I suppose it's a common knowledge for readers of this blog that I like travelling. And as I have been doing this activity for a couple of decades now, I am aware of the various different types of travel that I do, and how they differ at times. For example, there is a big difference if I am heading to a country that I have already been to before, compared to a destination that is new. There is a decreased to non-existent wow factor, for example.
I recently went back to Vietnam. I've been to Vietnam before, in 2018. So by now, I have an idea of what to expect. And sure enough, when I landed, these images which I have formed during my first visit were still there, absolutely relevant. And even though I went to places that I have never been, the fact that I have already been to the same country in the past somehow removed the wow factor for me. And I have to say this wow factor makes a difference when it comes to forming impressions of one's trip.
The thing is, when it is one's first visit, there's a high chance that there would be too many things to do, and one won't be able to do them all. So one leaves thinking that the destination is so awesome because there were so many interesting things to do, and one wants to come back. And then at some point, one indeed comes back, and then this time, perhaps all of the things one wanted to do, one indeed had the time to do, and then one thinks the reverse, that there's not a lot of things to do, because one has done them all.
This most recent trip of mine combined a country which I have visited before (Vietnam) and a country which was the first time for me (Cambodia). I definitely felt a difference in my head, regarding this wow factor. In Cambodia, when I was in the car from the airport to my hotel, I was gazing out of the windows looking at the scenery, and as much as the scenery was rather mundane (flat wide expanses of nothing), it was still to a certain extent, exciting, purely because I was in a new country I haven't stepped foot in before. And it was all there, waiting for me to discover it.
So yeah, I try to balance the types of destinations I pick when I travel. I do like coming back to places I have been to before, but every now and then I would want a destination that gives me a wow factor.
