P2 and I diving with guitarsharks in Morrungulo, a remote town on the coast of southern Mozambique

Preamble

I’ve had the idea for this post rattling around in my brain for a couple of weeks, but I decided to write it down after the sad news posted on One Mile at a Time last week. 

It’s likely been awhile since you spent a ton of time reading OMAAT, but for me, it was a great place to start as a beginner. Additionally, you probably end up there every time you google “[Airline] [Plane Type] business class review” in anticipation of an upcoming award booking because Lucky is the review GOAT and has reviewed basically every product on earth. 

One thing I always thought was cool about OMAAT was how often Lucky endeavored to bring his loved ones on review shenanigans, often telling his father to just pack a bag and meet him at the airport for a surprise. I spent a lot of time daydreaming as a beginner about surprising my family like that.

He also covered the extensive travel he did with his mother after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. They were able to make the absolute most of her last years in a way that very, very few people get to do thanks at least in part to his expert knowledge of award programs.

The first thing I ever wrote about MS and churning was this MEAB guest post, and I feel even stronger now about how important it is to use some percentage of your earnings for experiences like this. MS and favorable award charts aren’t going to last forever, and neither are we. 

Whether it’s family, friends, pets, whatever, make space to do something cool with your stash of points, and bring someone along for the ride. Insert Anthony Bourdain quote here. 

Finding purpose in travel

The first time I ever traveled across the pond was a Spring Break study abroad when I was in college, visiting Lisbon and Porto in Portugal. I think 25% of my phone storage is still taken up by all the photos I took over a 9 day trip. Buildings, statues, food, water bottle labels, anything I saw I took a photo of.

I probably took more photos of one statue or building in Porto than I did in total over 3 weeks in Australia this summer.

I don’t feel bad or guilty about the fact that I wasn’t on the edge of my seat taking photos of everything like I was in Lisbon. Traveling more often (especially outside of a Western comfort zone) means that experiences that would once have been novel aren’t as stimulating.

And that’s ok – there’s nothing you can do about it. The more you travel, the smaller the world gets. And while a hobby involving amassing an absurd amount of points and miles does certainly help you travel more, this feeling is not at all exclusive to churners (albeit I will say that desensitization to the shock and awe of a premium cabin or luxury hotel is kind of a bummer).

My all time favorite writing of any kind on the internet is this frisson inducing post and top-level comment posted in 2012 on /r/IWantOut. While this is in the context of expatriation and vagabonding, it rings just as true for other types of travel and lives rent free in my head. 

“The more places you see, the more things you see that appeal to you, but no one place has them all. In fact, each place has a smaller and smaller percentage of the things you love, the more things you see.”

And while this comes across as solemn, I think it’s just a fact of life. Seeing something like a European McDonald’s or actually competent public transportation isn’t as fascinating the 100th time as it is the first. 

Once the pandemic subsided, P2 and I were chomping at the bit to travel internationally again like I’m sure many of you were. We decided to do a warm weather trip down to Honduras to try scuba diving and see if we wanted to get certified.

While it took some acclimation to truly fall in love, it has become 80% of our purpose for travel, maybe splitting 10% with food and 10% with hiking. For me, the staggering biodiversity experienced underwater was the key to feeling like a college student in Lisbon again.  

Additionally, the majority of the world’s best diving is disproportionately remote – sometimes, the truly unique interactions in far-flung parts of Mozambique or the Philippines or the conversations with fellow divers over lunch on Sipadan Island or a liveaboard in the Coral Sea are even better than the underwater life.

This isn’t scuba diving propaganda – you either love it or hate it. My advice is to find whatever your driving interest is, agnostic of geographic location. Whether it’s something manmade like art, architecture or food or a natural wonder like trekking or birdwatching, there is something out there ready to attract your attention to some unique destinations that wouldn’t be on your radar otherwise.  

If anything, you may quickly find yourself in a similar situation to the beginning of your MS fueled travel – you have the ability to experience the best the world has to offer at whatever drives you to travel, at a rate faster than many other people do. But speaking from experience, sometimes the “world’s best” lists leave off plenty of hidden gems.

I hope you’re able to find whatever that passion is for you.

“None of this is to suggest that one should ever reduce travel. It’s just a warning to young travelers, to expect, as part of the price, a rich life tinged with a bit of sadness and loneliness, and angst that’s like the same nostalgia everyone feels for special parts of their past, except multiplied by a thousand.”

Hey, if you made it this far, leave one of your favorite travel memories in the comment. I’d love to hear them.