On Prague and Travel Fatigue
Prague was beautiful and special, but I realized something while I was there. I’ve lost my sense of wonder when it comes to travel, or at least travel in Europe.
Voyaging outside of the United States used to be this incredible thing, this amazing opportunity that was almost too fantastic to believe. I remember on my first few international trips having intense butterflies in my stomach and actually squealing audibly while reading guide books and planning out my adventures. I remember watching Samantha Brown’s Passport to Europe and sighing dreamily as she visited Copenhagen or Paris or Vienna. Visiting these places was like a dream come true.
Now, however, that feeling has dwindled, and I noticed this conspicuous lack of excitement on my recent trip to Prague.
Of course Prague was beautiful and special and interesting. But out of the 4.5 days we were there, I only took out my camera a handful of times and I found myself tiring very quickly. The streets were pretty, but I’ve seen similar streets before. The church architecture was lovely but I’ve seen hundreds of others like them. I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that I’m SO mentally ready to move back to California to be closer to my family, friends and everything familiar, but my European travel high has ended.
I probably sound ungrateful to those of you who yearn to explore Europe, but I think just like everything else we use to occupy our time, just like every other activity, after a certain amount of time, it looses its initial lustre. Plus, traveling is simply physically exhausting.
I think it’s time to put Europe on pause for a while. After I leave I think I’ll turn my focus towards other parts of the world, Maybe some more “exotic” locations like Bali, Japan, South Korea, South America… Europe is such a tiny part of the world, there’s so much more left to discover.
