Why Travelling Is Overrated

Image credit: Skitterphoto

Nearly everyone loves the idea of travelling: getting on a plane, visiting a new country, a change of scenery and an escape from everyday life.

For some, it’s the idea of endless beach days and non-stop partying that appeals; for others scenic views and excursions. Others like to experience different city cultures, whilst there are people who like to go on holiday purely to experience more settled weather.

Whatever the reason, I do think it’s good for people to explore other places: it not only builds character being in an unfamiliar environment, but opens you up to new experiences and potentially meeting new people.

I’ve always been the type of person who only visits a destination because I really want to go there. However, in modern-day times with people endlessly bragging about their overseas escapades via social media, a lot of people find themselves going on holiday just to keep up with the Joneses.
They have no real, genuine desire to see that particular place, they just go because it’s something for them to do, to feel like they’re involved.

This amuses me because (and this might be a testament to getting old), travelling isn’t exactly fun.

The process of getting from A-to-B is exhausting in itself, even in your home city where everything’s familiar, because you’re jetting-off from airports which are in remote locations so it always feels like a mission to get there. The whole process takes at least a day…and then there’s the return journey to look forward to.

En route, there's potential delays, the whole strict process of going through airport security and dealing with your luggage not to mention annoying or inconsiderate plane passengers. Once you arrive at your destination, there's that period of having to adjust to a new place and settle in, often marred by even more annoying hotel guests or unhelpful hotel staff.

Most people are nice and friendly when you travel, but as someone’s who’s been abroad quite a fair bit, I’ve also experienced some real a**holes on holiday.

If you go on holiday to relax and escape everyday stresses, this doesn’t always end up happening especially if you go somewhere with lots to do. There’s also the dreaded feeling as your holiday draws to a close, thinking about everything you have to catch-up on when you return to your life back home.

I recently came back from a lovely but tiring holiday recently, so this article might be a little biased and may also sound a little ungrateful - a lot of people would love the opportunity to be able to go abroad.

However, in less than a year I’ve been to Crete, Northern Ireland, London and Madeira. This is after I didn’t go anywhere that required much travel for almost 3 years.

The travel opportunities all just happened to come about in quick succession but sometimes it can be too much of a good thing, especially if your job is hectic and your holidays from work end up being hectic too; you end up feeling like you need another holiday just to recover.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m far too curious about other places and cultures for me to give up going abroad altogether. But unless it’s somewhere I really want to go, it’s just not worth the hassle. I think you definitely appreciate visiting new places more if you don't do it as frequently.

It's difficult to say no when opportunities arise though - it's just typical it all happens at once.