What does it mean to “experience wanderlust?”
Someone from a travel company recently used the term “carefully curated cultural experiences” when describing what was included in a guided tour of an area – a phrase that lodged itself in my mind at the time and which I haven’t quite been able to shake since. While this all sounds well and good – ooh, I’ll get to see and do all the things I’m “supposed to” in this place – the words stirred a dissonance within me.
To be shepherded around cupped by white gloved hands that have selected the most “perfect” version of a cultural event is to be kept safely in your comfort zone. Allowed to experience something new, but in a way that doesn’t allow for any discomfort. Growth doesn’t happen when you’re comfortable. Personal enrichment comes from being pushed just beyond the boundaries of what we are familiar with, facing something different and having to form those new mental connections to reconcile what we are used to with what we are now experiencing.
We have to be mindful when we choose to sign up for a “carefully curated cultural experience” – this can be a little like choosing to eat McDonald’s in a foreign country. We do it because we want to experience the comfort of having something presented to us in a palatable way we expect. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when our senses are so overwhelmed with the unfamiliar that our bodies need this reset towards normalcy – I admit, I’ve done it. But by and large, if we want to be enriched by the act of traveling, this shouldn’t be something we seek out with regularity. In fact, I would argue that this is the opposite of what we are “supposed to” get out of traveling to a new place.
A truly enlightening cultural experience reveals itself in a more organic way. You may follow a guidebook, a trusted advisor’s recommendations, or even be personally led to a location known the world over for what it can offer the curious visitor, but what you get out of being there should be determined by you and no one else. It may be different for you than for any of the other travelers and it may not be what you expected. It shouldn’t be one that is presented “just so” on a silver platter, meant to be digested in a certain way with a prescribed outcome and thoroughly vetted so that no alternate guest experience can be had than the one flashed on everyone’s Instagram. It may be that quintessential travel moment that you imagined, or it may bring something entirely different to your conscience.
As I dwelled on this matter, I came to realize that this is perhaps part of the ethos of Experience Wanderlust. I passionately wish to connect people with new places in the world where they have never before set foot. I hope to provide inspiration for everyone to get out there and take at least one step across whatever boundary has previously contained them. It’s no secret that expanding our horizons exposes us to new perspectives on life and different ways of doing things. This, I believe, fosters greater understanding and empathy for humankind – our only path forward for peace.
To truly experience wanderlust, I believe you need to be set free to explore what impact a new place may have on you, pointed in a promising direction by trusted guidance, but ultimately allowed to feel for yourself how it uniquely changes you. Once you fully experience this, you may return home, but you will never turn back.
