The Addiction of Travel
Dune 9, Namibia
Kayak recently sent me a round of my travel data. In the last year I’ve been in 18 countries across 5 continents. I’ve traveled more than 150,000 miles. My work tends to keep me on the move… but don’t forget — we manifest our lives. I have stayed on the move as I have loved being on the move. Whether running to or from something, the constant action has allowed me to heal a lot of symptoms and long ignore the underlying pain.
Then 2020. My word of the year is FOCUS. I started the year in Seoul, South Korea and then came back to East Africa for a bit of on-site work and plenty of #WfH with a few beach and swim breaks. I’ll take you through more about Seoul and the start of the year in later posts. I chose FOCUS as my word to increase my awareness of myself. I chose FOCUS to better know who I am and why I am. I chose FOCUS to know that I was purposefully and knowingly creating the life I love and deeply want. I chose FOCUS to start to see all of those little things that are so much easier seen and criticized in others yet desperately need to be loved and embraced within myself.
And now, I wouldn’t say I’m stuck, trapped or quarantined as life is generally continuing as normal here, for now. This virus, however, is deeply on my mind. Its implications not pointing to my health but to the health of the planet. Being grounded is forcing me to confront one my biggest addictions, travel. With 150,000 flight miles, all in economy, I’m looking at 180 square meters of arctic ice that I’ve personally melted. Check the math (thanks NY Times). Every 2,500 miles flown in economy equates to enough carbon emissions to melt 3 sq meters of arctic ice. I can take all that being green talk and shove it with emissions like this!
I came across this statistic while perusing the latest COVID-19 news and pondering the level of pandemic panic I should be pursuing. More than a fear of the Coronavirus, is my fear of myself and the virus I am for the planet.
Toward the middle of last year, I started traveling with a water bottle, copper cup and my own food as to avoid using plastic on flights. Many cups, cutlery and single-use food containers have been saved. While admirable, this is equivalent to an Amazon Prime user feeling grand about himself by recycling the boxes and packaging from the plentiful, individually packaged items ordered weekly. Ok, I’m much worse than that, because…jet fuel. Ohhhhh but one more excuse, at least I wasn’t flying business!
Unlike my food addiction which I’m dominating right now (read more next week in the cooking section!), knowing how terrible I am and actually doing something about it are two totally different things. Why? #lifestyle. I’m thousands of miles away from the people that I love, no matter where I am. And at 36, I’ve developed a sense of comfort popping in and popping out as work and the next, great destination call. What’s more than that is a deep nagging within me, a small voice seeking external validation for my right to be here. Travel feeds all of this. It scares me, thrills me, develops me, pushes me and helps me to better see me as I see, well, all of it.
It looks like I’m grounded for a while. And though I’m not quite ready to fully lay down my roots, I’m ready to explore the idea of rooting in much more depth. What do I truly need? What am I chasing? What’s being chased? As I remain still for at least a month longer than I’d anticipated, I’m ready to plant some seeds and watch them grow. What about you?
