Veronica Wong shares about what she’s learned from traveling the world.
In my twenties, I traveled with a checklist and a rule: I could never go to the same place twice. Going back to a place I’d already been felt like a missed opportunity, a wasted stamp in a passport that could have been earned somewhere new. There were too many countries to see and too little time to repeat myself.
So, I kept moving. I always knew the next three countries I wanted to visit. I built meticulous itineraries and tried to see everything I possibly could. I set a goal to visit 30 countries by the time I turned 30, and I reached it. Travel, for me, was about forward motion. But somewhere along the way, that momentum slowed.
Since turning 30 almost 8 years ago now, the same three countries have stayed at the top of my bucket list: Colombia, Jordan, and Turkey. It’s not that I don’t want to go to these places. I do. But when it’s time to plan, I hesitate. Doing a new place “right” feels more daunting than it once did. The research. The planning. The pressure to understand a place quickly and make the most of every moment.
Instead, I find myself returning to the places I’ve already been. There’s a joke about Millennials rewatching the same comfort shows and movies. There’s science behind it. Familiarity lowers stress. I think the same thing is happening with how I travel. When I go back to a place I’ve been before, I already know how to exist there. I know how to get around. I don’t feel pressure to extract meaning from every moment. I no longer try to see everything.