Ransom Riggs
An Ache for the Distance
by Ransom Riggs - December 12, 2008 - 11:53 AM

2452640560_a649498508.jpgI’ve been trying to figure out whether or not to take a trip to Australia next Spring. There are a million reasons not to: money, the time it’ll take away from things that needed to be tended to at home, etc. There’s only one thing written in the imaginary “pros” column of this internal debate: that it’s somehow important to go, to see the world whenever and however I can. A condition that is generally referred to as “wanderlust,” I suppose, which would explain why I can spend hours Google-Earthing my way ’round the globe and have built an impressive collection of Lonely Planet travel guides for places I’ve never been.

Merriam-Webster isn’t very helpful: wanderlust is a “strong longing for or impulse toward wandering,” it reports. (Right.) Slightly more interesting, the dictionary claims it’s a word borrowed from German around the turn of the last century — wandern literally means “to hike” — though wanderlust has become obsolete in its native tongue and a more contemporary term is Fernweh, which translates loosely to “an ache for the distance.”

Etymology is one thing, but where does the impulse actually come from? In Bruce Chatwin’s book Anatomy of Restlessness, he writes “that human beings possess a migratory instinct that drives them ‘to walk long distances through the seasons.’” I can buy that; it partially explains why humans had spread themselves across nearly every corner of the globe save New Zealand by around 2,000 years ago. (Chatwin goes on to argue that wanderlust is “an instinct inherited from [our] herdsmen ancestors that ”when warped in conditions of settlement” found ”outlets in violence, greed, status-seeking or a mania for the new” — which I’m not so sure about.)

What’s certain is that wanderlust inspires people to do strange things. A New York Times headline from 1910 blares “Girl Blames Wanderlust: Young Woman Found in Boy’s Clothes,” and tells the strange tale of a girl afflicted by wanderlust who dons male clothing to make unfettered travel possible: “Miss Tillson has wandered around in boy’s clothing before. Every now and then she gets what her friends describe as “wanderlust,” and leaves home for a while. Once before, while under the influence of the “wanderlust,” she stayed away from home two months, and, posing as a boy, worked on a farm near Chester, NY. On another trip she worked as a waitress in New York. Still another time she was picked up by the police at Nyack … also dressed as a boy.” As difficult as turn-of-the-century travel must’ve been, it had to be ten times harder for women; I can sympathize with her urge to escape not just the bonds of place, but of sex as well.

2451849839_37c4fdf424.jpgAnother old Times article — this one from 1912 — resonates with me as well: “Adopted Son Gets Wanderlust After Gift of Eyeglasses.” How poetic is that? The article quotes the eight-year-old’s adopted father, who reports that the glasses he bought for the boy some weeks prior “have aroused a sort of wanderlust in the youngster’s brain, because the boy has left home four times since the glasses were got for him … he had been [found] sleeping in an abandoned doghouse” in Yonkers. Maybe that’s really what’s at the root of all wanderlust: really seeing the world. (Not to get overly profound or anything.) There’s something about the workaday routine that dulls one’s sight; when you’re burned out you never feel really inclined to travel, because you’re so concentrated on whatever little tasks are at hand that you’re not fully conscious of the larger world — and if you don’t see it, how can you want to go there?

Where do you want to wander?

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Comments (30)

  1. You must go. Everything about Australia, from the wildlife to the topography to the people, is worth seeing. Just make sure you fly Qantas, because those people know what they’re doing.

    I was in Melbourne for 10 days earlier this year. It was one of the most amazing trips of my life.

    posted by Kimberly on 12-12-2008 at 11:59 am

  2. I’ve had a list of places I’d like to wander. Off the top of my head:

    Australia/New Zealand/Tasmania
    France
    Fjords in Norway
    National Parks out West in the USA

    posted by Kristine on 12-12-2008 at 12:41 pm

  3. I’ll keep this to a Top “5″ list

    1. British Isles
    2. Australia
    3. New Zealand
    4. Spain
    5. Someplace Tropical

    posted by Lori on 12-12-2008 at 1:01 pm

  4. I have to say that even though most people have a touch of wanderlust, I fully believe that some people have a much stronger wanderlust urge. I put myself in this list.

    posted by Lori on 12-12-2008 at 1:07 pm

  5. the galapagos!

    I was offered a spot on a research vessel to the islands in january, but can’t convince myself to spend that much :(

    posted by Dan on 12-12-2008 at 1:12 pm

  6. the galapagos!

