Why I said no to a free trip to Mexico

From the archives - I’ll be resharing some of my most popular Friday essays.

I’m writing to you from sunny Cornwall in the UK today! 😎 Well, actually I wrote this yesterday… but you know what I mean…

And, pssst, I’ve got a secret for you: I could have been writing to you from Tulum, Mexico today.

So why the heck am I in Cornwall then? 🤔

Well, it’s a long story that involved me being invited (very kindly) to go on a networking retreat by a Digital Nomad adjacent company who offered to fly me out and put me up at a luxury resort for 4 nights. 😳

Now, this is NOT something that happens to me all the time!!

But here’s the plot twist:

I said no.

It might sound completely crazy to you and for days I kept thinking “what the heck is wrong with me? Why would I ever say no to a fully paid trip to Mexico?” 🤦‍♀️

There are a bunch of reasons, one of them was that I didn’t feel good about the huge carbon footprint of such a long-distance trip for only 4 nights.

Yeah, sure, I could have stayed longer…but there was something else: the thought of embarking on an 11-hour plane ride made me feel exhausted and anxious instead of giddy with excitement — as I would have felt a few years ago at such an offer!

Then it hit me: a part of me simply didn’t want to go. 🙅‍♀️

And then I really struggled with that, of course! It made me question my whole identity as a digital nomad.

Had I lost my “edge”? My adventurous spirit?

But after talking to some nomad friends I realised that my values and motivations around travel have shifted over the past few years of craziness.

It’s not that I’ll never fly again! I have friends and family all over the world who I miss dearly and want to see. And I’ve not been to Disneyworld yet 🏰… but I digress.

But I didn’t want to fly purely for a business trip. I want to save those special big trips to visit friends and go on long road trips together, make new memories. Spend months (maybe a year) in Mexico and South America.🌎

And that is ok. It doesn’t mean I’m not a digital nomad anymore. Or that I lost my “edge”.

Or maybe it means I’m so grateful to have had so many faraway adventures that, for now, I am happy to stay a bit closer to home…

Or maybe it means that we’ve been through something huge that has changed our world forever. (and it’s not even over yet)

Or maybe it means nothing at all. 🤷‍♀️

I don’t know, but I decided it doesn’t matter as long as I’m still exploring new places and carving out time to find joy in this crazy world.

And I am going to allow myself to take all the time I need to figure out how I want to travel in future and to plan some big adventures again.

So instead of floating in the turquoise warm waters of the Riviera Mara, I will be exploring the Cornish coast with my boyfriend.

It’ll be colder and we probably won’t find any shrimp ceviche in St. Austell 🤞, but I’m actually super excited about taking a freezing dip in the Atlantic and going on spring walks in beautiful English gardens. 🌷

If you’ve been feeling anxious, nervous, or unsure about travel, you’re not alone.

Take all the time to need to figure out your new normal.

How do you feel about travelling at the moment? Let me know in the comments!

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This story was originally published in my newsletter on March 26th 2022.