I love to travel. At one point, I lived out of a suitcase for 2.5 years straight. If someone would ask me: “What are your hobbies?”, my standard answer used to be, dancing, travelling, and meeting friends.
My travel scheme changed a lot over the years. As a teenager, I stayed in more than 100 host families. As a student, camping was all I could afford. When I went to visit my boyfriend from Germany (now my husband), I would take the cheap 7 hours train trip as I had no car.
To find out, if he was the man of my dreams, I moved to Cologne for my student placement. After five months, it was clear we were an awesome match. But I had to move to Spain for half a year to finish my studies. I will never forget my tiny room, in a five-person apartment, with very wacky windows, and without any heating. The minute I would get out of bed, I would run off to the gym, just to warm up again. The winter in Seville can be quite chilly.
I moved back to Germany and got a job, and we were able to fly to Thailand and Greece. We usually just booked the first night and then went from one place to the next. During our honeymoon, we drove all the way up the very North of Scotland, we enjoyed staying in B&B’s, small castles and even in a romantic lighthouse in the middle of nowhere.
Then the kids came, and again a lot changed. We booked “all inclusive” vacations and wore the famous wristbands. We enjoyed reading, relaxing, playing at the pool with the kids. Nothing wrong with that.
By now I have lived more than half my life “abroad”. Yet my home country never lost its charm.
One and half years ago we bought a caravan. Believe it or not it has no wheels. It just stands there. Our tiny second home, around the corner from my parents’ house, just a few minutes stroll from the beach I pretty much grew up on.
Today when we arrived at the camping place it felt like coming home. That minute I realized it wasn’t anymore about the journey. It was all about arriving.
In order to arrive you do need to take off. But the joy isn’t always the journey, the actual travelling.
Sometimes the biggest joy is the moment you realize you have arrived.
Danielle says
This is beautifully written, Titia! And so true! Thank you for sharing your “arrival” with us, it makes me look forward to mine that much more <3
titia.maas@web.de says
Thank you, Danielle! For reading my blog and for letting me know you like it :-) I wish you many more joyful journeys! As I wrote, in order to arrive you do also need to take off. At the same time I believe there are many ways to travel. Even reading a book can allow us to take off. We don’t always have to go far places. It is nice to realize that. The mix in life is what keeps our minds agile.
Cheers
Titia