    I was offered a spot on a research trip to the islands in january, but can’t convince myself to spend that much :(

    posted by Dan on 12-12-2008 at 1:13 pm

  7. Go! You must. Two weeks passes so quickly, and you’ll be back hittin’ the grind and doing your thang without a pause in your routine. I thought 6 months of travel was going to set me back in my career, but I came back where I left off and to my surprise nothing had changed from home. The world is too large and technology too convenient (we can fly anywhere in the world in 24 hrs) for you to not go. It’s your time to wander.

    posted by Chellis on 12-12-2008 at 1:17 pm

  8. I am going to Cairns, Australia in May to snorkel to Great Barrier reef. It’s an excellent time to go since the exchange rate is working in US’s favor right now.

    posted by Janice on 12-12-2008 at 1:20 pm

  9. There is no place I would not go. I love Bruce Chatwin, read Songlines before you go to Austrailia, you will go.

    posted by Jo on 12-12-2008 at 1:22 pm

  10. If you have the chance you must take it. In 2001 I had an opportunity to travel on a World Cruise for 102 days. It was hard to be away from friends, family, etc. for that long, but definitely worth it. I had to put everything else on hold during that time (quit my job), but when I returned life still moved on. I was able to take the trip of a lifetime and have some great stories to tell. BTW, Australia is one place I want to definitely return to.

    posted by Mark on 12-12-2008 at 1:22 pm

  11. I’ve been developing a case of this myself. I would LOVE to go to Australia, the homeland of my grandmother. Really, all of my destinations are rooted in my past. Germany, where my mother’s ancestors came from, Edmonton, where my dad was born, France, where my uncle was born. Ireland, where my great-great grandparents were married. I want, nay NEED to go to these places. Especially after being raised in the midwestern US.

    posted by Kieran on 12-12-2008 at 1:53 pm

  12. You MUST go to Australia. I went in 2004 and it was a wonderful experience. I was worried about much of the same as you mentioned, but it was worth it. That trip was one of the best experiences of my life. We were pretty much all over the place, starting in Melbourne, going to the outback, then to Cairns, and ending in Sydney.

    As for places I would travel:
    I’d like to return to Australia and Vancouver.
    I’d be willing to travel anywhere else, too. The only caveat being that there isn’t a major war or the like happening when I get there.

    posted by Tomas on 12-12-2008 at 2:21 pm

  13. I think I would like to wonder through the Swiss countryside. It would be very peaceful and I have always wanted to go to Switzerland ever since I did my World Geography report on the country in fifth grade.

    posted by Daniel on 12-12-2008 at 2:21 pm

  14. I’d definitely do it. Any chance to get out and see the world is worth it.

    posted by Elgin on 12-12-2008 at 2:23 pm

  15. I am 100% a “wanderlustkin”! I have friends all over the world that I’d like to go and see on their home turf.

    Here’s my short list:

    1. Australia/Fiji/Bali
    2. Israel
    3. India
    4. Greece
    5. Japan

    STA travel has tickets that are good for 1 year where you can choose your desitantions/package and travel around the world, staying in each place however long you’d like.

    posted by Steph on 12-12-2008 at 2:36 pm

  16. I was just having this conversation last night. I decided that backpacking through Europe for a few weeks would be ideal, but I have also longed to visit Madeira soon. Maybe go there after my time in Europe, since it is that continent’s version of Hawaii.

    A vacation after a vacation, why not!

    posted by Johnny Cat on 12-12-2008 at 3:41 pm

  17. You have to go! I am just commenting to say that, and to say this: there will be a time when it will be much more difficult to travel like this–like when/if you have children.

    If you have the chance, seize it!! Who knows what could happen tomorrow?

    posted by Orange on 12-12-2008 at 3:45 pm

  18. The pull to return to Ireland again and again is what drives me to save the $$, the frequent flier miles and search for inexpensive flights.

    Any time you have a chance to see the world you must take it – if you don’t ‘get’ a chance you must make one!

    I would go almost anywhere. It is a beautiful planet and I want to see as much of it as I can before we muck it up completely

    posted by JaneM on 12-12-2008 at 3:47 pm

  19. The next trip I’d like to take would be to Italy and Greece – although now would definitely not be the best time to visit.

