It’s early September and I should be traveling somewhere or preparing to go away.  Traveling in September, the start of the fall season was always something to look forward to – to survive the hot, sticky, humid, icky Philly weather which was often in the high 90’s (or hitting 100F) and be rewarded with an amazing trip usually to the Toronto International Film Festival.  But this fall, I have a travel dilemma – I’m self diagnosing myself with a case of the destination doldrums.  Armed with vacation time to use, free hotel stay certificates, air miles and hotel points, all should be good things and yet, I’m stuck.

Last year, I was preparing for my insane two months of travel (two over the pond and one RTW), the year before I was off on my African Adventure and the years prior enjoying my beloved Toronto Film Festival watching 20 films in less than 5 days.  This year, I had a summer of insane travel over six weeks (two over the pond and one West Coast trip) which left me exhausted again but also with a big case of wanderlust to go somewhere new.  While I know many friends who can happily take the same cruise ship to the same islands each year or visit the same summer beach, I’ve not able to do that (I’m sure a therapist has a theory on this).

In the past, I would hesitate to return to a destination as I craved somewhere new – to challenge myself to explore the country/city/town and find the adventure which allowed me to discover new pieces of myself along the way. A reset of my mind, body and spirit to reconnect me to the larger world knowing that I was only a small part of it. A part of me keeps trying to recapture the travel ghost of years gone by – back before the internet when the only information I knew was from guide books, history books and the encyclopedia. Travel may not have been that glamorous back then (flying coach, staying budget hotels) but it was exciting to write postcards home to friends/family that arrived after I returned, trying to figure things out when barely any English was spoken and local currencies prevailed (I was a multi-millionaire in Italian lire).  Fun to recall a time when I asked the overseas operator to place a collect call home and my Dad not wanting to pay would say “he wasn’t accepting the call” as code for “Glad you arrived in x country and are OK”.

The past year I revisited Paris, London (repeat for work), Dublin, Portland, Seattle, New York City and Chicago (just look in the category drop down to read the posts from each city). With each visit, I tried to add on new activities and/or new hotels to give me a different perspective so they would avoid my travel destination burnout list. I had more than my fair share of rain which was flat out depressing (due to the rain Sydney now joins Toronto on the burnout list) but made the most of all of my travels – good and bad.

I wonder if others get the travel blahs?  Not everything (at least for me) is always 100% fantastic. While I would love to just pack a bag and show up at the airport and say “a ticket on the next flight” like they do in the movies, that isn’t quite practical.   Looking at my Instagram feed from amazing travelers, I feel a pull to get on a plane every day to escape.  But where to go is the big question?

Where to go?  The travel agent called  – there was a no single supplement space available in November for my Galapogos dream trip (a rare thing indeed) and I said “no”.  A cruise in Brazil with a 25% single supplement all inclusive luxury in December and I said “no”.  Who am I – Goldilocks?…waiting for the “just right” trip that will break me out of my doldrums.  What/when will that be?

This is a first world problem as they say and I’m well aware of that – poor me, I have to travel and use vacation days and don’t want to repeat a destination. As I’ve stated before, everyday I’m thankful that I’ve traveled around the world to so many incredible places and have had awesome experiences.  Yes, it may be silly but I’m sure (hope) others have felt this way too (or maybe it is only me and I’m the odd duck out). Have you ever had the destination doldrums?  What did you do to cure them?  And do you have a destination burnout list of places you just can’t go back to yet?