Confessions of a Travelholic

Whence and Whereto (Jan 24 2014)

Hi, my name is Taylor, and I’m a travelholic.

It is hard to say when my addiction really began. The first time I left Canada was in 2004, on a family trip to Mexico. In 2007, I went on a student trip to Greece, followed by another student trip to Egypt in 2008. Through subsequent trips to Mexico and a humanitarian trip to Guatemala in 2010, I discovered in travel something I lusted after.

I believe that my studies in Anthropology have a lot to do with my addiction to travel. For more than four years I have received many a blank stare and questioning eye after declaring that my major is Anthropology. I can’t say with confidence that I never got tired of answering the question “what IS Anthropology, anyway?” To this question I often gave terribly unsatisfying answers which did no justice to it’s splendour. I suppose it was difficult for me to define, on a whim, a discipline so broad and multi-faceted and which had become almost second nature to me.

Here is the answer I should have always given. Anthropology is the study of humankind, of the complexity of cultures around the world and throughout time. It is holistic. It studies people from every angle: biological, social, cultural, archaeological, linguistic, historical, and environmental. It considers every way of life, and it helped me to discover mine.

It showed me that we are all connected, that all of human experience is tied together in a complex world system; it made a humanist of me. It showed me that sustainability is real and pressing concern; it made an environmentalist of me. It provided me with a framework for attempting to understand the complex world we live in. It influenced the way I think and behave in everyday life. It shaped the person I am today, and it fuelled my addiction to travel.

Learning about the world in classrooms and books inspired an eagerness to see and experience the world for myself. I could study the people and cultures of the world my whole life, but only through direct experience will I arrive at a true understanding of them, and of myself. Even though I have completed a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, my education will continue outside the classroom…out in the world! After all, as an ancient Greek philosopher once said, travel and experience are education in themselves (Euripides).

Throughout my degree I took many trips, some big and some small. I visited several places within Canada that were previously unknown to me. I developed an intimate relationship with Kelowna, B.C. after spending a summer there in 2011. I also acquainted myself with Vancouver, Victoria, and Vancouver Island, with Alberta’s and Ontario’s big cities, and with Montreal and Quebec. Bigger trips took my backpack and I to Western Europe last summer, and to Guatemala and Belize this past summer.

So, from whence came this addiction of mine, this wanderlust? An education in anthropology and previous travel experiences are largely responsible. However, there is another piece that cannot go without mention. One very pivotal summer at Kelowna International Hostel in BC also fuelled the fire of my addiction to travel. But I’ll save that story for another time.

As my addiction developed I also learned how to manage it. I reckon wanderlust is the best addiction a person can have, and I do not seek a cure! It consumes me, and I let it. My current mission is thus to embrace it, feed the hunger, scratch the itch by traveling a lot. I can’t be certain it will ever subside, even after I’ve seen the entire world over. I guess there’s only one way to find out…!

Which brings me to my whereto. For the next 8 months, New Zealand, or Aotearoa by it’s native Maori name, will be my playground, companion, and classroom.

I hope that this blog will be a way to keep you all updated on what I’m doing during my travels, and keep me from spending a good part of my time abroad corresponding instead of experiencing and living. As most other travel blogs, this one begins with sincere intention of regular updates. I hope that this one will beat the odds and continue until my return, unlike many others, which are too often abandoned or forgotten by writer and reader alike after only a few posts.

My adventure begins tomorrow…with a 30-hour day of airplanes, airports, and layovers! Adios Amigos!