Here is how to identify if you are a travel obsessed person. No worries. If so, I am more than happy to welcome you to the club!
Do you have the slight hunch that you are obsessed with travel? Well, read ahead and find for yourself. If you identify with 20 or more, you may be in trouble.
1. Your pet is named after your favorite city in the world or after something that makes you remember your travels. It can get even more obsessive. I recently read an article about a guy who named his daughter Skye after his favorite Scottish island.
2. If a flight attendant is out, you can easily replace her/him. You know how to give the security briefing and where the food is located. Furthermore, you can probably navigate thru the plane blindfolded.
3. You can pack in less than 20 minutes.
4. When you go to the book store, you head first to the travel section area or to the travel magazine stand.
5. You know exactly how many countries you have been to. You even have one of those maps where the visited countries appear in a particular color. Don’t deny it, I know where you got it.
6. When someone tells you he or she is going somewhere, you want to know all the details.
7. You don’t know what to say when someone asks what is your favorite country or city. Most difficult question. Ever.
8. Your friends ask you constantly: where are you going next? Or when you run into a person you haven’t seen in a long time, she asks you where you have been during the time she hasn’t seen you.
9. Hey, Department of State, I need more pages in my passport.
10. Additionally, you get pissed off when you enter a country and they don’t stamp your passport.
11. You know where all the closest foreign embassies are located.
12. Back at home, when you eat at a gyro, you say it doesn’t taste like the one you had in Greece or Turkey.
13. You are subscribed to 50+ travel blogs.
14. When someone asks where you bought that ring, shirt, bag, or blanket, you answer Italy, Thailand, or Argentina.
15. There is nothing more heartbreaking than not being able to travel on a constant basis.
16. Planning multiple trips at the same time is normal for you.
18. Desperation fills your mind when you think about all the countries you still have to visit.
19. You cry when you have to throw away your travel collects because there is no more shelf, closet, or garage space available. Oh, wait!! That is why paid storage spaces were invented.
20. However, your other half thanks God aloud when you say you are going to clean the place where you have stored all your travel info and there is a slight possibility that something may end in the trash.
21. You burn all your vacation time way before the end of the year.
22. Newsletters with travel deals arrive constantly in your inbox.
23. Before that trip, you just can’t sleep. You are too excited.
24. You take a wheelbarrow to travel shows.
25. Maps are displayed at your house or office. That’s a freaky one.
26. Your Internet nickname contains a variation of the following words: travel, nomadic, backpacking, runaway, wandering.
27. Have your mom ever asked you why you can’t be normal? Plus, she says not to use her anymore as your emergency contact.
28. You know how to say hi and thank you in 10 different languages. Sawadee Krup. Bula. Xie Xie.
29. The Constitution is shorter than your bucket list. By the way, the original US Constitution has 4543 words. Just saying.
30. You start your own travel blog so you can justify all your travel craziness as work.
31. You felt an extreme urgency to read this post when you saw its title on Facebook or Twitter.
Do you identify with any of this? Can you identify more symptoms?
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And remember to read my other uber fantastic posts:
27 ways to ruin your travel experience
The most incoherent and shameful things I have heard in my travels
inka says
I am guilty of #10 and #31. Sure, i’m a travel junkie and proud to be. I don’t consider myself in serious trouble although I wouldn’t name my dog or child Hong Kong. A hilarious post my dear which I have read twice.
Ruth says
What is wrong with Hong Kong? That is a pretty name.
Jan Ross says
OMG, you nave described me!! People don’t understand when I ask about their trips, I want to hear every detail!!
Ruth says
I know Jan. Sometimes, I don’t want to look like a stalker but people don’t offer enough details.
Michael Figueiredo says
This made my day, Ruth! I can relate to every single one of them (except #s 26 & 27)…. I think that WE are the normal ones and the people who aren’t obsessed with travel are the weirdos 🙂
Ruth says
Wow, 29 out of 31. That smells like trouble.
Glad to see you liked the post.
Raymond says
Guilty of 10, 15, 30, and 31…
Most excellent post!!
Ruth says
Thanks by stopping by Raymond. Thanks for your king words. Glad to see you are one of us.
Seattle dredge says
Haha oh my god, so true
I think they all apply to me
Worse yet–MY name is the name of a city 😮
Ruth says
I missed that one. Can’t believe that is your name. You were destined to become obsessed with travel!!!!
Cathy Sweeney says
I proudly identify with quite a few of these! I wish that I needed to contact the Dept of State about getting more pages in my passport. Really enjoyed this post — fun!
Ruth says
Thanks Cathy. I got more passport pages a few years ago. It is cool to have a “fatter” passport.
Ruth says
That was me. Sometimes my picture does not show.
adventureswithben says
I hate it when I don’t get a passport stamp! Those are badges of honor. I am even more upset when they stamp them and I can’t read them!
Ruth says
I agree with you. I am like: “Why are you not stamping my passport, dude?, How do somebody know if I entered your country”.
I once paid to get a passport stamp but don’t tell anyone.
Another time they didn’t stamp my passport in Belize and then I was in big trouble. See, it is important to have passport stamps. You really need them. It is not just for travel obesed people.
Cheri says
So guilty…and never going to apologize! 🙂 Great article!
Ruth says
That’s theattitude, sister!!!
Christy @ Technosyncratic says
As I was reading this I kept saying to myself “mmhmm…. yep…. that describes me!” There are worse obsessions to have than travel. 😛
Ruth says
That is a good way to see. You are right.
Bluegreen Kirk says
Needing more pages in your passport is a sure sign! But being able to do the flight attendants job is def funny! lol
Adrianna says
So true i am so glad that i we found this post i will kept this for my self.thanks!
Jaime says
jaja love this list… I agree with all of them. I LOL when I read about not getting a stamp in your passport. I get so mad…lol I want my stamps…lol!!!
Becky says
Ha! I am guilty of so many of these! I love number 1. My dog is named Preston after an English city I visited whilst on study abroad 🙂