People ask me why I haven’t gone traveling in 5 years.   I mean, throughout the 5 years before that I was constantly traveling.

Between 2013-2018 I went on 6 different trips, visiting 43 countries over a combined stretch of 332 days.   Wow, that’s even crazy when I type that out.

That means in a five year stretch I traveled for almost a full year of it.

So, what happened?

Well, obviously covid played a big part in keeping me (and everyone else) grounded for almost 2 years.   But what about the last two years?

I could have easily gone traveling again in late 2021 and all of 2022 but I didn’t.

Why?

My Mom

As some of you know, my mom was diagnosed with dementia in the spring of 2020 just as covid was in full swing.   She went from a vibrant, active senior taking walks all over the city and running an ebay store to an invalid who couldn’t take care of herself anymore.

It truly is amazing how cruel the disease is and how it robs oneself of their dignity.

I moved into my mom’s place in the fall of 2020 to help take care of her so traveling no longer seemed like a priority.   In Feb 2022, my mom was no longer able to communicate verbally and was confined to a wheelchair.   We made the decision to place her in an assisted living facility.

A few short months later, in June of last year, she sadly passed away.

The solace I take from my mom’s passing is that she wouldn’t have wanted to live the life she was living in her final years so I hold on to that knowing that she is finally at peace.

Okay, sad stuff out of the way…

What else kept me from traveling?

My cats

Well, actually, technically they are my mom’s cats.   Well, originally they were.

My mom’s cat died in 2020 and she was so distraught with everything going on that I told her I would buy her a new cat.

During the covid summer of 2020, pet adoptions were hard to do and it actually took me a couple of months to find a cat for her.   In fact, I found two sisters who were just 6 months old.

When I drove out to her place to drop off the cats, she was so thrilled to have two new bundles of fur to keep her company.   By the next morning, however, I was driving back to pick them back up.   As much as she wanted the cats, she recognized that she just wasn’t capable of handling them.

Well, as it turns out, I had fallen in love with these two little bundles of fur and, now, they just hang out with me all the time.

Problem was, however, I didn’t know how I was going to travel now.   What was I going to do with the cats when I was away and, more importantly, how could I overcome the impending feeling of guilt of leaving them for weeks at a time?

It actually took me quite awhile to get over that mental block of guilt but I finally did and luckily I also have some amazing neighbors who are willing to check in with them every day to make sure they’re fed and loved.

But, that wasn’t all that was keeping me from traveling…

Losing the travel itch

This was a big one.

The simple fact of the matter is I just lost my passion to travel.   It just didn’t excite me anymore.

When I was embarking on my first few trips, it was all exciting and new but by the end it just wasn’t.

I went from a doe-eyed newbie traveler to a grizzled veteran backpacker over the years and that excitement of being new to everything in the backpacking world was no longer there.

I also think I messed up the last couple of trips when it came to planning.   I was trying to do too much in too little of time and I was moving from city to city way too quick.

In short, I wasn’t allowing myself to enjoy the experience of being free in the world and, instead, I put myself in a position where I had to do something every day whether it was seeing an attraction or commuting to the next city.   It was just too much.

Now, you’re probably saying, “uh, Todd, aren’t you doing the EXACT same thing on this upcoming trip?”

I mean, I am visiting 5 countries and 12 cities in just 16 days…

Well, yes and no.

I’m doing it a bit differently this time around by setting up a home base in a city and doing day trips to the other cities.   It allows me to be grounded in one city while also allowing me to switch things up or just say, “you know what, I ain’t going anywhere today”.

I also have come up with some travel “rules” for myself which I’ll be sharing in my next blog.   These rules are there so I don’t fall into the pitfalls that led to me losing my travel spark.

Anyway, that’s why I haven’t gone anywhere in 5 years.

That’s all changing though!

Just 12 days to go!   Twelve short, itty, bitty days and I’ll be out there again!

I can’t wait!