Travel Blogging in 2022

I think this blog is having an existential crisis. Can a travel blog have an existential crisis? Probably not, since it’s a website and not a person. Okay, the travel blogger in me is having an existential crisis. I think that sounds more accurate.

I no longer travel and I no longer blog. Not really, anyway. The past two years have drastically shrunk my world, as is the case for most people. I didn’t write a “year in review” post this past December, because what is there to review? I have a new job, which I’m enjoying immensely, but it’s hardly relevant for this blog. As for relevant things to write about: I left the country twice in 2021. Twice. Both on day trips. One to visit Belgian relatives, and one to go to a German shopping mall.

Rediscover your own country!

Meanwhile, the travel industry is cashing in on the only thing it’s got left to play with: “rediscovering” our own country. I can’t. I’ve tried, and even though I had a wonderful week in southern Zeeland last summer, I am so done with rediscovering The Netherlands. Sure, our country is lovely and there are many parts of it that I haven’t seen yet, but I’m just not that interested anymore. Holiday homes cost twice to thrice the amount they did in the past, and at this point my vaccination passport is filling up with stamps quicker than my actual passport. The past year has me feeling like tired old Bilbo in “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

I want to see mountains again, Gandalf. Mountains!

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The penny has finally dropped

Ironically, it took a work trip for me to realise that I can do something about it. I don’t have to be confined to my own country. I’ve just spent a week in the northeast of Bavaria (for work, so there are no pictures, sorry) and it put things back into perspective for me. It’s not like the borders are closed. It’s not like other countries won’t let you in. Sure, some of them won’t, but within Europe, things haven’t changed that much. There are practically no borders, and I can pretty much go wherever I want.

All I need to do is pack a box of masks and self tests, and away I go. Maybe I should just do that. I’d love te plan and research a new trip. And let’s be honest, there’s no point in waiting for this pandemic to be over. It’s gonna stick around for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to encourage people to break all the rules. Especially not the travel restrictions set by foreign countries. However, I really think I need to push myself to do everything I can do within those boundaries. I’ve seen what it was like when we couldn’t go anywhere at all, and I didn’t like it one bit.

As for the existential crisis…

I think I need to be honest with myself. It’s time to stop pretending that I want to make this a successful travel blog. I just want to travel, and write about the places I go and the things I see. If someone is reading it: Hello! I hope you like it here. However, if no one at all is reading this, whatever. I write these for me. Would I like it if more people read these? Of course. Do I wanna spend my days promoting myself on social media, begging for likes and comments? Hell no. I’m tired of social media and the endless stream of influencers who want you to believe their lives are perfect. I think I want to just write for the sake of writing. Telling stories, preserving memories.

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