Fernweh
This would be a perfect moment to speak poetically about endings. Unfortunately, I’m kind of an idiot. Poetry isn’t a great idea here (unless you like rhymes that sound like a combination of Humpty Dumpty and Vanilla Ice). I don’t have many answers in life. But what I do have is thousands of emails from you guys. So, I’ll use one of them for inspiration today.
As I mentioned to some friends recently, a reader used a word I’d never heard before:
“Fernweh”
Almost looks like a typo, right?
Loosely translated, here’s what it means…
A longing to travel to distant lands…a kind of homesickness for the unexplored.
Damn, that’s a great word.
(To give him credit, the reader’s name was Miles. Yeah, seriously. Can’t make this stuff up)
From his email:
“I imagine many readers of MileNerd, including myself, have fernweh.”
Was he right?
Know the feeling well?
A longing to travel to distant lands…a kind of homesickness for the unexplored.
Because, honestly, I don’t think everyone does. In fact, growing up in West Virginia, I knew quite a few people who’d never stepped on a plane. They had no desire to. So, it’s probably untrue to think EVERYONE feels wanderlust in such a strong way.
But we do.
If I had to bet on it, Miles was right on the money.
Beyond blogs…and credit cards…and minimum spends…what we actually want is travel. To have adventures. I mean, isn’t that the goal of all this? The other stuff is just a set of tools to get us there.
Again, if I had to bet on it…
I think you daydream about trips you’ve taken. And sometimes of bookings you have yet to make. I’d guess all of us here feel alive when traveling. In many cases, probably more than in our day-to-day worlds.
Let’s not be shy about it – we might be nerds, but we’re also explorers.
And our shared passion for exploration…our fernweh…is a big piece of what connects us here. Well, plus the frugality of not wanting to pay full retail for our adventures. We talk about miles and points every day. But what do we actually get from travel?
I mean, other than $18 cocktails, sunburn, and resort fees…
Personally, I think traveling is a special kind of a magic trick. One that pulls us out of our predictable daily bubbles. And it drops us into an adventure.
Into a more adventurous spirit.
Man, do we long for that.
Our minds and hearts expand with travel. We see…right in front of us…that this world is more than what our eyes have gotten used to.
And, sometimes, we need to see that.
As you remember your favorite moments of 2018, let me guess…at least one of them happened when traveling. Right?
Because you are an explorer.
And so am I.
May this new year be full of adventures for both of us.
“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous
