I don’t like to travel

Traveling comes from the old French and means « suffering or painful effort », it is far from our nowadays perception of it.

If you ask someone, anyone, their definition will probably be closer to going on vacation or taking a holiday. Yet, when we talk about travel we should be aware it could represent many different things and take many different forms depending on your origin, ethnicity, culture, or class.

Every year, my parents would bring us to France to go camping. More than just being affordable and family-friendly, this kind of vacation was in trend back then. 

As I grew older my expectations of traveling changed. I took my first plane at 16 and started craving friends' group vacations, city trips, experienced backpacking and solo traveling. I loved all those news adventures!

Why am I telling you all of this? Because at that time I thought it was my things, my kind of travel. I was wrong. 

While I was traveling, all I was thinking of was: how productive those trips had to be. I was constantly organizing and experiencing those with the idea I would be there only once so I had to see everything. Sightseeing was my main preoccupation. This can’t be further away from my actual travels. 

The shift started when I left Europe to go live in Seoul, South Korea. My first time outside Europe. From August 2022 until this day, I have traveled more than I ever did. I have discovered more than just tourist sites but new languages, new cultures, and an all-new world of possibilities, without forgetting a new way of traveling: the slow travel.

I have found many hidden places, far from the tourist crowds and I have learned to enjoy the unexpected. 

One of those places I found myself always going back to in South Korea, was this temple lost in the middle of the mountain, huge and so beautiful. Very few people were visiting it, mostly Koreans. It was lost in time, with only monks’ mantras and birds' chants to disturb the quietness. Most people have FOMO while traveling in South Korea and decide to visit mostly cities. But beyond the cities, the country is beyond words. Getting lost in the Korean countryside, showed me the world is wider than I thought and is hiding his most interesting secrets far from the crowd’s sight. 

When I came back in Europe, I had a completely different way to organize my trips yet very similar. My goal wasn’t to sightsee anymore but to wander. I am now seeking beauty in everyday life. Seems boring, doesn't it? It’s not, not for me. 

I am still keeping time for those « must see » but I am trying not to pressure myself with a « I will never come back » spirit. 

Even tho, we all have a different way of experiencing traveling, this is not set in stone. Do not see the past as part of another life or in a nostalgic way, your life is changing as you evolve, and this is how you learn to know yourself better.