Why You Should Waste More Time: The Case For Mindful and Purposeful Travel

By: Reihaneh Mozaffari, Humanitarian Architect & Unsettled: Bali & Sailing alum

This summer I started my 6-month break from work with a 3-month Europe tour, traveling by train through Austria, Poland, Germany, UK, France, Spain and Portugal with the intention to revisit old friends, digest my professional life of the past 5 years, take stock of my life, and think of next steps. 

In the past I had observed that despite suffering horribly and extensively from jet lag after long intercontinental flights, I found such long flights very meditative and insightful for me. I had noticed that on such flights after getting bored of watching movies or reading my books, in the middle of nowhere, who knows how many feet above the ground, I had taken the time to make life changing decisions. Like the time I flew from from Austria to Colombia in 2012. It was there where I had decided that despite having invested lots of time, money, and energy studying architecture, and despite the fact that I loved design and architecture, I admitted to myself that I didn’t find working in traditional architecture offices and designing houses for rich people for the rest of my life fulfilling at all. I clearly remember the exact moment I decided that I was willing to take the risk and the necessary steps of following a less traveled path, of using my educational background and professional skills to serve the disadvantaged. That decision is one which I have followed through in the last 5 years by making a successful career working as an architect in the humanitarian shelter and settlement sector. 

So this summer I set out to recreate that experience and hoped that my train trip through Europe would be just as meditative and insightful. It proved to be all that and some more. I processed the past, assessed my present, and made decisions for the direction I would like my personal and professional life to head in for the next 5 years. The only thing was that I was not prepared for was the shock on my friends and on strangers faces when I told them that I was traveling by train by choice, sometimes taking the whole day to get from one city to the other. They seemed to not get the value of commuting 9 hours and changing trains 3 times to reach London from Berlin. As I reached my friend’s apartment’s door in West London with my not-so-light luggage and definitely tired, she said that I was crazy for not saving time and money by taking a two-hour flight instead. I was taken aback and simply answered that I liked the journey. But when similar instances happened a few more times, I got to thinking about how much undue value we put on traveling ‘faster’ and ‘cheaper’ even while on vacation.

I am not saying we should take the bus or train everywhere, flying is definitely the fastest and disturbingly cheaper mode of transportation these days. I am saying if you, like me, are not yet so good at maintaining a daily meditation practice, you could instead cram it all in and plan such trips once in a while for a gigantic much-needed meditation session, where you set out to intentionally ‘waste’ time and money (on purpose) and enjoy the journey and the in between places. 

I promise you will be happy you did. Just make sure you are not watching a TV series on your phone the whole time, that would definitely defeat the purpose. In my experience insights come only after staring out of a window for a good one to two hours. Enjoy!!!

Looking for a place to mindfully journey? Here is where we are living Unsettled!

Get Unsettled. Straight To Your Inbox.

Drop us your email and we'll keep you posted with news, fresh stories, exclusive trip updates, and special offers.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

LATEST POSTS

Why You Do NOT Want To Set Sail with Unsettled in Croatia

Why You Do NOT Want To Set Sail with Unsettled in Croatia

 By: Michael Youngblood, Captain of Experiences at Unsettled. If Unsettled could hire an infomercial actor to pop-up during your next Netflix commercial break and look into the screen, he's have an epic mustache and tell you: "Are you sick and tired of your routine?...

To our Palestinian, Israeli, Lebanese, and Jewish community:

To our Palestinian, Israeli, Lebanese, and Jewish community:

I've lost count of the number of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Jewish participants, staff, friends, and alumni who have graced Unsettled over the years. It has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my involvement at Unsettled. Their cultural and personal...

Why You Do NOT Want To Set Sail with Unsettled in the Exumas

Why You Do NOT Want To Set Sail with Unsettled in the Exumas

 By: Michael Youngblood, Captain at Unsettled. Are you set to ride the waves and replace routine with adventure?  Here are our top ten reasons to set sail with us! 1. Learn to Sail, Unsettled Style We will spend 4-6 hours a day sailing on the emerald waters in the...

Unsettled is a global community for those who value meaningful human connection. 

Growth | Meaning | Adventure

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!