23 Things Only Travelers Will Understand
By Koty Neelis
1. You remember getting your passport in the mail and being filled with excitement over all the possibilities of where you could go now.
2. Every time you make a purchase you secretly think about what that could pay for while traveling. $20 dinner = two nights in a hostel. $5 Starbucks coffee = 11 plates of pad thai in SE Asia.
3. You’ve learned to cut back on talking about travel with your friends who don’t travel, only because you know it’s annoying and you don’t want to be THAT guy.
4. But when you do talk to your friends who travel you guys can’t stop gushing to each other about all the places you want to go and cultures you want to experience someday.
5. You regularly use #wanderlust, #travel, and/or #traveling on your Twitter or Tumblr posts.
6. Even though it’s cliché, you really do feel like you see the world differently after coming back from a foreign country. You don’t think this makes you any better than anyone else, but you know travel has changed how you view things.
7. You throw shade every time someone blabs on and on about how dangerous or awful a country is you’re going to, despite the fact the person has never been there and is only going off things they assume or have heard in the US media.
8. Your phone cover, Facebook cover photos, or background photos online are usually of maps of the world.
9. That moment when you’re in a foreign country and for whatever reason everything is going wrong; you’re having trouble communicating, you missed the train, and you’re on the verge of tears thinking, “What the hell am I doing here?” Then someone shows you a simple act of kindness or you witness another beautiful aspect of your destination and it all reconfirms why you’re there in the first place.
10. You immediately know a first date isn’t going to lead to anything more when someone says they aren’t interested in traveling.
11. You’ve stayed up until 3 a.m. filled with wanderlust, reading travel blogs, and feeling inspired to start saving up for your next trip.
12. You’ve felt the painful annoyance when people say they won’t stay in a hostel because of the horror movie.
13. You remember booking your first international plane ticket and feeling a mixture of both nausea and happiness. Actually, every time your flight reservations are confirmed you get a tinge of nervousness intertwined with sheer joy.
14. When you’re online Bootsnall and Lonely Planet’s forums are where you feel most at home.
15. You’ve spent whole afternoons looking at inspiring travel pics and messages on Pinterest. In fact, you probably have a whole board or more dedicated to travel.
16. That giddy feeling when you start researching a new destination and you love absolutely everything you’re reading and looking at and you just know this HAS to be your next trip.
17. When you meet someone for the first time and they say anything about their love of traveling you immediately cling to them and confirm yourselves as best friends.
18. You have a travel tattoo or have considered getting one to symbolize something from one of your trips.
19. You sold your car, expensive electronics, and/or have chosen to live a simpler way of life in order to have more money for traveling.
20. That moment when you realize it makes more sense to use a backpack to travel with instead of a suitcase but you can’t possibly imagine at first how you’ll be able to fit everything in there.
21. You’ve wondered why people are so friendly and open when you’re on the road but back home it’s harder to make friends.
22. You have a savings account or special jar at home you specifically use to put money in to save up for traveling and you get so excited when you finally meet your goal.
23. You’ve given yourself a mental high five after having your first successful conversation in a foreign language.