On wanderlust

Part 2

"If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food, it's a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move."

Anthony Bourdain

My name is Lost Poet and I have wanderlust! The dictionary defines wanderlust as a strong desire to travel. It can be described as a strong feeling, desire, or drive to see different places and to travel away from home. It differs from someone who loves to travel, or a hodophile, in that it’s more of an urge to explore, instead of a desire to travel just for the sake of traveling.

My experience of wanderlust started from a very young age. One of my earliest recollections of existence is a family vacation to Denmark. Since then, I’ve traveled to over ten countries and resided in three. I don’t know if the amount of places I’ve visited is the genesis of my wanderlust, or if it’s a character trait I was born with, or just a desire to be always moving, in flux.

Maybe I was, am, trying to run away from something. Can you run away from your troubles? As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized the answer is no. You cannot run away from your memories, and running from people is not a long-term fix. Am I just predisposed to being nomadic? No. I have a house, and I don’t think I want to lead a nomadic existence. I want to put down roots. I don’t travel anywhere near the amount I want to. But, there may be something in the nomadic theory.

Humanity, as a species, has been nomadic for the majority of human history. Hominims appeared on Earth approximately 7 million years ago. Homo genus around 2 million years ago and the earliest homosapien, as we’d recognize them as a human, 910,000 years ago. It wasn’t until the end of the last ice age, approximately 10,000 BCE, that farming began to be developed. Prior to this, humanity were hunter gatherers, traveling around following food sources and migrating based on the seasons. Once farming took root, people settled down, cultivated small areas, and learnt to adapt, long-term, to their surroundings and climatic shifts. My point is: humans, by our very nature, have moved, needed to move, for the vast majority of our existence. The behavior, desire, need, is ingrained in our collective psyche.

This fits with the evidence of migration throughout human history. If people didn’t wake up and want to explore past their horizons we’d all still be living in the ‘Cradle of Civilization’. The great migrations out of Africa and across the European continent wouldn’t have occurred. Britain wouldn’t have been repopulated after the last ice age. The Roman empire wouldn’t have existed, the Germanic and Norse migration wouldn’t have occurred, Polynesian islands would be uninhabited, and the American continent would still be populated by indigenous peoples. Whatever your views on migration, it appears to be a built-in trait.

Along with the archeological and anthropological evidence, there have been recent studies that support some level of this behavior still existing within our brains. A study was conducted back in 2006 on participants awaiting brain surgery for severe epilepsy. Prior to undergoing surgery, they had electrodes placed in their brains. The testing involved showing the volunteers 12 random pictures. The participants managed to recall up to 90% of the new pictures. The scientists running the study found that certain neurons fired to indicate a familiar stimuli, whilst other neurons fired demonstrating novel stimuli. Even when a participant didn’t think they’d seen a picture before, the data from the electrodes showed that ‘familiar stimuli’ neurons were still firing, indicating a subconscious recognition of a previous experience.

Another study was conducted in 2015 to add evidence to the 2006 study. In this later study scientists were able to identify a gene that may have links to the feelings of wanderlust. The DRD4-7R gene appears to be linked to novelty seeking behavior. Relating to dopamine, the DR family of genes, which recent research suggests is less like the ‘reward chemical’ and more like a pleasure-seeking hormone. Clearly, genetics is not this cut and dry, but it is an interesting, circumstantial, link.

Both studies suggest that humans are predisposed to seeking out new experiences, even going so far as to suggest that during a new experience, emotions and the recording of memories are different. This goes some way to explaining why the first vacation to a new place feels different than subsequent vacations to the same place. I always find it easier to recall events that have occurred during vacations or business trips, than during the more routine parts of my life. When you watch a film for the first time, you can easily get immersed in the storyline and the visuals of the film. It feels like time has passed after the film has finished. Watching the same film a second time, you may notice more, but it probably doesn’t feel like so much time has passed and it may not be so engaging. This could be because different receptors are firing in your brain, indicating its familiarity. You get less of an increase in dopamine and the pleasure areas of your brain are less active on future viewings.

In the 17th century the term Dromomania was derived. The Greek Dromo meaning running added with the root, mania. This is a root that was also coined in the 17th century to indicate an enthusiasm for a specific activity. Later it was appendage to Greek words morphed to refer to more obsessive compulsions; Pyromania, nymphomania and hypomania for example. These are all recognized disorders that are related to compulsive behaviors. Dromomania was seen as a compulsion to move, to walk. Dromomania was originally diagnosed as a form of psychosis leading sufferers to aimlessly wander, sometimes also experiencing partial amnesia as they traveled. It was referred to as ‘traveling fugue’. In recent times, the diagnosis has fallen into disuse. But studies are still being conducted on patients that exhibit similar symptoms. These days it is recognized as a consequence, or side effect, of Alzheimer’s or dementia.

There is a term, Fernweh, which approximately translates from German as distance sickness: the opposite of homesickness. It’s an ache, or longing, for travel. Very closely related to, and often resembling, wanderlust. Where does this leave people who experience wanderlust? I think it’s a combination of nature, nurture, and genetic history. I believe there are some people who are more inclined to act on their feelings of wanderlust than others. Explorers, mountain climbers, people who take gap years and backpack through countries. I don’t think wanderlust is a seeking of the excitement and ‘glamor’ or traveling. There isn’t a specific need to get on a plane, or a train. It isn’t so much the journey that’s the draw, but the experiences of the new places the journey leads to.

For me personally, I have no interest in the act of traveling. I don’t like flying, the hassle of getting through Security, nor the costs involved. But, I do want to explore more of the world than I currently have. I want to see new places, some famous, or historic places, and others off the beaten track. I want to experience new and different cultures, experience unique foods in the places that created them. Going to an Irish or ‘European themed' pub is not a comparable, nor an acceptable, experience. Domestic travel in your country of residence doesn’t always fill the desire. Maybe that's because it isn’t different, or novel, enough. After all, there are some countries that are very homogenous, where one city is much like any other. Wanderlust, for me at least, is the want to travel to a completely different part of the planet. Where the majority of things are unrecognizable, unfamiliar and not understood. Having the learning experience that goes along with being in a foreign land, has a huge draw to me.

Thinking about some of the places I’d like to visit is an interesting mix of reality, and to some extent, anemoia. The majority of Europe is on my list, but not the traditional tourist spots. I don’t want to see the Arc De Triomphe, or the Vatican. I want to experience the artisan bakery still making baguettes in the traditional manner, and visit the Cemitero Acattolico in Rome, where some very famous (and infamous) people are buried. I would also very much like to visit Cold War-era Berlin, with its apparent dreariness with a constant undercurrent of seedy danger. I’m sure that’s hyperbole created for dramatic purposes by authors and Hollywood producers, and it’s clearly not a possible trip. But there’s a desire there, a fernweh, nonetheless.

Of course, I recognize the fact that, certainly these days, the cost of travel is highly prohibitive. Travelling is no longer a necessity, nor necessarily, within the reach of most people. I would strongly encourage anyone, who has the ability, to travel: experience different places, peoples, and cultures. I completely agree with Mr. Bourdain; it’s almost a must! I think it’s a much healthier way of living, than being stuck in a single place. For those that have the means for regular travel, who can get away from the mainstream, and have new experiences, I have healthy levels of both respect and jealousy for you. As for me, I’ll continue to have pangs of adventure and desires for destinations. One day I’ll get to the places I want to. For now, I’ll make do with running, daydreaming, and getting absorbed in books set in different lands.