When you scroll through Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest you will invariably come across a beautiful travel post talking about wanderlust. We have all seen them, a white staircase winding down to the blue seas on an island off the coast of Greece, a guy backpacking through the rainforests of Brazil, or a half-naked attractive couple and their dog in the back of their van with the doors open overlooking a beautiful beach sunset. These are normally accompanied by some hashtags, #vanlife #wanderlust #GetOutThere #travel. These are amazing photos and kudos to these people for taking the risk to create this traveling opportunity for themselves, but they make it seem like everyone should be able to do that, and that is just not the reality.
If you are unfamiliar with those pictures and the idea of wanderlust, let me point you in the right direction. Wanderlust is the idea that someone has a strong urge or desire to travel, it comes from a German phrase that literally translates to “enjoyment of hiking.” Now, I am not upset with Wanderlust as a concept or an idea, but with the persistent pressure that some social media and blogs put on the average person to go and travel. Some people just can’t afford to quit their jobs and move into a van. Some people can’t afford to take 3 months off work and travel to the Southern tip of South America. Most people need to keep their jobs, and keep health insurance and save their vacation days for sick kids or they work for an hourly wage and if they don’t work, they don’t get paid. This is precisely the part where this blog comes into the discussion.
Tiny adventures or bite-size adventures are for the everyday person, for the everyday family, and for many of you. I am included in the group of people that can’t just quit their job and travel the world. I have a job as a teacher that I love, and I do not want to teach from the road. I also have two school-aged children and they need to be in school. But I am blessed to have the opportunity as a middle school teacher to take a few weeks in the summer and travel, BUT the problem with that is (as I mentioned already) I’m a teacher I don’t have the money to take a huge vacation each year. I, like many of you, have a mortgage, student loans, car loans, and bills that need to be paid. I can’t take 4 weeks to paddle through Romania, or weeks in the spring to backpack some stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail. But I can afford a vacation snow tubing at the local ski resort, or even finding an afternoon for a bike ride with my 7-year-old.
But here is the catch, you (just like me) can take a tiny adventure on a Tuesday afternoon to go skip stones with your kids at the local lake or spend a Saturday morning rejuvenating while SUP Yoga with other like-minded adventurers. I believe that each of us has the chance to find a bite-sized adventure near us, if we are just looking around, I am sure there is one near you. We just need to keep our eyes open for these adventures.
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