Friday 31 January 2014

The Girl Who Travels vs The Girl Who Loves To Travel


A recent blog post, Don't Date A Girl Who Travels, posted on lovethesearch.com by Adi Zarsadias got quite some interesting traffic after sharing it via social media. What was most interesting were the comments, with many girls agreeing that this post was exactly what girls who travel are like and with guys and a couple of girls stating that it made the girl look too carefree or flakey.

To summarize the article, the author states men should not date girls who travel unless they can keep up with spontaneity and adventure. Among some beautiful sun-kissed descriptions about girls who travel were these hard-hitting ones: This type of girl may have wasted her degree, doesn't have a permanent address nor knows when her next paycheck will come in. You can see why girls who love to travel got upset at those descriptions. But in all honesty it's quite the accurate description of a girl who travels.

While I disagree with the term 'wasted' her degree, I think she transferred the skills of independent thinking, responsibility-for-self, continuous learning, etc.to any occupation.

A girl who travels - this is not someone who goes on two-week vacations. This is someone who is nervous yet excited about uprooting her life and moving away for a year, at least. She might be cherry-picking in Australia this year, cow-tipping in southern France next year and teaching English in Korea the year after that. Truly, she knows not when her next paycheck will come in nor who will be the one paying it.

A girl who travels - while you may think she's flakey because she may change jobs frequently and may not even have a job you consider a 'real job' - before you criticize her or even try to understand her, realize she is living in a different league from you - not better nor worse, just different. There's no point comparing her to mainstream girls who just have a love for travel and dream of travel but could never even entertain the thought of a total uproot, let alone a backpacking adventure in hostels for months on end. There's a reason she's a freelancer, it always allows her to jump - flake, according to some - at any adventure.

The reason she doesn't have a permanent residence is because she's so used to living in different countries, she can't guarantee she'll be in this one for much longer. Or, that she lives with family when she's back in her 'hometown' as she'll be on her next adventure in no time.

And yes, she may never need you, but she will want you. She's independent enough to not depend on a partner but knows a very deep love, you'd be lucky to experience. She'll give you your space and encourage you to be your own individual but continue to love you, no matter the distance. Neither of you will be limited in your own bucket-lists just because you're a "couple" now.

Yes, most women who love to travel do share similar appreciations of travel as women who travel. They both want to see the world, both may be willing to backpack, stay in hostels, experience local cultures and become aware of the good and not-so-good that a country has to offer.

We all have a little bit of the Woman Who Travels in us, but can rarely commit to it as well as she can.

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