    If you have the chance to go to Australia, I say go for it. I decided to up and go last year, and spent 2 and a half months backpacking around. One highlight that I definitely recommend – the Town of 1770. Literally, that is the name of a town. It’s got a great hostel (called Cool Bananas), access to the southern GBR (still as pristine as the rest of it was back in the day – try looking up Lady Musgrave Island), and kangaroo-spotting tours done on scooters.
    Also, the cheapest flights at the time I went were on Air Fiji. They had a stop-over in Fiji, so I decided that I might as well spend a couple weeks there. Those turned into two of the best weeks of the whole trip.

    posted by Kathryn on 12-12-2008 at 5:00 pm

  20. Must read: In a Sunburned Country (or something similar) by Bill Bryson.

    Its all about an American guy traveling around Australia. It is so funny I literally cried I was laughing so hard.

    posted by Amy on 12-12-2008 at 7:39 pm

  21. I’d like to chime in my agreement.

    First, like Amy says, read ‘In a Sunburned Country.’

    Second, I spent a month in OZ in June 2007. Did Sydney, Uluru, Brisbane, Cairns, the Reef, Daintree, and numerous day trips. How can one be homesick for a place you’ve on been to for a month?

    posted by Jim on 12-12-2008 at 7:52 pm

  22. Go! Any time you have a chance – GO!

    I have a strong desire and urge to go places all the time. It doesn’t have to be out of the country, just to go somewhere. I’ve always attributed the desire to go as needing to escape, but it isn’t to escape from something but escape TO something.

    We travel at least one weekend a month, even if we don’t go far. We literally work our budget so that we live off of my husband’s salary and travel on mine.

    I say GO!

    posted by Karen on 12-12-2008 at 7:58 pm

  23. Australia is a must see. I have been twice; first trip 10 days, second trip 26 days. The second trip included Tasmania and the best ghost walk you’ll get at Port Arthur prison. If you go, you HAVE to use Quantas. They sell cheaper tickets for tourists traveling between cities but you have to get them before you leave the States. And they will let you change them at will (as long as a seat is available on the plane).

    As for the actual definition of wanderlust, I guess that explains why I prefer walking new places to driving them. Walk or take public transportation in Australia… clean efficient and nice people.

    posted by Di on 12-12-2008 at 9:18 pm

  24. Please, all of you, check out Rolf Potts’ “Vagabonding” blog and his book of the same name. Also his new one, “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There.” All things to support your obsession and fuel your wanderlust. http://www.rolfpotts.com. Guarantee you’ll become a huge fan!

    posted by Dolly on 12-13-2008 at 11:19 am

  25. I want to go everywhere! I can’t help it; I feel a drive like that described in previous comments. Nothing moves me like the need to see new places. A few on my list:

    1. Ireland
    2. Chile
    3. Maine

    posted by Manda on 12-13-2008 at 6:19 pm

  26. If you want to see how much of the world you have covered in your “wunderlusting” check out http://www.world66.com/myworld66 . I’m at 23% but slowing down fast. ‘Tho the memories go on forever.

    posted by magicboy on 12-14-2008 at 11:09 am

  27. for all you guys wanting/been to australia, i’d definitely reccommend booking your international flights with qantas, but have a look at virgin blue and jetstar for your domestic flights. waaaaay cheaper.

    and how about that, the first time i’ve heard the town of 1770 get a good review!! haha, it’s a quiet place alright. but definitely come up my way (nth queensland) if you’re here, go for a trip to the reef, it’s awesome

    posted by johnson on 12-14-2008 at 5:28 pm

  28. This article warmed my heart, I’m glad I’m not the only one who lusts over maps and travel guides :)

    My top 5 wander wonders:

    1. Every place mentioned in the song Kokomo
    2. India
    3. Ireland
    4. Australia
    5. Every place mentioned in the New Testament.

    posted by KerriH on 12-14-2008 at 9:33 pm

  29. I”M NOT ALONE! yay for mental floss, maybe i’m not so weird any more.

    1. NY
    2. backpacking through NZ
    3. Japan!
    4. Germany
    5. London

    posted by grace on 12-15-2008 at 7:35 am

  30. I’m late to this post as well, since I’m still catching up on my reading!

    In any case, since you’ve already seen New Zealand, you may as well check the “West Island” too. ;)

    On my list:

    1. Galapagos (although I prob won’t, as it’s not environmentally friendly to go there)
    2. South Pole
    3. Alaska (to see Northern Lights)
    4. Iceland
    5. Cinque Terra, Italy

    I find that every time I travel, I get the bug to travel MORE. In Sept, we took a trip back to the US, and when we got back, I immediately booked two different trips to the South Island (Kaikoura and Queenstown).

    Just got back from said Kaikoura trip a couple weeks ago…and already thinking about the next trip…perhaps Cook Islands..?

    posted by Dawn on 1-15-2009 at 3:38 am

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