Don’t come fly with me

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen people hear about the experiences you have on a year abroad or even hear about the fact that you’re abroad at all, their first reaction is jealousy. “You’re so lucky”, they say, because travelling is something different, something that they aren’t doing. Simply because they’re not doing it, they wish they could.

I do feel lucky because I’ve been able to travel to so many amazing places but, I want to say to anyone reading this who stayed in England last year, I’m jealous of you too. There are positives and negatives to everything and it’s the negatives you tend to focus on.

My friends who stayed in the UK didn’t seem to realise the benefits of that, just as I don’t always appreciate the benefits of being abroad. I enjoyed it but I’ll be the first to admit that, in the back of my mind, July couldn’t come too soon.

Travelling is something different, something that they aren’t doing. Simply because they’re not doing it, they wish they could.

I am someone who feels comfortable in an environment they know and, although I’ve been able to tick lots of things off my bucket list, I love being back at Warwick. I’m surrounded by the people I know and the campus I am used to. Change can seem exciting, but it can also be unsettling.

Social media has changed perceptions of travel. Seeing filtered photos of other people’s travels on social media means that travel becomes this itch you just can’t scratch.
Young people travel now more than ever and with things like inter-rail you can discover new places relatively inexpensively.

For every place I’ve been someone has been somewhere ten times better, or at least that’s how it feels. When someone else is doing something, it always seems more exciting. The world is so diverse that there will always be new photos or stories that you come across on social media and then want to add to your bucket list. For example, I’ve always wanted to go to Canada, as I’ve only ever been to Europe and my friend was able to fly to Canada, then took a road trip through America. Looking at their photos, somehow my travels didn’t compare.

Seeing filtered photos of other people’s travels on social media means that travel becomes this itch you just can’t scratch.

Social media encourages comparison; in the same way that seeing photos of clothes you really want, or someone with a body you really want may leave you feeling dissatisfied, it’s the photos of people doing hot air balloon rides in the sunset, or seeing rare animals up close that sparks that jealousy in me. That desire for something different, something better.

This lack of satisfaction can be damaging though. It’s good to have goals and want to try new things but you have to keep it in perspective. I’m definitely guilty of never being satisfied, but I also think that happiness is more important than achieving arbitrary goals which may seem important on a superficial level, but don’t feature when you think about what really makes you happy.

Is it saying you’ve been to a certain place, or is it things that people have said and done and the memories that you have shared with them that stand out? I know which one it is for me. So from now on, I will try to keep my fixation with new places under control and focus on the things that really matter. It’s easy to want what you can’t have, but I’ve learnt it’s about the memories and friends you make and not the places you’ve been to that matter. If you’re anything like me, those are the things that really make you smile.