Wanderlust, and the story back home

Have you ever had that feeling that you wanted to be in some other place? But when you would be there, really there, a small part of you always wanted to be back to the familiar place you came from. It is this peculiar feeling that you get when you experience ‘wanderlust’: the irresistible desire to travel. You always feel like you want to be somewhere else, no matter how happy you may be at home, parts of you just want to see more! And why would we want to resist that temptation? Why would we limit ourselves when there’s so much more to explore?!


After coming back from Malawi, I realized once more that our homes are such beautiful places, but that I would never only feel at home there. When going on an exchange, going backpacking, doing volunteer work or wherever you go doing your thing, you will feel like you’re creating new homes. Another country to have a second (or third, fourth, fifth) family in and a new place to call ‘home’. When you have lost your heart so many times in so many places, parts of you stay behind and remember you of all your travels and people you have met. You can go over the memories in your head, watching the pictures and daydreaming about walking the sandy roads to your second home, but you will never be able to relive them until you go there again and pick up the pieces you have (perhaps literary) have left behind.

Having a heart so diverse and fragmentized can make you feel sad, even sick. But call it homesick and you’ll know what to do. It makes you even stronger than you were before because on every journey, you’ll see a lot, you become independent and self-confident and above all, you’ll learn about traditions, sayings and whole societies through experiencing a culture from within. All you need is a healthy heart and an open mind! How hard can it be?! If only we cherish the changes that the journey brought us, we can keep making this world a better one (while saving money for the next flight of course).

By writing this one last blog, I wanted to let you know how difficult it is to fit back in, after being totally out of rhythm and suddenly seeing and realizing things I had never noticed before. For the first time, I felt like an outsider. Cultural norms, habits or just the way it all looks, seem odd, out of place or just weird. I asked myself: why do we do these things the way we do? The way we eat, what we eat, what we waste, the huge variety of products in supermarkets, precisely stacked and organized all for a reason, the way traffic flows, the way we greet, the way we meet; it is all so different.

But then, almost without noticing it, I was back in routine too: I started falling into old habits, thinking less about `how it was there´ and I started seeing things as normal again. There are always moments when I’m suddenly remembered of my time abroad: hearing that one song we listened to all the time, reading a word that remembers me of the local language, or best of all: seeing and speaking to the people I met there. Then all at once, wonderful memories comes back and it’s possible to recall the time we spent there together.


And now, I’ve finally found a way to name my ‘can’t-wait-to-go-travelling-again feelings’ as well: it’s not just ‘I like travelling’ anymore, I think I can now truly say, that the ‘virus’ of wanderlust, has reached me, too.

I hope that one day, you can tell me about the dreams you realized too. Don’t wait too long, or the chance will be lost.
Don’t think it’s never possible because then you’re not even trying.
Don’t give up your ambitions, dreams and hopes, they’re the best things we have.

May this be your inspiration. From now on, it’s up to you.