Traveler’s Fatigue
Hey! It’s been quite a long time. Where on Earth (literally) have I been?
My apologies for the temporary break from the blog - I am doing okay! As I traveled across Eastern Europe, I fell ill in Budapest with symptoms persisting until now, I spent a lot of my time with people as opposed to being alone, had some experiences that cannot be described through, pen, paper or a set of keys, and I fell back into a few old habits that I have been trying to shake since I began this journey. All these things compounded to create a big ol’ writer’s block in my brain.
So, where am I exactly? I write this to you from the Big Apple, NYC! My roadmap across the world is as follows:
Chicago, Illinois - Dublin, Ireland - London, UK - Paris, France - Basel and Andermatt, Switzerland - Milan, Florence, Rome and Venice, Italy - Munich, Germany - Salzburg and Vienna, Austria - Hungary, Budapest - Kraków, Poland - Prague, Czech Republic - Berlin, Germany - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Chicago, IL - East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania - New York City, NY - Washington DC - Dallas, Texas - Columbia, Missouri
I write this to you from Manhattan in NYC. How did I end up here? Well, my sister just graduated with her Master’s degree from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, about a 2 hour drive from LaGuardia airport. It was great to see my family after 2 months away - I missed my parents and my siblings dearly.
So now that I am back on my own again: How am I feeling about my journey? I’m coining my current condition as “Traveler’s Fatigue”. As my journey goes on, I have grown a bit tired of going to “this museum” and “that tourist attraction”. I didn’t book as many attractions ahead of time, and thus I missed some pretty major ones (Anne Frank House and the Reichstag in Berlin) which made me disappointed. Many of them sort of began blending together as well - you can only see so many centuries-old paintings, sculptures, and gothic cathedrals before they start to look the same. In exchange for that attraction time, I’ve spent more hours simply wandering the cities, chatting with fellow hostel-goers and, as much as I hate to admit it, waste time.
Two of my really bad habits that I wished to work to get rid of were to stop staying up so late and start getting out of bed at a reasonable time. I did a solid job at the beginning, but I kind of threw this out the window during the latter quarter of this adventure. It started at the clubs and ruin bars in Budapest, where I stayed out until the sun rose, and then I slept all day. It doesn’t help that the bars and clubs at all the following European cities had comparable scenes for night life. This all completely jacked up my sleep schedule for pretty much the entire second half of April and this first week of May.
The hostel culture, again, is partially a reason why I never had a consistent bed time. I talked about this in a previous post, but I would get a big sense of FOMO if I didn’t at least spend time with other hostel-goers. I am proud to report that I actually spent several nights out sober, despite being surrounded by drunk people and being offered drinks here and there.
The tourist attractions. The sleeping. The partying. The people I’ve had lots of fun and great conversations with, but will likely never see again. All these things combined have given me this sense of fatigue. Although I’ve regained my adult independence and learned a hell of a lot about the world, I feel like I’m ready to be done traveling for a while.
So, what’s next? Well, I have a flight booked out of Washington DC, so despite my diagnosis, I will suck it up to go see my nation’s capital city. I have never been before, and it will be refreshing to see some American history after seeing so much European history. After that, I am really excited to see my good friends in Texas and Missouri before I head back to Denver.
…and then what? Well, after being both independent and nomadic for 3 months, I will be more than happy to move out of my parents’ house right away and settle down into my own space for a while. I plan to pick up the first job I can to pay for rent in the Denver area, and I’ll just go from there!
Keep your eyes open for a couple summary posts about the latter part of this trip - I have some great stories to tell from Budapest, Kraków, Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam!
