When you look at these postcards what do you see or feel?
I see adventure, memories and I start to feel excited.
I’m sure that when you read the title of this blog you were going to be reading a hard hitting, fact telling and emotional story about a drug or alcohol addiction, but I’m sorry to perhaps burst your bubble, that my addiction is traveling.
Perhaps calling it an addiction is bit much, its more of an obsession or a passion.
I first started noticing my obsession when every other Facebook status, tweet or Instagram post was from profiles that talk about traveling. Whether that be a video on the top 5 reasons to visit Iceland, to a stunning picture of a scenic destination or just someone writing about their travels to Mexico. This was going on for a while, and then I started searching the cost of flights or hotel prices to a certain destination that found its way onto my social media feeds. Which would then involve me signing up to the likes of travel and hotel compare sites for the best deals and being bombarded everyday with emails from the likes of:
- Booking.com
- Hotels.com
- Secret Escapes
- Airbnb
- Groupon
- Wowcher
- Oasis Travel
- Jet2City Breaks
- Jet2Holidays
The list goes on. (Feel free to use this list for your next travels)
Not only does having emails after emails from the above list trigger that there might be a problem arising, but I also have a profile with every single company and every single company has an app for smartphones being the 21st Century, which obviously means I have them all on my phone. I recently had to buy a new phone with more storage because I couldn’t bare to delete the apps from my old phone.
I noticed recently that a way in which I try to go on an adventure is finding a comedy show or a music concert that I want to see and finding out if there is a way that I can see that show or concert in a different country rather than seeing them locally in Belfast.
I have thought about my experience of having a travel obsession and have decided to list a number of reasons that show how I am obsessed with traveling. Please use this to your advantage when diagnosing yourself.
- Your Travel list is very long
- You are a member of every travel company or compare site
- There is no better feeling than when the plane or car takes off on your new adventure
- You start planning your next trip on your current trip
- You get restless if you don’t have a trip planned soon
- You get super excited when your plane or hotel is finally booked
- TripAdvisor and travel blogs are your go to read
- You get almost as excited about planning the trip as actually going
- Your phone is full of travel apps
- You go through security at any airport on autopilot (no pun intended)
- When someone tells you, they’re going on a trip you instantly want to know every detail
- You often feel the need to butt in and offer your travel planning expertise
- Your phones camera library is like a Travel Channel on steroids
- Any photo on social media that you stumble upon becomes a new place you will have to visit in the future
- You always have a half-unpacked suitcase laying around
- Every trip no matter how close to home becomes an adventure
My travelling is certainly not up to the standard of those Instagram posts that we all see. Due to being a student and definitely not having the funds to go to the amazing places that I want to go to. For me a good traveling adventure is even just staying a night away in Belfast, or out to Enniskillen, Dublin or even Portrush. My most recent trip was to Lusty Beg Island. It was very last minute and I got the deal off Wowcher. I had an amazing two nights away being carefree and having no responsibility, being able to do what you want and having no one question what I’m doing.
Which is a nice change considering I do live with my parents. Also, being able to make memories with the people I travel with. I don’t travel to boast about where I am or what I’m doing, and therefore I find that I don’t put a lot of my photos on Social Media, I prefer to have them for myself to share with close friends and family and to keep the memories close to my chest.
I find that having such an obsession not only can be exciting and fun but can also be distracting in jobs and when doing Uni work. It can certainly bring tension between the people I want to travel with and myself, as I am constantly tagging them in holiday competitions on Facebook or under videos of places I want to go. It can be hard because the people I’m tagging possibly don’t want to go or can’t afford it while I just keep gong on about the places I want to see with them.
I sometimes drive myself mad with it, as when I have something in mind I obsess over it until I am told its not going to happen or I find somewhere else I want to go and obsess over it.
I have a tone of places I want to go and see, and I hope that it won’t be long until I’m back on a plane or in my car and taking that next adventure. the video below is 100% my travel bucket list…for now. check it out:
Aimee Orr is a final year BSc in Communication Management and Public Relations student at Ulster University. She can be found on: LinkedIn: aimee-orr Twitter: @aimeeorr13