Do you experience travel craving?
It's not necessarily about planning a trip, though I love that part
I never really thought about explaining in that way, but yes, I definitely do!
Tucked into a recent L.A. Times article about why Disney parks are such an addictive experience was this gem of an idea:
Though research around “travel craving” is new and relatively sparse, behavioral psychologists and cognitive scientists believe a yearning for travel can fit the clinical understanding of craving as “a strong desire to modify ongoing cognitive experiences” in ways that don’t only relate to addictions.
Neuropsychologist Paul Nussbaum, an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, explains that such cravings can be especially focused on getting specific outcomes from one’s vacation. “Our brain’s circuitry is wired to both desire things and to have our desires resolved temporarily with action,” he says. In other words, for people who describe their love of Disney travel this way, craving a trip to Disneyland may not only be a desire, but a yearning that continues to grow until satisfied.
The study referenced in the article was published in 2020, when global lockdowns curtailed most travel, and defines the phrase as such:
Travel craving is a travel focused cognitive-emotional event with aversive or incentive properties experienced when a person who wishes to travel cannot do so, for reasons beyond their control.
Basically, how “travel craving” is defined for the purpose of this study is a person’s desire to be somewhere else even though they can’t actually travel there.
Which is fair! But I think that’s a little simplistic because it doesn’t take into account the nuances of wanting to travel somewhere beyond the thought “gee, I’d be so much happier if I were at Disneyland.” Or Joshua Tree. Or MASS MoCA.
I’d like to see if this research could be expanded for a non-lockdown situation to see how we cognitively and emotionally process the idea of travel when we’re actively planning a trip or daydreaming about future possible trips in general.
I mean, I love mapping out a vacation almost as much as I love taking the trip itself. Why else would I make my own Travel Packing and Travel Itinerary planning dashboards? The act of researching and organizing all our potential moments on a road trip definitely gives me some kind of mental high.
But I also love having the ephemeral ideas of so many potential trips floating around in my brain, even the ones that are many years off and maybe won’t ever happen in this lifetime.
They could happen. I want to believe that we’ll be able to take a campervan road trip hitting every National Park from San Diego to Seattle at some point.
And just looking at the map of National Parks on our staircase wall and thinking of that trip as a possibility also gives me a dopamine or serotonin boost or whatever involuntary neurophysical response goes with that conscious thought.
So I put the question to you: Does the feeling of “travel craving” also resonate with you? Do you get an emotional rush from planning trips, or is that more of a downer than an upper in your case?
Don’t forget! Free Thanksgiving webinar!
Are you hosting Thanksgiving for the first time and don’t know where to start? Are you nervous and overwhelmed about everything you have to get done before Thanksgiving?
Or do you just love to hear me talk about amazing ways to organize your life?
I’m hosting a FREE webinar this Tuesday, November 14 at 7:00 pm EST. In this quick 20-minute workshop, I’ll walk you step-by-step through my organizational timeline for the next two weeks.
I’ll show you:
how to make a shopping list that covers all your bases
how to prep day-by-day so you’re not doing everything on Wednesday night
and how to get through Thanksgiving Day with calm and a really really good plan.
A replay link will be available — and did I mention it’s free?
Join me on Tuesday, November 14 at 7:00 pm EST and we’ll tackle Thanksgiving planning together.