After we returned home from Iceland a couple weeks ago, our third trip to the amazing country, I got to thinking about returning to those places we love as a traveler. We hear all the time from travel bloggers about all the places they see, about the places we’re supposed to want to visit. And in reality, most of us, myself included, often travel to places to experience them and check them off our travel list. Some we like, some we don’t. But some we love, and when we do fall in love with places we visit, I’m a huge believer in returning to experience them again.
Personally, I’m not a traveler just for the sake of traveling. And in all honesty, as much as I love traveling, I love being home too. So when I travel, I’m traveling to feel something, to find love with a destination. I’m not in it for the thrills, if that makes sense. I’m in it for the “feels.” So when traveling becomes something else, when we’re just checking countries off a list, when we visit some place one time and have no idea why anyone would go back – I don’t quite get that and I think it’s not doing the world any good service.
You see, sometimes we’re too abstract as travelers or tourists. Sometimes we forget all these beautiful places we visit have a whole story to them other than what our story as a traveler there might be. And until we can open up and see more, visit more deeply, see places in different times of year or different times in our lives, we don’t really know much about a place. We never get to see beyond the surface until we revisit, until we come back.
There are places that I don’t have a real desire to go back to, sure, but some places I revisit regularly because they mean something deeper to me. This was our third trip to Iceland and we visited again not because we didn’t have a million other places on our travel list (we do!), not because it was a necessity, but because we love the country so much we want to keep exploring it, keep opening ourselves to it, keep seeing more of what Iceland really is. We try really hard (it’s getting harder and harder) to return to Paris at least once every calendar year because it’s a city we adore deeply. There are some places you’ll encounter in your travels, and they will be different for each person, places that just call you back to them. So if you’re just starting out traveling or if you’re seasoned already, I think it’s really important to remember not to just travel for the sake of travel, but to revisit places again and again, even if you have more new places to see. It’s important for us to return to places that pull at us, places that call to us on a deeper level. It’s important to dig deeper, to explore further, and to let our souls be drawn in to destinations that connect with our souls.
Kate says
I love London and can’t imagine not visiting again. Even though I’ve been half a dozen times, there are still plenty of things there that I haven’t seen or done! I also like that I’ve been able to visit during different seasons — London in the springs isn’t the same as London in the fall or winter.
Casey says
Totally! I think revisiting a place in different seasons or different times in your life is so great and so different!
Rosie | Girl In Awe says
I’m heading to Iceland in December for just five days, and I can already tell that I’ll want to go back. Especially since we’re not hiring a car, there’s going to be so much that we just won’t get to see.
I recently came back from Canada, and it’s one of those rare places you go that just feels like home and we’re already planning to go back. There are other places on our list, but we need to see more of Canada.
Casey says
Oh yes, so much to see in Iceland, it’s worthy of several trips! And I hear you on Canada too… I want to start exploring it way more!
Penny In Wanderland says
I looove Paris!!! I’ve been 3 times and I want to visit again and again the streets and the cafes!!! <3 You can never be bored in this city!!!!!
Casey says
So true…. I could keep going back forever! 🙂
Rachael - Seachange Okinawa says
I love this post and it’s so true for me. I love re-visiting places. For me it’s Japan, which has actually brought me to live here again. No matter how many times I go there is not only the places to re-visit but new places to discover.
Casey says
Totally. There are some places that you just can’t help but fall in love with and even though you go over and over, there is just something that keeps drawing us back. I love that feeing!
Oh The Places We'll Go...360! says
I very much agree to exploring deeper. It sort of hurts my soul when I realise that people travel just to say that they have been to that place and not go beyond the surface to understand that destination. The world is so beautiful and to see solely on the surface is very disappointing. Thanks for this post.
Casey says
Totally. It’s so worthwhile to go deeper and really experience a place!
Anna says
I recently asked my blog readers if they ever revisited a place that they travelled to. And I have to say I fully agree with your opinion: don’t travel just to travel. Instead, feel “at home” or even feel something meaningful.
Casey says
Totally. Some places mean so much more than checking it off a list… some just speak to your soul!