How many times have you heard this? I've said it more than a thousand times and it never elicits the response I expect. I always think people will be excited to hear about my passion. For god's sake, I'm a traveler! But it rarely works out that way. I usually get a dull acknowledgement and we move on to some other small talk subject. Why aren't they happier for me? I've decided that it's for two reasons. First of all, people equate travel with an escape from their every day life (I'm on vacation!). Secondly "I love to travel" is a pretty poor representation of why we enjoy going to new places. So here's what I really mean...
In our society, vacation is a word that has always come with the stigma of escape. It's that golden week that we planned ahead for, where we don't have to drive to work, we don't have to take orders (except for maybe a spouse) and we sure as hell don't have to get out of bed in the morning. It's like summer break, when we were in school, but compressed into a week or two. The problem is that we spend most of that time dreading the return. It's never long enough and we always look back wondering where it went. Said plainly, it's not fulfilling.
When Kailah and I take that invaluable week off from work, we plan adventures. We go places that we have never gone, and do things that we have never experienced. We bathe mistreated elephants in Thailand, we eat crepes in Paris, we swim with dolphins in Jamaica, we tour vineyards in Tuscany and we drink Guinness with the Irish in their pubs. This allows us to continue to grow and move forward, instead of pause time to escape from it all. I can honestly say that when I return from a trip abroad and I walk into work on Monday morning, my energy and motivation is through the roof (despite minimal sleep). Learning and experiencing are extremely powerful motivators for us. And trust me, we find plenty of time abroad for rest and relaxation. We just mix it in with culture and experience. That is what we mean when we say "I love to travel".