What Travel Habits Reveal About Happiness

Today, I was walking through the park at Buckingham Palace, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, and I learned something profound about happiness.

See, when I am in a place like that, where there are so many people from different backgrounds, speaking different languages, wearing different clothes, but all sharing in the beauty of the same thing, I am always curious about people and their stories.

One can assume, safely, that for most of these people this is a big trip. They planned it a while ago, they saved up their money, they looked forward to it.

For many of these people, I am sure they imagined themselves exactly where they were at that moment many times: basking in the (rare) beautiful London weather, watching the changing of the guard at one of the most spectacularly designed buildings in the world.

The thing is, not many people were smiling.

The people that were having the most fun, that seemed to be enjoying themselves the most, were the little kids unsuccessfully chasing the very abundant ducks and pigeons.

These kids probably had absolutely no idea where they were, and even if they did, I doubt that they could conceptualize or care about the gravity of Buckingham Palace and the allure that comes with it.

Instead, they were focused on the commonplace birds that they probably have where they live.

They were just having fun with something ordinary.

This fascinated me and really made me question why we do some of the things we do.

It got me asking questions about why we travel to the places we do and why we choose to see the things that we do when we go there.

I mean, I know personally that I went to check out Buckingham Palace because it is a place that many other people know. It’s a place that I can put on my Instagram story and people will say, “Oh wow, so cool, I’ve always wanted to go there.”

I had no guarantee that it would bring me the most joy of any place, but it’s what everyone else would do there, so I might as well see it and snap some pictures.

Meanwhile, the little kids were having a blast chasing pigeons.

What are we doing?

Why are we on such a default when it comes to doing exciting things in our lives?

Why do we have this roadmap that we feel so compelled to follow?

We all travel to the same places so we can connect and share a common reality of what we saw and experienced.

We get to share the feeling of going to Buckingham Palace and seeing the changing of the guard, no matter how boring it actually is.

In Yuval Noa Harari’s amazing book Sapiens, he talks about how we are conditioned to try to fit in with our tribe and establish similar characteristics and interests because that is how humans bond, and if we didn’t do that we would be left out of the tribe, isolated, and eaten by a saber-toothed tiger.

Only, nowadays there are no saber-toothed tigers, and you won’t be kicked out in the middle of the woods without your tribe or your spear.

So, with this in mind, don’t just default your next decision.

There is no shame in doing what everyone else does, not at all, but also learn from the kids and be open to finding joy in unexpected places.

That is what makes travel so fun.

Maybe even chase some pigeons. Maybe that is worth your Instagram story, and not the palace.

I just think many of us are too closed in what we believe we can derive joy from, too afraid to look foolish, too eager to fit in to fully embrace the magic in front of us.

Life is so beautiful, and I urge you to figure out what it is that YOU find the most beautiful and pursue that, whether it’s chasing pigeons, traveling to Buckingham Palace, working 10 hour days, going to obscure places, hanging out with friends, etc.

There are no wrong answers (this is not me telling you to go do drugs, that is probably a wrong answer).

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Thank you for reading.

Keep showing up. Keep dreaming big.

I’ll see you next week.

With gratitude,

Jack