When will I be able to travel normally again?
First of all, it is convenient, as we did years ago, to define “dromomania”: excessive inclination or pathological obsession to move from one place to another. If you are reading this it is because, once again, you feel more than identified with this term, as well as you are also considering how to curb that intense travel addiction.
Do you remember when you were able to catch two trains and a flight in the same week? What about those times when it was possible to wake up in three different destinations in the same month?
The nomadic life, the best life...
We also miss hotel breakfasts and, of course, their soft beds; check flights knowing that borders will not be a problem ; delight ourselves with new landscapes; feel far, far away from home...
While for some “travel” was synonymous with “work”, for others it was a way to escape the routine, a lifestyle or even a potpourri of all of it. But, be that as it may, if there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that its pre-pandemic meaning provokes us , without any exception, homesickness in abundance
“Traveling is one of the greatest sources of relaxation and oxygenation that we have today. And I am referring to traveling in any of its aspects, whether it is going to a mountain near your house to go hiking, travel to Japan for 15 days or have a picnic on your favorite beach” says the psychologist Jaime Burque, from the firm Hodgson & Burque.
“The coronavirus is not only generating negative emotions in us, how anxiety, frustration, fear or insecurity. It's also taking us away sources of positive emotions as relaxation, illusion or joy. And traveling is one of them. he points him.
In my case, packing my suitcase and heading to another city was pure therapy. And to María Fernández, editor-in-chief of Traveler.es , it seems that also:
“Pick up the suitcase, go out and breathe, it helps to put everything in perspective. It helped me to balance, to vent and, above all, to spend quality time with myself. And get to know, open your mind, learn, fill yourself with stimuli... Traveling makes you tolerant. I would say smarter (at least emotionally), even,” she confesses.
"Travel is EVERYTHING"
“Traveling is EVERYTHING”, second David Moralejo, director of Condé Nast Traveler Spain. “Not long ago I wrote that the best thing about the trip is the emotion , plan a new notch on the map or the opposite, don't plan it and improvise. It is to look for nearby paradises, feel the knot in your stomach when you get to the other side of the planet... It is living life with the intensity and immensity that it deserves, ”he continues.
María Fernández also tells us about the emotion involved in discovering a new destination: “I miss the wow factor, the fact that a place slaps you in the face, as happened to me in Albania, which every day taught me a history lesson, of tolerance. or like that road trip of almost a month along the West Coast , stopping in towns where nothing happens, where there is nothing”.
For its part, Diego Martínez and Yago Castromil, photographers and regular contributors to Condé Nast Traveler Spain, believe that traveling is a way of “reoxygenate creativity” Y "a constant source of inspiration" , respectively.
“There is nothing like feeling for the first time in a place, discovering something at every step. I am passionate about having to tell what I am living through my images, meet new people and cultures says Diego Martinez.
In short, and in the words of Yago Castromil, we yearn for: "Make an unknown place our home for a while."
Sequoia National Park (California, USA)
Currently, being aware of what is the more than justified reason why the presses have stopped right now, we have focused on taming those irrepressible travel urges. Tourism is all of us, and first we must take care of ourselves.
“I have adapted to the new normal without any drama because my family is healthy. And that's it. That I can not travel during a season? But isn't knowing your city travelling? I think that thinking of the trip as going to Indonesia to do an island hopping is a serious mistake. More so now, that the environment, nature, the Earth, is screaming at us to stop”, says María Fernández. And what reason.
Of course, singing the mea culpa, I confess that I have been feeding my soul for months with memories of past voyages, publishing #latergrams from when I walked by Budapest, Prague or Vienna ; when he savored Fez; when I breathed the salty scent of the Azores; when I discovered Milan in 48 hours; or when I did my first road trip through La Palma.
When will I get my lifestyle back? I don't know if the uncertainty caused by not having an answer or the burden of conscience that invades me every time I ask this question.
“I have seen many patients very touched by this issue and in this sense You have to remove any trace of guilt, because since we are worn out and without sources of relaxation, we are going to try to save ourselves an emotion as destructive as it is useless”.
