Wanderlust is defined simply as a "strong desire to travel." It is a very appealing word that is not only understood, but felt in the souls of many people throughout the world. All over social media, we see pins and tweets about people traveling and feeling the desire in their hearts to want to explore the world. Travel tips and cheap flights are searched all over the internet in order to find that special place that we might be able to find something new and exciting. More than 8 million people fly on average each day. Some of these are for business, some for seeing family, and others just to explore the world around them, chasing this idea of wanderlust that they have been craving.
Traveling is a way for us to experience so many new things that we have never been a part of. We are tossed into a world that is not our own, yet it is exciting to play a new role, and to live it out for as long as the journey allows us to be.
As I currently sit here on my flight to Knoxville, I cannot help but imagine things about the people around me. I wonder about the man seated in front of me who just shared that he has just returned from Munich from a visit with his grandkids that he only gets to see once every couple of years. I hope that they appreciated him coming to see them and enjoyed his stories as much as I did, because he is a very remarkable man who i am certain has a lot more stories to tell.
I see the young couple next to me who I traded seats with so that they could sit together. I wonder how their lives will turn out to be together. She looks at him with a passion greater than the number of stars in the sky. I know he can see it as well based on the look that he gives back to her. Simple things like this help me believe in love.
I hear the stories of my flight attendant while she shares with another passenger how she has just celebrated a birthday the previous night. She is filled with eagerness to reveal every detail of the night's events and I cannot help but smile when she talks about being grateful to celebrate another birthday with the people that she loves. She does not complain about turning another age older, she is thankful that she is able to turn another age older. She does not take it for granted, she embraces it, she is acceptant of it.
To me, these people are a magical door to an unknown world that I have yet to see for myself. They have different stories and experiences that I might never be able to fully understand or take part of. To them, I am just a girl. Quietly sitting by myself as I read my newest novel that they will never know how ecstatic I was to purchase. I am living a life that they will never know about because I will most likely never see these people again. Yet this is one of the greatest mysteries of traveling, the people you meet along the way.
