How Wanderlust Redefines The Meaning Of Home

As soon as my 12^th grade got over I was off to see the world and by world I mean my first love in travel, to Ladakh. I just knew that the time had come I spread my wings and started to fly high and ever since then, I’ve never looked back. As a child my parents took me to some place or another to spend a week or two, they simply loved to travel and this hobby of ours to travel soon became a habit. There have been times when I spent even starting days of school after the vacations got over, lounging in some offbeat unknown guesthouse in the mountains, that must have really made an impact on my childhood. I long for solitude and silence of the mountains when I’m in my city; which is not so often, but whenever I am, I can’t think of the time when ill leave for another adventure again.

The whole story is about being constantly on the move. There’s no respite as such from this feeling of restlessness that we feel when we have a trip coming closer and closer. Ask me I always have the curious case of butterflies in my tummy! It’s been three years and ever since then I’ve traveled extensively, almost every month in a year. The duration of the trips got increased and so did my priorities, I was no more interested in seeing the local attractions and doing things that every tourist did. I began to be inclined towards spending more time with the locals and walking around the paths as much as I could. When we travel, we realize that there’s actually so much to see and to be a witness of. Not having a home is no issue at all as long as you have a job that you can pursue while you travel as you still earn money to fund your exploration.

 Image Credits- The Roadtrip Diaries

When I travel, I stay at offbeat places… sometimes army cantonments that are pretty deserted and far off from the main bazaar and sometimes guesthouses in the middle of a jungle, where you’d have to trek a little to reach your new makeshift home. It’s quite amazing how one the entire room becomes your reflection of the outside world, transforming into your own personality. Of course, you always miss home where your family is and how your friends get together for birthday bashes and night outs, all that definitely becomes another way of missing home but it’s not so bad after all.

But once you’ve traveled enough, you’ll know that home isn’t a house of bricks and stones but it’s a feeling you get when you have people you know around. Family and friends, you dog or cat. They all are people who have made a difference in your life and it doesn’t quite matter if you’re back in your home town with them or in a city that’s new to all of you. The feeling of home is a feeling of love and comfort and letting your guard down for a while. Yes, I do want the luxury of my own bed and closet sometimes and despise living out of a backpack but at most times it’s enriching.

Robert W. Service once wrote...

" There's a race of men that don't fit in, a race that cant stay still; so they break the hearts of kith and kin, and they roam the world at will. They range the field and they rove the flood, and they climb the mountains crest; there's is the curse of the gypsy blood, and they don't know how to rest "

I couldn't agree more with Mr.Service on this. We all are restless souls sharing experiences with fellow wanderlusts!

 Image Credits- The Roadtrip Diaries

Travelling makes you realize that we make life so materialistic at most times that we forget about what actual treasures of life are. They are all about having happy moments spent with the people you love laughing at some random joke in a remote coffee shop in some offbeat village in the mountains. It’s much more than having your own property and earning a lot of money to live in luxury. There is so much to see in the world, that you don’t really need to have a real home!

Travel the world; explore your own country or your own backyard. Meet new people and make new conversations. Go for adventures that you otherwise would have avoided or not been keen on doing. Start being spontaneous! I can hardly remember a time when somebody met me and asked me to go on for a trek or just random exploration and I refused. Never has it happened and never shall it.  Not having a real home also makes you value what you already have. So remember, it’s never a bad thing to miss home while you travel, but it is all about moving with happiness in your heart and the support of your loved ones. Once you get bitten by the wanderlust bug, there’s no looking back…

You have long forgotten what the cozy bed at your quaint home felt like, the taste of home made food cooked by your aunts or your mother and all the things you once did before you decided to travel often than you used to. Have no apprehensions, there's alot to be done in this world and trust me there can be no hindrances of any kind. Wherever you go, spend some time understanding the place and becoming friends with the windows... windows provide for an introspecting view of the world, not just whats immediately outside but everything and everybody outside and around you. home becomes where you have really been welcomed warmly. Stepping inside a really old British cottage and being offered a warm cup of coffee while it snows outside, that's what home feels like...warm, cozy and welcoming. a place where you can rest without tensions and leave behind your worries on the doorstep. 

Be fearless and travel!

 

Image Credits- The Roadtrip Diaries