The Shortcomings of Short Term Travel
I thought it would be good to take a break from writing about different things that I saw during my trip to China and take some time to talk about he short comings that I perceive from short term travel. This article was something I was planning to discuss in the near future, but I was inspired by Nomadic Matt’s article talking about the Downside to Long Term Travel that I decided now would be a good time to bring perspective to short term travel.
I love to travel as much as anyone else does. I’ve been to Russia, India, China, Western Europe, and New Zealand so far. Unfortunately, every time I’ve left those places, I feel like I’ve left the place wanting to do more. To give you a little perspective, none of my trips to Western Europe, Russia, India, China, or New Zealand have ever been longer than 3 weeks at a time. I’ve always wanted to have more time to travel and experience things at a slower pace.
Throughout these trips I’ve had to deal with what I call the short comings of short term travel including:
Feeling rushed to see things… Short term travel forces the traveler to try and cram as many activities and places to visit in a day as possible. What this does is exhausts the traveler each day. If you cram too many things in one day, your brain will begin to lose interest and your experience might not be as enjoyable or memorable as you were hoping.
Forces the traveler to make hard choices… Short term travel forces you to make tough choices about what to see, how many days to spend in a certain city, and what type of a schedule to maintain. I spent 2 weeks in China and saw only 3 cities. Within these cities there were things that I missed out on doing and seeing. I would have liked to spend more time experience the night life in China, but I knew if I over indulged in my favorite beverages that I could lose most of the next day recovering from a hang over.
Leaves the traveler wanting more… Short term travel always leaves the traveler wanting more. More time to travel. More time to meet others. More time to experience the culture of where ever you are visiting. People asked me when I returned from China how my trip went. One of my first thoughts was that 2 weeks just wasn’t enough time for me. (Hey I can’t help it that China is huge place). I met a traveler in China who spent 9 weeks in country and was extremely jealous of that person.
Nomadic Matt in his article on long term travel talks about some of the downsides such as having the “24 hour friend” or not being able to have steady dating relationships due to travel. I think what is key for each traveler is to find the appropriate balance between traveling for long amounts of time and digging into one or two places and hanging out for awhile.
I think it is important to realize that when you travel you are going to meet a ton of people. That’s both a good and bad thing as Matt pointed out. The other thing to is realize is when a person is interesting enough to send that occasional email or make efforts to keep in touch through twitter or commenting on blogs. That’s the hard part and is an individual decision about how much effort you’re going to make to keep in touch with people you meet on the road. Try to remember, there may be value in building that relationship – maybe the person you just met has a bunch of contacts in country that you’re looking at moving to. Again, it is a judgment call.
For me, my plan is to travel for around 12 months and then move to a different country. I am slowly coming to the belief that the best way to truly experience a culture is by living in it for at least 1-2 years. I’d like to spend 3-4 years living outside the U.S. – who knows maybe I’ll like it so much that I decide to stay outside the U.S permanently or maybe I’ll be ready for the next trip around the world.
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You make some really good points! I often hear people doing a two week trip to australia, or a whirlwind spin around europe and I do wonder how you can really enjoy or get to know anywhere in just a couple of days. Meanwhile I spent almost a year living in London and there are still things I haven’t seen and explored in that city!
Part of the problem is that in the United States most people only get two weeks of vacation a year so they want to make the most of that time. It’s a tough compromise.
I get homesick when I travel long-term but I burn out fast when I do short trips. It’s nice to see all the sights and attraction but sometimes it’s hard to really sit down and mingle with the locals when you’re pressed for time.
I think the best way to combat the loneliness travelers sometimes feel on the road is find a significant other who shares the same passion as you when it comes to traveling. This way the experiences you make will mean so much more.
Thanks for your comments Stephanie and Monica.
Monica – I agree that you need to find a significant other who enjoys travel as much as you do. The problem (for me) is it seems those types of women are few and far between. Try telling a girl that you want to leave your corporate job in 2 years, travel for a year, and then move overseas…that doesn’t go over too well.
Stephanie – you make a great point about living in a place and still not seeing everything. The people who do these 2 week whirlwinds of Australia and other places like that are nuts! You don’t truly experience the culture of places by doing that type of travel.
[...] Morris, freshly back from the Far East, provides some pespective on the shortcomings of short-term travel. We love Tim’s [...]