Poris de Candelaria, La Palma
“I think that now we can start talking from a realistic optimism that allows us to look ahead in another way. Six months ago we lived in a kind of false optimism that, not being based on any reality, came to harm us. Vaccines advance unstoppably and that allows us to see the future with more oxygen”, says the psychologist.
During the quarantine, it sometimes seemed to me that the city had become a setting worthy of a science fiction movie like The Truman Show.
To this day, sometimes I think that if I reach out the window, I will be able to touch the canvas that someone has placed there as a sky. Nevertheless, everything is as real (and as surreal) as a Magritte painting.
I believe that being compassionate with our emotions, no matter how ridiculous they may seem, is a first step to being able to properly manage the context in which we find ourselves. But, who better than Jaime Burque to talk to us about it: “Let us accept our situation, our sensations as much as we can and look forward with enthusiasm. Surely soon we will travel and enjoy it like never before”.
'La Clef Des Champs', Magritte
Reconciling myself with my city (when I feel brave, by bicycle or on roller skates) has been the best way to deal with this “bubble effect”. The walks are healers, but it is true that if I can enjoy Madrid with a knife and fork, better. Let me shout: BLESSED HOSPITALITY (and blessed tortilla skewers).
“Of course, traveling activates psychological strengths such as appreciation of beauty, curiosity, creativity, meaning in life, or a passion for learning. For this reason, it helps a lot to create positive habits that are in our hands and that also awaken these strengths in us”, explains Jaime Burque.
“From oil painting to playing a musical instrument, going through read our favorite novels or learn about the history of a country” , go on.
As for the hobbies of our expert travelers, María Fernández reveals that she returned to the kitchen: “I remembered how much it relaxes me to cut that leek, skip those mushrooms and go shopping. I LOVE to go shopping and that in the small market of Corredera Baja, in Malasaña, the pak choi select me and they tell me no, that artichokes are not in season even if I want them fresh,” she says.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Yago has also opted for recipes: “I have promoted some hobbies such as cooking. In turn, Sara and I we're photographing their flower arrangements at home."
On the other hand, the situation becomes even more complicated for all those who they moved from the country not knowing that years could pass without seeing his family. What advice would Jaime Burque give to all those who suffer from this situation?
“It helps a lot to create habits of contact and support each other. Again, and now yes, a psychological strength appears that can help us a lot, hope and optimism, looking forward with hope and positivity. Surely soon we will meet our loved ones, traveling together or traveling to meet us”, concludes the psychologist.
So, following the advice of the psychologist from A Coruña and keeping an eye on the horizon, dear traveler, I ask you the following question: Where will you head when you can? “I have so many destinations in my head that I don't even know where to start”, confesses David Moralejo.
However, María Fernández is very clear about it: “My boyfriend and I were talking about it the other day: we want to resume the trip that we canceled due to the pandemic, a road trip through the Canadian Great Lakes. But since we know that this can take us months, we have various plans b as exotic as re-investigate the province of Teruel, that we were passionate about; the inland Alentejo, that we won't get tired of coming back... But, above all, we want return to Galicia, to our Galicia , to breathe, to see the family, to eat delicious, to hallucinate and to be surprised. Because Galicia always surprises”.
Castelo de Soutomaior, in Galicia
"We have several plans prepared but, paradoxically, right now I feel very attracted to visiting cities like Mexico City, Singapore, Phnom Penh or Tokyo. I need to see people and mingle!” says Yago Castromil.
Until then, we will always have reading... Or, at least, on that our travel experts more than agree: “Read, share moments with close people (even at a distance, of course) and plan with optimism” , are the tips that David Moralejo gives us.
“Traveling is not always everything; lets travel to your mind cultivating it with books, culture, conversations... We will have time to buy the plane ticket”, says María Fernández.
Reading as an escape route
“The best advice I think is not to obsess, everything will come and we will enjoy the world again. Meanwhile, enjoy yours (with the greatest safety and responsibility), travel with books, movies, magazines and feed your imagination, the great journey is there, within yourself ”, points out Diego Martínez.
“It sounds very cheesy and typical, but Reading is one of the best ways to travel. Also cinema or photography books. I don't think that the desire to travel should be satiated, but I do think that it is a good time to reflect on our way of traveling and relating to the world” Yago Castromil concludes.