Traveler Lost.

For many Ireland is a place of nostalgic beauty. It is a place where life is simpler. The beauty of nature compels people to find inner tranquility. It is a place of postcards, where visuals emulate a deeper more profound emotion that is Ireland. For some, however, it is a place where travelers find themselves engulfed in beauty, but also away from home.

Travel to a hostel in Dublin in Ireland and you will likely find the homesick, the traveler compelled with inner struggle made more impossible through distance. Survey a hostel lobby and down its corridors and see the long faces and overhear the disturbing cracking of soft voices speaking into the receivers of payphones. Catching the swollen red eyes of a fellow traveler accompanied with a fixed smile to ensure her own strength with a social politeness. It is heartbreaking to be in a place of adventure and excitement, become a place of sorrow and anxiety.

Room with a stranger and you just may see the stages of sorrow and acceptance of the traveler that is far away from home. I had the privilege of meeting and rooming with an Australian girl named Anne. A strong and dynamic person, Anne has traveled to the Americas and Europe within the past two years. Home for her is a brief chat online with her family, and listening to an online broadcast of her hometown radio station in Melbourne. On average she only gives herself half-hour to enter this homesick frame of mind. This compelled me to ask her at a later time how she fights homesickness. A half smile grew from the corner of her mouth. “It’s an emotion that cannot be fought” she told me.” The trick is embracing homesickness, having the hope that you will soon move beyond it to a happier frame of mind.

Anne is one of the many travelers I have encountered on my travels through Ireland. These people range in genders, races, and age all traveling to and from different places across the world for different periods of time: some working place to place to finance their adventures, others whom are equipped only with the belongings in their backpack on a grand tour of Europe. No matter how different we are on the outside, or how unique our endeavors may be, we all have felt the longings for home.

If you are fortunate to travel, and see a fellow backpacker or student at a bus stop or hostel, think of Anne. Sometimes a friendly conversation, or helping bear the weight of a heavy bag upstairs, or something as small as an encouraging smile may be a glimpse of hope that some travelers need to get through their day a bit easier.