Feeling an overwhelming sense of wanderlust? Here are eight ways to placate your restless spirit.
Wish you were here?
We’ve all experienced that sense of overwhelming restlessness. That moment when we can’t sit at our desks and stare at a computer any longer. The impulsive desire to explore. The heady whiff of spices. The colourful stack of fruit piled in a dusty market. Thick, scratchy textiles painted in pleasing symmetry. Gesticulating Italians and rolling Tuscan hills. Feeding pigeons on a park bench. The tropical scent of coconut oil and lithe limbs glinting in the sunlight. The knowing look in an elephant’s eye. Red, gold dunes and the dissipating desert. The uninterrupted silence of an ashram. The grasping fingers and sweaty claustrophobia of the jungle. Snow, pristine and new.
But life isn’t so simple. It’s never that easy to just get up and leave. So how do we satisfy our aching wanderlust?
Musicians in Prague
1. Planning a holiday is almost as good as taking one
According to researchers in the Netherlands, the pleasure and anticipation we feel when planning our vacation and in the weeks leading up to it sometimes surpasses the actual happiness we experience on the trip itself and after it. So if your feet are itchy and your spirit is restless – start planning!
2. Bake your boss cupcakes
When in doubt, resort to bribery. This isn’t the most advisable approach – if you’re in dire need of a break and you feel that you have earned some time off then explain this to your line manager in a calm and rational way. Prepare a slideshow documenting your value to the company and how a vacation will increase your output. It’s actually a fact that people who take more leave have improved productivity – this study proves it!
3. Quit and go exploring
The romantic ideal we all aspire to – the seemingly impossible dream of leaving everything behind to become nomadic wanderers searching for ourselves under a cosmos of impossibly bright stars. If you’re brave enough, this might well be a decision that defines the course of your existence. It also might not be. Although it sounds wonderful to pack your backpack and hike through the Amazonian jungle for a year, make sure that you carefully plan your trip and have a backup plan for every eventuality. It takes some of the whimsy away, but it gives you a sense of security and practical solutions you’re going to need.
If you’re serious: 6 steps to quitting your job and travelling the world
4. Go on a day trip somewhere
Make a playlist, pack some snacks (check out these six easy padkos recipes), get into your car and see where the wind takes you. The road will stretch out like a dusty canvas before you and, as the city-scape fades into the grey mist, you will find you are suddenly able to breathe deeply, with the enthusiasm of a man whose lungs have been burning for too long.
For more inspiration, check out these great weekend breaks around South Africa
5. Travel changes you
It shapes you in a way other things cannot. It might be worth the sacrifice to have that one defining moment of clarity. It’s that feeling you get when you’re at the top of a mountain, drenched in perspiration, tired, with trembling legs, but elated. You look down upon the world and the clouds flow like waves touched by the irradiant fingers of the sun, and you hold your breath because in that moment, you feel infinite.
6. Read
If you can’t travel at the moment then read instead. Get lost in adventures of the mind. Let yourself be taken to new places, experience cultures other than your own and embark on untold adventures living vicariously through the characters you become.
Check out these latest travel book reviews for more inspiration
7. Be a tourist in your own city
This is, admittedly, quite cheesy but it’s also true. All too often, we tend to take our homes for granted and we don’t make time to explore. Challenge yourself to do something adventurous and different in your city every week, whether it be testing out a new restaurant or summiting the nearest mountain.
10 ways to be a tourist in your own city
8. Be thankful
Be grateful that there is this innate inquisitiveness within you. Be grateful for your intrinsic need to walk lesser-known paths and to discover new kingdoms. Be grateful for your understanding that travel opens the eyes and the mind in a way that few other things can. Don’t forget to say thank you.
Taking a dip in the Dwarsberg
