There are so many things that trigger the travel bug for me.
All those email deals that pop up in my inbox.
Friends’ travel photos, especially of places I haven’t been to yet.
Fond travel memories – triggered by something as simple as hearing a German accent on the bus, which throws me back to the time I had to ask for help figuring out the Berlin bus lines … or the time we all piled onto the last train back to Athens from the ferry port, and tried to help a bunch of European girls figure out where their backpacker’s hotel was.
And of course, smaller, random occurrences like these…
Seeing backpackers trying to navigate my local supermarket
I work in the burbs, so I don’t see backpackers on Queen St on a daily basis. It’s always a surprise to see them wandering around my local supermarket – we’re a bit of a way out from the CBD after all, but it is a lot cheaper here (the first thing I usually asked any couchsurfers we hosted was whether they needed to make a grocery trip), and a lot of the best parts of Auckland are not in the center. So props to those travellers!
Using ATMs
It’s very, very easy to live a cashless life in New Zealand. I sure do! But I had to get used to using ATMs throughout Asia and Europe (and once or twice in the States), which was mildly annoying. So the rare occasions when I need to visit an ATM here to get cash can trigger travel flashbacks. (Thankfully, our ATMs are generally big, clean and shiny, unlike some of those tiny, filthy gray ATMS scattered around New York, the kind that look like they were created specifically to spread disease.)
Foods
Pizza (takes me back to Naples and New York). Seafood (takes me back to Naples and the Amalfi Coast). Or the lack of! Example: dreaming of a good sandwich, ala New York deli subs. Or my North American buds talking about certain foods – BBQ, poutine, anything Mexican…
What kinds of things give you itchy feet?