Travel as inspiration is not a new concept, but there seems to be a heavy emphasis on the travel experience as a source of inspiration for us Millennials. (I'm just on the cut off so work with me here).

We grew us as the generation who could be anything and should do whatever we wanted to do. This travel obsession has taken on a big role in the theatre of "live a life you love" dynamic. I read an interesting riposte to the "Do what you love, love what you do" ethos of my generation yesterday. Maybe because I spent some formative years in the ever-so practical midwest or because I have an engineer father, I never quite understood how the world was going to function if everyone did what they loved. There are too many necessary jobs out there that no one dreams about doing, and certainly very few love.

Slate's article on the subject highlights the inherent contradiction of idolizing some work as fulfilling and exciting to the detriment of the every day jobs we all fundamentally rely on. We think we are elevating the act of working by stating that you must love what you do, but like all things shiny and pretty, the underbelly (there is always an underbelly) is an active undermining of the hard, slog of unglamorous jobs most people do.

So I say all this but I'm not a grinch. I clearly love travel. I also very much want to be one of those Millennials who manages to make it a part of my life and work. In that spirit, thanks to a link from Fathom (a great curated travel site) here is a video from a new travel/design/inspiration magazine, Collective Quarterly.

Really, I don't think you can ever have too much aspirational experiential travel in your life.

La voyageuse perdue