These Boots Were Made For Traveling

I love exploring travel (and general!) articles online on websites like Huffington Post, Thought Catalog, and Matador Network.

The first article I read of the 3 that I’m linking here was “Don’t Date a Girl Who Travels“. A month or so after that, I read the Thought Catalog post “Date a Guy Who Travels“. I hate to get political here, but I’m definitely against this whole “feminist” movement. Do I believe inequality for everyone? Absolutely, 100%, no question. But feminism these days seems drifting further and further from that. However, despite my feelings toward “feminism”, the titles of these articles do bother me. If you actually read the pieces, you’ll see that they’re very similar in nature – both talking about free spirited, backpacking, wanderlusting souls. So then why, if these two articles are similar, why does the one about guys say TO date them, and the one about guys say NOT to date them?

A few months ago, I stumbled across Matador Network’s opposition piece, “You Should Totally Date a Girl Who Travels“. Nearly as poetic and beautiful in how it’s written, it offers a good argument to “Don’t Date a Girl Who Travels”. In the end, I believe the “Don’t Date a Girl Who Travels” article is really just reverse psychology-ing the reader into wanting to date a girl who travels anyways.

I do also believe that there are some people, male and female, who cannot date someone who travels, unless they too enjoy traveling. It’s hard to be left at home, wondering and waiting, hoping their significant other stays true, doesn’t get into dangerous situations, and, ultimately, wants to return home to the relationship. There are other people who have the confidence and faith to date a person who is constantly gallivanting across the globe, and trust that their partner will come back to them at the end of their journey. I’ve dated both types of people – guys who weren’t okay with me traveling, and guys who were. Let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to actually want to stay true to a guy who lets me go off and wander, believing that I’ll come back to him. What the guy who argued with me and tried too hard to hold onto me didn’t realize was that those actions were exactly what pushed me away. Either way, no relationship is ever going to stop me from traveling.

Ultimately, I believe as a traveler it’s best to find somebody like-minded – find someone you can go off and adventure with, for all of your days together. Whether it be backpacking halfway around the world or exploring your hometown together, seek out someone who has your sense of wonder and adventure. If you’re not someone who travels, it could go either way – it might be best to find someone else who wants to stick close to home, or it could be fun to meet a person who will push you to spread your wings and explore a little more.

All of these articles make the traveler lifestyle sound dreamy, romantic and whimsical. While this is true, none of these posts mention the debt and financial problems, the restlessness, the unease of being “trapped” in a job, the depression that comes along with the realization that it is usually necessary to live a “normal” life for some period of time in order to afford to take off to see the world.

So there you have it, my opinions on these beautifully written pieces of prose. My only hope is that one day I can craft words as skillfully as these writers have done.

Date a Guy Who Travels

Don’t Date a Girl Who Travels

You Should Totally Date a Girl Who Travels

What are your thoughts on these articles?