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Travelling Is Not About Ticking Boxes
It’s all about experiences
I am currently on a road trip around Europe. A couple of friends and I have been driving around for nearly 6 months.
In that time we have seen a lot of places, had a few unfortunate moments and been to plenty of new countries.
The other day we got a ferry from Sweden to Finland. As we drove off the ferry and towards our destination, I realised that Finland was the 40th country I have visited.
While it was nice to reach this number, it was not my goal. Apart from a few select countries, I have not seen a lot of those 40 countries. A few of them I have entered and left again within an hour!
It’s a stretch to say I have even visited them, so brief was the time I spent in those places.
This got me thinking about why we are suddenly so obsessed with tracking how many countries we have visited and the desire to “tick them off.”
Travelling has never been about this for me. This is not Pokemon, where the aim is to catch them all, it should be an exercise in expanding your horizons, experiencing different cultures, stepping out of your comfort zone and seeing how life is led around the world.
