within three months of expiration date and I wasn’t able to fly out? Sure! No problem! I can keep calm, go up to the viewing deck and sort myself and renew my passport online without even shredding a tear or freaking out, so much. There is really no time to cry or act pissy in time of a crisis when you are truly alone. Partners have it really good you know, and I sometimes think that they don’t know how good they have it. You have no idea how easy it is if you just have someone right there with you helping you out. This isn’t even coming from jealousy, it just angers me sometimes if they not know how remarkably comforting it is to have someone there.
And now, here I am on my birth month, thinking of when I should travel again and if I should host a birthday trip with my friends again - not for the sake of showing off people online but to genuinely have a good time with my friends. I’m here to check my intentions on traveling again. I hope for myself that I can bring back that truth of traveling like I did before - counting the blessings of being alone, immersed with my thoughts, and I can be a sured and confident women once again in a foreign country.
Cultural recommendations
READS📕
・‘I Have No Choice but to Keep Looking’ This is a riveting read on a man still searching for this wife after the 2011 tsunami in Tohoku.
・The reason why I came across the article above is because I saw a call-for-pitch on SEA by the feminist food journal and saw that they there’s a film made about Tsunami ladies here. It looks fascinating. I would love to watch it but I don’t know how I can get my hands on it. Three Chilean women who experienced a tsunami and survived and three Japanese women who survived the tsunami as well, connect through food. They meet in Japan and we see a relationship develop not through language, but the sea that took away many lives.
・The work of happiness words by May Sarton. as seen on
‘s newsletter.I thought of happiness, how it is woven
Out of the silence in the empty house each day
And how it is not sudden and it is not given
But is creation itself like the growth of a tree.
No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark
Another circle is growing in the expanding ring.
・Why Sarah Jessica Parker Keeps Playing Carrie Bradshaw
・So You’re Going on a Trip You Can’t Afford
Listen/Podcasts🎧
・Thank me later, found a fab playlist from soulection here
・Amelia Dimoldenberg was on Dualipa’s podcasts and I enjoyed her honest conversation on this one as well. What is it with Dualipa’s voice? Why is it so smooth and lovingly?
・A friend of mine, or should I say a guy I went on a date twice, we still keep in contact and he sometimes texts me stuff about Stanley Tucci. Is that …kind of romantic? Stanley Tucci was on Desert Island Discs and OF COURSE, his recommendations are like Mozart and Tchaikovsky!! We stand with you Tucci!
・Jon Ronson in conversation with Dolly Alderton on BBC radio4. (lots of BBC themed stuff going on here) . Good news to the Jon Ronson fans, he’s apparently creating season 2 for Everything fell apart! Can’t wait. Oh and one good question from the crowd that was towards both of them asking, how do you deal with negative criticism on the internet?” and Dolly answered,
“engaging too much with negativity is not only a threat to my mental health but it’s a huge threat on my work because I don’t ever want to ever be making something from a place of defensiveness or self-consciousness.
・Thank me fucking later again!! It’s summer, that means it’s LANY TIME!! Prepping for their new album, they released a new song last week and I loooove this stripped version of Love at first fight.
・This surely isn’t a new song, but I’m loving this earthy song by RIMON 20/20
・Bookshelfie was back and I didn’t notice! They have brilliant episodes for people who love all things books, and I had a listen on the Emma Gannon episode, which I subscribe to her
newsletter as well.Watch🎞️
・Return to Seoul
If you are a third culture kid reading this, you will without doubt love it. The narrative is focused on a French Korean girl coming to Korea finding her birth parents, but actually I thoroughly enjoyed the cross cultural displays and how whimsically French she was the whole time in a VERY Korean setting. It really makes you think, all the things you are and not. (This is probably not my words, I saw it on some review but it stuck with me.)
・Best Interests
I watched this show on BBC iplayer because firstly, I saw Sharan Horgan, so I was sold, secondly it looked like a serious show and I thought she mostly only does comedy-stuff? So then I was more intrigued. It’s sad, their child is disabled and is coming to a point where they have to do decided what’s in the daughters ‘best interests.’ (Cleaver title that)
I have some exciting news coming SOON! The newsletter is finally getting a redo! Can’t wait and as always, thank you thank you thank you for reading. Just having a single person reading it, means the EARTH to me. bisou x Megumi