Do you have a travel squad? I don’t. And guess what? I don’t care and neither should you. Group trips can be wonderful but are they the only way? I have seen so many posts on social media where people are talking about their squad goals and showing various hands holding passports.
That’s great. Truly.
But is that realistic? Are you always going to have friends that want to travel, have the means to travel, and want to travel to the same places you do? That’s a trifecta that rarely happens.
Now of course there are people that always travel with their friends and can seem to make their travel plans work out with ease. Their schedules align and people can travel across the globe with their best buds. But what if you can’t make that happen? Should you feel some type of way if you don’t have the ability to put a crew together and travel to the far flung parts of the world?
No, no you shouldn’t. Travel is a very personal thing and not everyone in your circle is going to feel the exact same way you do about traveling. Take me for instance. I am a travel expert who has traveled across the globe for the past 25 years and I rarely travel with my closest girlfriends.
One of my inner circles in Charlotte consists of 4 women, and I’ve only traveled with one of them. And one of those fabulous women doesn’t even have her passport. Should I stop being friends with them because they don’t value travel the same way I do? Should we not spend time together because they don’t want to plan trips to see some of the far away places I venture to with glee? Should I side-eye my friend who doesn’t have a passport and is afraid to fly? Why would I do that? Why would I judge people because they don’t have the same desires that I do?
I am mature enough to know that friendships come in a variety of forms. I can appreciate my friends for the amazing qualities they have, and not expect them to want to hop on a plane with me.
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I was talking to one of my traveling girlfriends WJO after seeing one of the fabulous pictures posted on social media of a group of travelers who travel around the world together, she felt sad that she didn’t have a travel squad. She felt as if she was somehow less than because she didn’t have anyone to see the world with and that made me angry.
Here is a lovely young lady who has so much going for her in all aspects of life, but now her feelings are hurt because she doesn’t have a bunch of people to take a picture with and post on social media.
PLEASE STOP FEELING LIKE THAT.
We have to stop letting the lives of others display on social media impact us. We must start embracing the joys that we can do on our own. Traveling is a privilege and if you choose it, your life can be empowering. If you don’t have a squad to travel with, that’s wonderful! I didn’t get to be The Travel Guru by waiting for people to travel with me. I traveled, met people along the way and rocked my life and you can too.