The Downside of the Nomadic Lifestyle

Traveling the world has its downsides too so read this the next time you see someone’s Instagram/Facebook post and you feel that little green monster growing

My pictures traveling alone before I got a selfie stick

1. It gets lonely. It’s not always where you are, but instead who you’re with that makes travel so special. Travel is a chance to meet new people, make new friends, and create new memories. Unfortunately, those things don’t fall into our laps, and it’s even harder if you don’t speak the language. It takes work and time to make friends and whether it takes you a few days to make a friend or a few months, you’ll be lonely during that time. It’s not easy to navigate a new place on your own and sometimes you just wish you had a good friend with you to experience the ups and downs together. I love traveling alone, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t lonely on the days where I woke up and didn’t know what I wanted to do or where to go. The sun would go down as early as 5 pm in Japan and it felt weird to go to nightlife on my own, so on Christmas Eve, I found myself eating Japanese snacks by myself in an empty hostel room before calling it a day at 8 pm.
2. Like any good thing, too much isn’t always great. First study abroad trip, awesome. Second, amazing. Third, breathtaking. Fourth, okay but not as good as the first. Fifth, wow wish I was still on the second. Sixth, can I just stay home? The more you do something, the more it feels routine. I absolutely have packed for a trip and not wanted to go. Not to pass judgment on anyone, but if you tell me you love traveling, flying, etc. I just think you don’t travel that much. It is work to get from point A to point B in one piece. You’ve got weight limits, visas, bookings, budgets, itineraries, and more to juggle. On top of all that, sometimes you really just don’t feel like sitting on a plane for X hours where you can’t pee as frequently as you’d like to and question how healthy it is for you to go this long without standing. Lastly, lots of travel means lots of time away from loved ones at “home” and sometimes you just really don’t want to say goodbye so soon.
3. You’re a bit dirty all the time. You’re at home 7 step skincare routine? Gone. The balanced routine Mediterranean diet you eat every day? Nope. When’s the last time you took a proper shower? Few days at best. When you’re always on the go, you can’t avoid falling out of your health routine. There are small hacks I’ve picked up to help me feel less gross when I’m flying, but getting dirty is undeniable. Especially if you’re a broke college kid hopping to and from cheap hostels like I was. The reality is that you probably are sleeping in the same bed that the last guests just had sex in, and no they did not wash the sheets in time. I just try not to think about it, and give myself a big spa day when I finally get home.
4. Many travel photos are fake as hell, seriously. I’ll let you in on a secret, the relationship between updates you get from someone traveling and how much fun they’re actually having is inverted. I see this over and over again and I’m not trying to discourage anyone from posting their travels but to the people on the viewing end of that, just remember it is indeed a highlight reel. Some anecdotal evidence, on a recent trip there was a group of study abroad students, and they were by far the least adventurous group of people I’d ever met. Every excursion we had was an opportunity for photos and that was it. On a beautiful, sunny day we went into the city to a famous neighborhood with lots of colorful houses for a great photo-op followed by a museum. It was 30 minutes of photos, 10 minutes in the museum, and then they were ready to go back to the dorms to watch Netflix. LIKE WHAT? This wasn’t a one-off either, everywhere we went it was taking pictures and then back to the dorms. Believe me, if all you wanted was to stay inside and Netflix, you didn’t need to pay 15,000+ USD and come halfway across the world to do that. Their Instagrams said “look how adventurous we are” but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. By the end of the study abroad, I had packed more experiences in 2 months than they had in 5. It’s a little harder to post about how much fun you’re having, if you’re too busy, you know, having fun.
5. Every friend you make abroad is a piece of your heart that is missing when you get back. The hardest part of leaving another country is saying goodbye to your friends. It never gets easier, and I’ll tell you why. When you travel to live/work/study in another country for an extensive amount of time, that country is now your life. Those friends you made are the only people you know for hundreds of miles and they become your support network. When you leave, it’s not just leaving them it’s leaving behind this life you’ve created in another country. Your routines, favorite foods, activities, hang out spots, inside jokes, it’s gone. Not gone-gone of course, but it won’t be the same as it was when you were there. Coping with it is tough too because when you return, no one else knows all the friends you made and the things you did. You can tell them, but they weren’t there. To them, it’s just a story; but to you, it was your entire life.

So there, now you know what we don’t post about on the Insta stories, and your little green monster can munch on that the next time you see your ex ‘living it up’ in Spain.

P.S. If you’re the one traveling and going through it right now, don’t worry when it’s over you’ll only remember the good things.