SF

On dromomania

I think most everybody thinks their travels are more interesting than they really are and that they are more well-traveled than they really are. I fall into both of these categories, and here are some musings on why.

Stats

In reflection, I always tell people that I no longer travel, but simply do not know what it means to stay still and so default to moving. I also really like hotels and hate the idea of a home. There is a clear progression of my behaviour over the years: I think that 2021 is pretty normal in terms of flying once every 9.4 days for an average person. I spent the first few months staying put, more in the digital nomad style, in Peru and Mexico. May 2021 was when I became homeless and hard launched into perma-travel. Since then, I have averaged 2.7 nights per place. In 2022, I spent 44% of the year in the UK. In 2023, I started to fly a lot more but domestically, spending 54% of the year in the US. In 2024, I have probably reached an all time low of nights per place and forecast that this will go up by EOY (at the time of writing my nights per place was 1.7, I signed a lease for a job in mid 2024 that slowed my pace of travel).

The Case Against Travel

Note: some of this is about the case for not loafing, which to me is core to travel.

Developing Thoughts

Great quotes on travel: