I return from travelling and have a whole stack of brochures chugging up my front door. I grab a cuppa, turn the heating up and settle down to plan the next big adventure – it’s official – I’m addicted to travelling the world!
For those that travel a lot, the urge to travel more is overwhelming. Why stay in a place you have seen every day for the past 20 years when you can travel to exotic places and see wondrous things? The word dromomania comes from the Greek word dromos which means running. The definition of dromomania is an uncontrollable passion for traveling or wanderlust. This might not seem like a problem. Those with dromomania would never see it as a problem. But, these are 10 surefire signs that you are addicted to travelling.
- The flight attendants greet you by name without looking at your ticket. Flight attendants see hundreds and hundreds of people daily. The fact that they know your name by face is a staggering example of how much you see them.
- On your breaks at work, you sit at your desk, pretend to lock your seatbelt and imagine you are flying to your next vacation along with the appropriate airplane noises to make your travel fantasy seem more realistic. While doing this, you pretend the guy in the next cubicle who is staring at you over the partition is actually a curious child turned to interact with you on your flight.
- You get a temporary airplane tattoo to test out how it will look when you get the real airplane tattoo. You are considering having it placed over your heart.
- You live out of a suitcase at home, but when you leave for your next destination, you wonder if you can sneak out with the small shampoos and conditioners without anyone noticing.
- When you’re finally home, neighbours call the police because of the stranger they see hanging around your house; you.
- When you call family or friends, you forget where you are until you look out the window of your hotel room at the skyline, even then you might have to call the front desk to find out what language they speak.
- Everything reminds you of a trip you have been on or a trip you want to make. Books, music and movies all trigger a memory or a desire to take a trip. Friends won’t even go to the movies with you anymore since that is all you want to discuss.
- Airport security has seen you so often that they will practically just wave you through without looking in your luggage or waving the wand over you.
- After landing, you can tell by the engine noise that the plane needs an overhaul, and you stop by to tell the pilot about it. He thanks you by name and calls the mechanics to fix the problem.
- Every time you are sick, you sit at your desk coughing and sneezing all over everyone just so you can save your sick days for vacation days.
- Friends fight over you for their pub-quiz team, especially when the geography questions come up. Name the capital city of Brunei? Name the only five countries in the world to not contain any vowels at all? Name the currency of Vietnam?
- You can name at least 100 countries without taking a breath. In fact if presented with a blank map and a bunch of country names you could place them all with precision.
