Writing Your Travel Before It Happens

The power of falling in love with a place before you go there.

Being a perpetual traveler, my bucket list of destinations is forever growing.

It seems the more I learn about any destination, the more I want to travel to it. But there are certain places you fall in love with before ever going.

I fall in love with the idea of a place. I don’t mean to travel to but to actually move and live there.

The places that set you on fire with curiosity. Does anybody else romanticize places before ever stepping foot in them?

Most recently, this romanticism came with my perception of life in Penang. It’s a small island connected to mainland Malaysia.

I’ve never been to Malaysia or Southeast Asia; I’ve never even been to Asia for that matter. I don’t even know anything about the place.

A few friends have traveled in the region and told me everything I know to be true. Yet, they also told me to never assume you know anything in Southeast Asia.

Even the culture in Malaysia is something completely different. Nothing like anywhere I’ve been — I assume.

That’s the beauty in Penang for me, at the moment. Everything I imagine Penang being is completely based on assumption. And I love that.

I have built a full idea of what I believe my Penang lifestyle to look like. Still, I have no idea if any of it will play out the way I imagine. That part doesn’t matter.

The ideas I build in my mind are what keep me dreaming of the world and keep my mind wandering.

I dream of finding a place that will bring every sense in my body alive and Penang is that place for me at the moment. I can believe Penang is whatever I want it to be.

I had the same mindset about Europe before I ever flew across the pond.

I had an entire continent built in my head based on a few stereotypical European qualities. Narrow streets, sophisticated people, and intellectual conversation spread all across Europe.

Before I came to Europe, the continent was one giant place that was all the same and I thought I would love it.

It turns out, everything that I had assumed Europe would be was completely wrong. Still, though, I fell in love with reality.

Falling in love with a destination before actually being there must be the best part about moving to a new city. You don’t know what you’re going to get, but before you actually move, it can be whatever you want it to be.

It’s like you can write a story about your life before it actually happens.

There are endless possibilities. You can create it to be whatever you want. You can feel all the emotions; anxiousness, happiness, stress, curiosity, excitement. You feel it all.

You can piece together a new life for yourself.

That’s the power of drawing out your travel before it happens.