Do you love to travel? Duh – what a question, of course, you do, otherwise you would not be reading this.
But do your friends and family also love to travel? No? Well, then you’re not alone. I have quite a few friends and family who are not as keen globetrotters as me, and sometimes I feel quite a disconnect from them. It’s to them my intense desire to explore the world, immerse myself in other cultures and leave my comfort zone to learn more about myself at the same time.
Especially, when I come back from a longer trip or catch up with someone I haven’t seen in a long time, I get the sense that they get bored by my stories quite quickly. They might ask how my trip was, but in reality, they don’t seem to care about that one time I tried to check in but realised I had booked my hostel for the next day. Or the time I followed a local’s advice and sat down to eat in a dingy-looking back alley restaurant, only to find the best plate of pad thai in the world. Or the time I felt so lonely and homesick, that all I wanted to do was pack my bags and board the next flight home – but I persevered and was rewarded with life-long memories and new friends around the world.
Not everyone wants to hear the stories, not everyone can relate to them, but if you are like me, then you’re still keen to find a way to share your love for travel with others. Here are 10 ideas for sharing your love for travel – whether it’s about a trip you did in the past or just generally your passion for exploring the world.
1) Start a travel blog, vlog or podcast
I started writing about my travels so my friends and family back home could keep up to date and follow my path. I’m sure many travel bloggers out there will have a similar origins story! Of course, you could also start a vlog or podcast, or simply post regularly on your social media channels to let your people back home be a part of your journey. The benefit of having a creative outlet for your love of travel is that
a) you feel like you’ve already shared the story, so you won’t spend as much time talking about it afterwards (or only to the people who are really interested), and
b) your friends and family can decide themselves how much they want to know and how often they want to check in.
If you’re not sure how to get started, check out our .
2) Give them a photo gift
I love giving people gifts that include my favourite travel photos. An image can say really more than a thousand words, and it’s a very gentle way of sharing some of the most beautiful places you went to with your loved ones, without overwhelming them with all your stories.
I recently launched my 2019 photo calendar with photos from around Scotland and can’t wait to share it with my family for Christmas. If you love Scotland or know someone who does, you can also order one (+ support my small business) – it’s only £20 for 13 beautiful photos from Scotland! You can purchase my calendar .
3) Bring a souvenir and just tell the story behind that
If your friends are overwhelmed by the number of stories and impressions you have to share, why don’t you focus on one particular, to begin with? I love picking up local crafts and artisanry to bring home as . They make for beautiful and practical gifts, but also excellent story opportunities. You could tell your friend about the market where you picked up the present, or about the person who made it, or why it is significant for that particular country you visited.
Holding something in their hand along with your story will give them the opportunity to make a personal connection with the location you traveled to themselves.
4) Host a dinner party with recipes you picked up on the road
Food brings people together. Who doesn’t love to spend an evening surrounded by friends and indulging in delicious food all night? I bet you’ve picked up some dishes and recipes on your trip, and as soon as you’re home you already crave your favourite food from abroad. Perfect!
Host a dinner party (it does not have to be formal at all) for your friends and cook some of the dishes you loved eating so much when you traveled. You can tell them about the ingredients, about the first time you tried the dish and who knows, maybe it sparks your friends to tell about their latest foodie adventure too – at home or abroad!
If you’ve come home without recipes, but think this sounds like a nice idea, check out these .
5) Write a book
If you love writing, but you don’t want to start a blog which needs consistent maintenance and new content, you could write a book! Writing in long format gives you the chance to really include every experience that you want to share and tell your story the way you want to. It might be a daunting thought to write a book, but I’m sure there is a book-worthy story in your passion for travel and you can do it!
Travelette Annika has written a book about her love for solo travel (it’s available ) and a friend of mine, who just finished a 500-mile hike along the Scottish National Trail, is preparing a book about her trip too (stay tuned ). And don’t forget former Travelette Frankie, who writes travel-inspired short stories (read them ).
6) Try to understand them (+ dismantle their fears)
I know it’s disheartening when your friends and family don’t show the enthusiasm you wished for when you start talking about your trip but have you tried to understand why that might be? A lot of times, I think the non-interest for traveling comes out of fear, worries or concerns – there are a lot of common , which makes it sound like a crazy idea, to begin with.
Or maybe your friends are a little jealous? Not necessarily because they also want to travel the world, but maybe they have certain obligations that make it hard to live the life they want to. Talk to them about their own life and development, about their dreams and desires – you might discover that you are not so different. In fact, you might share the same dreams, only that they become manifest in different ways!
7) Share a new skill
Another source for their dismissal for your passion to travel might be motivated by the perception of travel as a waste of time. I make that experience with friends of mine who are particularly career-oriented (or even my parents) – they think my love for travel is a way for me to stall my professional development, maybe even running away from the responsibility of being a grown-up. But there are SO many . Transferrable skills, yes, but also practical things like cooking or a new language.
Think about a skill you’ve learnt on your travels and organise a day with your friends or family to share that skill. It doesn’t have to be anything huge, but it will show them that you pick up new skills all the time. It might peak their interest to do something similar!
8) Watch a travel-inspired film together
Everybody loves films and I think there is an inspiring film for every taste. If your friends don’t understand your fascination with other countries and culture, sit them down and watch a film together. It could be a or a around the world – it really doesn’t matter. But it will certainly spark an interest in your friends!
9) Make them a playlist with your travel songs
That feeling when a song comes that you listened to all the time on the road – I’m sure you know what I mean! I like listening to certain artists and albums when I travel, but I also always try to pick up some local music along the way, see a live performance or learn a bit about local instruments and rhythms.
Back home that is something I can share with people. I have a lot of friends who aren’t huge on globetrotting, but they love music and in a way listening to a playlist of my travel songs together creates that connection between their passion and mine and we finally understand each other!
10) Ask them to come on an adventure with you
No one expects your travel-wary friend to join you on a 6-month budget backpacking trip across South America. A trip like that requires , and if they’re not that into travel they might not be the right fit. But that doesn’t mean you can’t go on an adventure together! Spend a day in your hometown playing tourists, grab a rental car and explore a new part of the country on a weekend trip or sign up for a cooking class or another skills workshop together to convey the feeling you get when you are abroad!
Do you think you can use any of these methods to convince your friends and family to also fall in love with travel?
