There are different types of travelers. Some do it for a few days or few weeks a year. Many of these short term wanderers only go because they feel it is expected of them. That this is the thing to do. That this is a way of impressing their partner. Or their friends and family. Others seek mini-adventures or enjoy educating themselves. They suck up experiences - no doubt, different ones. There are those hunting for pleasure, for romance, for beautiful sunsets and great food. One can hunt for museums, track sites of past events of great importance, visit shrines or look at architecture. All of these at once, non of these, or some.
But what I want to talk about is a different sort of travelling. This sort of travelling is for many people joyless and very instrumental. This sort of travelling is working abroad. Each year a fair share of my fellow countryman flock to the UK to earn some money. When chatting one of them told me "It is a shame I have to work here for money. But, the salaries are just so much better than at home!" He likes to befriend people from our country abroad. To eat food prepared in the same as at home. To spend his holidays at home. And after he has saved enough money he plans to go home to open a small pub, and if it goes well, later maybe also a brewery.
He does not want to live there. He is like a traveler, who has to be there, but is never at home.
Myself, I feel at home everywhere after a very shot time. I even find that I prefer England to my home country, although I wouldn't live in Scotland, not for the Dear Lord's sake! Except if I would move there. I think then I could get to like it and feel at home quickly.
In a sense I'm lucky to be here. I always loved travelling. That's what I spent my spare money on, that's what I wanted my job to involve. And now I have it. I'm not in the position many other from Central- and East-Europe are: I could have gotten a job in my field at home, I could have made a living. Of course if one is in research what matters is which particular institution one is working at and the UK has some of the best Uni's and research institutes in the world. That was a strong incentive to come here. But I never experienced this as having to give up something.
At the same time I can grow attached to places I live at. In the last ten years I lived in eleven different places. Except for one flat, I always felt sad to live. That a period was over. That a way of life, a sight you get when you open your eyes is never to come back. I also miss some of the people I lived together with.
Do I travel light? In Forster's A Passage to India Mr. Fielding claims he travels light. He does not mind giving up his home, his job, his habits and his friendship with Dr. Aziz when he leaves for England. For some time I thought I'm like him. That travelling and moving, changing places will always come easily. But I found that it doesn't. At the same time, I do not feel bound. And I lack a desire for a long term home. A strange position to be in, but one of those of us who are always on the road.
