{"id":1020,"date":"2012-04-20T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T01:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jett.in\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2012-04-20T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2012-04-21T01:34:07","slug":"escapism-vs-infatuation-vs-true-love-vs-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2012\/04\/escapism-vs-infatuation-vs-true-love-vs-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Escapism vs. Infatuation vs. True Love vs. Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

[as i write, i’m trying to organize my thoughts. questions i ponder are in bold<\/strong>. this is more of a stream-of-consciousness post that has been edited 30+ times over the past couple of days…]<\/p>\n

i’ve been thinking lately, ever since\u00a0my transformation post<\/a>, what my other motivations for travel are. of course, the biggest one (and i suspect this is true for most people) is simply to escape: getting away from the drudgery of your daily routine and the mundane worries — or maybe not so mundane ones —\u00a0that plague us as human beings. for a couple of days or more, we’re free, unshackled and mary-tyler-moore-throw-your-hat-in-the-air<\/em> high on life.\u00a0on those special trips where something about the destination speaks to your heart, though, your feelings may deepen to an “i could\u00a0soooooo<\/em>\u00a0live here” level.<\/p>\n

i have a friend from germany who is currently visiting san francisco for the first time. he wrote a status update:<\/p>\n

Was zusehends unwahrscheinlicher wird: meine R\u00fcckkehr.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

or, translated, “what is quickly becoming increasingly unlikely: my return.”\u00a0i have often felt this myself. is this just escapism\/infatuation\/romanticism speaking? how much can you be charmed by simply\u00a0<\/strong>being removed from your everyday life?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>i’ve felt a much closer connection to germany than to other places (partially why i moved there for graduate school), but then another question logically arises. let’s say i somehow got the chance to move to berlin.\u00a0the honeymoon period has to end sometime…or does it?\u00a0<\/strong>i mean, when you’re traveling,\u00a0you are making your judgment more than likely based on the touristy parts of town, or at least the parts you\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0to see. and in my situation as a student, i didn’t have any of the “adult” stresses like a job (save for a\u00a0Hiwi position<\/a>) or mortgage payments. on the other hand, if you feel something magical about a place, it stands to reason that you could continue unearthing that charm the more you stayed there, right?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Life can't always be a love parade...right? (2006 Loveparade)<\/p><\/div>\n

this is actually something i think about often, since it forms the basis for one of the bigger regrets of mine.\u00a0i moved back to california from illinois shortly after college thinking i would like it there (err, here) more, only to be kind of bummed out. yes, i have friends (and more importantly, my significant other) in the bay area, but i don’t love it there and often daydream about living in chicago or new york city.<\/p>\n

(related:\u00a0is this what makes a modern-day nomad?\u00a0could i be perpetually high on life if i kept moving to wherever struck my fancy?)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

people do this all the time, relocate to a place they fall in love with, but i wonder if there are any studies on long-term happiness or rates of return. it just occurred to me that the basis of that decision to move (assuming there was nothing else involved, like a spouse or a job that forced it) has a lot to do with it: escapism is temporary, but infatuation could turn into a fondness, or even love.\u00a0but how can you tell the difference? if it’s the first of these, are you setting yourself up for failure? <\/strong>pretty soon what you’re escaping to becomes your new reality, right? would it be that much better than what you left behind? on the other hand, can you consider it a failure if you at least tried? that’s more than most people ever do.<\/p>\n

i suspect that this is one of those things that you never would know unless you actually did it, and unfortunately it’s so much easier said than done. that said, if i were given an opportunity (or decided to make my own opportunity) to relocate, i would. partially to start over, partially to have an adventure, mostly to move to a place that i feel a connection to.<\/p>\n

i think i’m leaving this blog post with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

for the record, cities i could see myself living in, in no particular order:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • marrakech<\/li>\n
  • paris<\/li>\n
  • anywhere in germany<\/li>\n
  • stockholm<\/li>\n
  • maybe seoul<\/li>\n
  • new york<\/li>\n
  • chicago<\/li>\n
  • lisbon<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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