I Have Ants in My …Travel Mojo

“Do you think travel is an addiction?” I randomly probed my friend Greg, a frequent travel and adventure companion.

“Yes,” he replied deadpan and surprisingly quick.

“Hmmmm,” I perused, “I’ve never considered myself addicted to anything, but I definitely feel a strong yearning or restless angst if I haven’t ventured out for a bit. I can’t seem to shake it.”

Greg shot me a knowing grin.

If I don’t have a finalized travel experience looming, an idea brewing or preparations in full swing, I feel compelled to engage in one of the above before things get kinda, antsy. Greg is one of a select few hearty types that I send emails to with ideas like; “How about if we do a remote week-long mountain bike ride in Mexico, then sit on the beach and surf.” Or, “What about riding through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, or the length of Jordan?” (the latter was just sent a couple days ago)

I know I’ve inquired with the correct companions when their impromptu response is, “lets do it” before I’ve even offered any details. Because someone who needs to also satisfy their travel urges will rearrange what ever needs juggling in order put the wheels in motion for a really cool adventure. Right now.

Most of my travels start out as a spark, but the ones that come to fruition are the ideas that generate a really yummy gut feeling and compel me to initiate extensive research. Which is helpful when the research needs to go full tilt. Sort of like the engrossing 13 months of planning for Expedition Bhutan. The formulating phase can be almost as exciting as the getting on the plane part because it allows me to at least be an armchair adventurer by deep-diving into the geography, culture and nuance of a new place. So its helpful that I can sit happily for hours reading a Lonely Planet guide book cover to cover.

When researching for my masters thesis on risk taking I became intimate with and used several times, Marvin Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale. Two of the components of the scale are Experience Seeking and Boredom Susceptibility, traits on which ardent travelers tend to score high. A high score in these areas can imply that the desire to travel is innate or wired into our brains. Like an itch that must be scratched, no matter what.

Writer/philosophers may come at the presence of travel-longing with different reasoning, such as Anais Nin who says, “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives and other souls.” And she isn’t referencing the state of Kansas or New York here.

But whether we travel because we are hard wired to generate new and exciting experiences in order to satisfy a neurology, or whether we are just curious seekers expanding our souls, the pull is undoubtably visceral. To deny it feels like a hunger pang that can be squelched with only a specific type of calorie.

So to satisfy my current craving and since I’ve committed to staying US bound, at least for the next few months I’m heading up to the Sierras for a few days of fast packing. Perhaps some tough hiking and post holing on little sleep while eating dehydrated food, will beat into submission my Experience Seeking neural receptors?

As an extension of my travel-love I also get to also look forward to continuing sharing a treasure of a country, Bhutan in 2015 with other adventure seekers via my newly formed Adventure Travel Bhutan. Looking to run a race in a unique location, ride one of the toughest biking events on the planet or do an epic one-of-a-kind trek? Check out the exciting options. I’d like nothing more than to satisfy my travel mojo with you along in this icon of a country.

In the meantime I’m Sierra-bound. I’ll be back at you on the other side.

Terri Schneider