I don’t know about you, but when I’m home working at my job while my friends are out traveling the world, I can get a little jealous. Okay, very jealous. And there’s a word for how I and probably everyone can sometimes feel when hearing about another person’s trip: travel envy. 

Let’s face it: Other people’s trips often seem super-exciting and wonderful compared to whatever you’re up to at the time you hear about them. I certainly know how I feel whenever I see pictures on Facebook from my friend’s cross-country road trip, taking place during the same summer I’m painting apartments for only a bit more than minimum wage…


But as this blogger points out, travel envy can sometimes be totally unfounded. You have to remember the adventures you’ve had, and try to find the value in what you’re doing now. Sure, I’m jealous of my friend who is currently traveling across the United States, but right now I’m working to earn money for my post-graduation future. That’s certainly important right now. And I was in Ireland four months ago, what am I complaining about?

Also, it’s often important to keep in mind that a lot of what you hear about someone’s vacation is a prettified version of reality. Sure, you’ll probably tell people about your spring break in Cancun. But will you spend a lot of time telling them about how your plane home was delayed for six hours? Or how you were afraid to drink too much water because you didn’t want to overspill your on-the-verge-of-being-too-tight bikini? Probably not. And you’ll probably post only the cute, perfectly posed pictures on Facebook, too.


Oh you know that one of them was ticked off because their swimsuits were the same. But these girls may have only wanted the world to see the fun sides of their vacation and not the ugly parts. We might not be so envious of people who travel if we knew that they fought with their family the whole time, or maybe one of their friends hooked up with a cute guy and left them alone most of the time. We often just assume that everything was perfect. See how crazy this is?

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that vacations are never 100% of what people say they are. The best we can do is take care of ourselves, and plan for an adventure that we’re guaranteed to take enormous pleasure in. Even if no one else is envious of us!


Though I personally think the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois would be a lot of fun to attend…

Do you sometimes get friends and family when they travel? What do you do to cope with these feelings?

Image sources:
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