Losing the love of travel

[Anonymous]

So much about travel has to do with off season/away from crowds/weather.

When I was younger, it was a lot easier to control those variables than now as a parent of 2 teens around school and their needs.

When we travel now, it's about budgets and a list of variables that makes it less about travel and more about process of elimination for which destination should we target. Takes a bit of fun out of the wanderlust part BUT I have to say, seeing the places we do because we've put so much thought into it, things generally work out well.

As many beautiful places as I've been and having studied abroad as well, I think people discount travel around the US esp out west. CO, AZ, NM, CA, OR, MT and UT offer so much opportunity. There's more than just natural beauty to appreciate but actual activities like rafting, dude ranches, wildlife focus, spas and general R&R, glamping, etc. There's a lot of interesting off the beaten path things to see out west. I tend to shy away from the south and east coast.

Also, if you're just going to see stuff, the Internet makes it so easy. The experiences of activities is what makes it for us.

[Anonymous]

Same here. Early 50s, been to at least 70 countries. Not much desire to do it any more. I still have to travel this year, for work, to places on many people's bucket lists but I feel kind of "meh" about it even though they are amazing places. I've been to those places many times before.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t travelled nearly as much as you, OP, but I also have noticed that I am losing my enjoyment of travel. I’ve been to most of western and much of eastern Europe, parts of Canada, Mexico and Central America, and probably half of the US states, but I haven’t lived outside of the US and haven’t been to anywhere in Asia, South America, Australia, Scandinavia, etc all places I once wanted to go very much.

For me, it’s a combination of health issues and anxiety that have decreased my comfort level when on an extended trip. I’m “only” 55 and I hate that I feel this way, but every time I push myself to travel I don’t enjoy it very much.

I especially have found that everything seems so crowded and to require so much preplanning nowadays - has this changed or has my age caused me to see things through a different lens than when I travelled when I was younger?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I traveled a lot when I was younger like the OP, but now it is very different. Mainly this is because of the crowds. People will flame me saying everyone has the right to visit Paris and Venice and Kyoto and Barcelona and London, but given the crush of people, it's not enjoyable.

I enjoy visiting small towns (third tier not even second tier places) either here or abroad more than being processed to visit top attractions.

Although I used to travel for months at a time, now after 5 or 6 days, I'm ready to come home.

I just posted saying travel seems so much more of a hassle nowadays, and I hadn’t yet read your post or the several in agreement with you- count me as another who agrees. I’ve been to Paris a lot and have just enjoyed it so much less in the past 7ish years due to crowds.

[Anonymous]

On a recent trip I counted it up and I had to download and make accounts and register for two airline apps, a hotel app, booking.com, Travelocity, open table, via tour, an app for the conference I attended, Uber. And I had to download airline tickets, info for the hotel, tickets for our tours, etc. and then I worried that my phone would run out of juice or I would somehow accidentally delete everything and I hated having to book everything in advance and then being locked into specific plans when I just wanted to relax. I remember growing up and my parents going to a travel agent and having someone else make all the arrangements and. Print out all the tickets etc. I think that travel is stressful today because of the apps and booking etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a recent trip I counted it up and I had to download and make accounts and register for two airline apps, a hotel app, booking.com, Travelocity, open table, via tour, an app for the conference I attended, Uber. And I had to download airline tickets, info for the hotel, tickets for our tours, etc. and then I worried that my phone would run out of juice or I would somehow accidentally delete everything and I hated having to book everything in advance and then being locked into specific plans when I just wanted to relax. I remember growing up and my parents going to a travel agent and having someone else make all the arrangements and. Print out all the tickets etc. I think that travel is stressful today because of the apps and booking etc.

I had a four month eurail ticket and the backpacker bible Let's Go Europe, and planned nothing. This was in the golden olden days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you're getting lonely, what about traveling with someone? What about taking someone with you who hasn't traveled and getting to show them the world (like a niece or nephew)?

I don't think so necessarily. I feel this way when traveling with family.

Sometimes it's worse traveling with someone else because you feel obligated to do the things they want to do that you really don't like doing.

Hmm... is there someone who's a similarly independent traveler you could join up with and meet up with for dinner or drinks once a day?

[Anonymous]

I sort of feel this way. Now in my 50s my tolerance for things going wrong on travel is much decreased. I don’t want to end up with some sketchy cab driver taking me God knows where (happened in my 20s) or in a hotel room that looks like a place women are trafficked (same).
I also just feel like if I don’t get to see a particular place, that’s okay. I’ve seen gorgeous mountains and cathedrals and lakes and beaches and art etc etc — sure seeing more of it is nice but it’s not really qualitatively different in kind. I still like researching and planning. I also get the “lonely when traveling” thing because my family often has different preferences than I do. But I feel less alone in a city, so do like trips to cities where I can wander a museum or go window shopping by myself, which doesn’t feel so lonely. I tend to avoid vacations where I will be stuck someplace isolating because if my family is not interested in joining me, I feel very pent up and lonely. One time I did take artists pencils and a sketch book, and of course I always bring a book, but I’m not the type that wants to just sit a read for hours in a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just took our first lazy holiday where we didn't attempt to see anything. I had literally never just laid on a beach for an entire day. I didn't even read a novel! I just turned sixty and my husband and I have decided we are still interested in travel but only for the purposes of relaxing. Perhaps no more tourism. Pretty sure that makes us uneducated or something, but I'll take it.

This would be literal torture for me. My ADHD would burn me up from the inside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a lot of the north American west I haven't seen. I traveled a lot when I was young and have flown to Europe and the British Isles a handful of times over the last decade.

I research national parks out west. I am going to one next month.

I think about the north American west every day. I used to think about foreign travel every day and now wonder if I'll ever care to fly to another continent again.

This is me. I still like to travel and have been fortunate to see a good part of the world. I am still looking forward to a bit of overseas travel, but my best trips and those I look forward to the most are out west.

[Anonymous]

On a recent trip to the Swiss Alps, I didn't have a cell phone. And survived.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Age 50 was the point I realized I had done basically everything I wanted to in life and was OK with coming to my later years. Then I got diagnosed with a life shortening illness and really wasn’t terribly upset about it. I’m more selective in what I choose to do and how I choose to spend my time. This year I’m focusing on regular meditation and dance. Travel is difficult on my body and the environment so I do things I really want to do And that’s it. It’s actually quite freeing.

I wanted to say sorry about your illness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I traveled as a kid, then as a young adult in the Peace Corps, and then as a professional in my 30’s and early 40’s. By 40 it had lost all appeal, and I felt allergic to travel at all, even for vacations. I came to associate it with work, and absence from family, and loneliness.

I felt ashamed of losing my verve for travel for a long time, but now in my early 50’s I am at peace with it. It’s a big world, and I’ve seen a lot of it. In the end cities are cities, and people are people. I still feel thrilled by natural beauty, and I would happily hike in different parts of the world if I didn’t have to sit on airplanes for a day or more to get there. But travel for the sake of travel? Nah. I’m good.

I’m late forties and starting to feel the same way. Not a peace corp volunteer but I was an army brat. Also, the teen years have done a number on us as parents and I think we are just getting tired. We have a couple more big trips planned as a family and then will focus more on quiet and peace closer to home. We have a beach house so we will pivot to spend more time there.

[Anonymous]

It’s really interesting to me how many people on this thread are recovering or exploring an interest in the American west!

[Anonymous]

I'm glad I did all my travel in my teens-30s before everyone in the world could afford too. Priceless experiences and sights that will never be possible now with over tourism/globalisation. I feel sorry for people who are traveling now.