1) Thanks to modern lightweight equipment, it’s comfortable.
Many people get turned off nature travel because when they first tried it, they lacked the proper footwear, rain protection or sleeping gear, and were uncomfortable. But modern outdoor travel technology has come a long way — enabling a happy body while on the trail, bike, paddle craft or at camp. 2) Exploring beautiful natural areas is a powerful emotional upper; we evolved to enjoy it. As the Affective Evolution section of the website describes, all humans evolved to deeply enjoy the experiences vital to the survival of our nomadic ancestors for millions of years. An eco-trip gives us a steady stream of those experiences, such as: a) spending most of the day outdoors in nature; modern lifestyles afford few of us much contact with the natural world
b) moving lots: our nomadic genes love to move for hours each day but most of us lead mostly sedentary lives
c) connecting with friends from dawn to dusk for several days: we rarely get a chance to spend full 24-hour cycles doing relaxing activities with other people. But our genes love building such relating.
3) It is good for your health. Exercise! When neo-nomads get to a scenic place we want to hike, bike or paddle into it. Many nature-loving folks never wander very far from camp. But for eco-travelers, a daily self-propelled journey is an essential. The regular physical mobility is a wonderful tonic for our bodies. It builds muscle, flexibility and endurance – neo-nomad yoga! It helps shed the stress of modern life. Out in nature the air is clean, the soundscape soothing, and there are pleasing sights at every turn. Neo-nomads also tend to catch up on their sleep debt, often getting 9+ hours. Our bodies were designed for such a lifestyle!
4) Neo-nomads favor sunny destinations, providing the vitamin D and outdoors warmth that we are denied during our hometowns’ cold and wet seasons. Every destination has an optimal period for eco-travel: when it is sunny and dry but not too hot for outdoor excursions. That enables wearing t-shirts and shorts even late into the evening, and such minimal clothing enhances our contact with the natural elements and helps us get out necessary vitamin D without supplements.
5) We need more experiential variety than our routinized lives provide. Our genes love novelty but most of our days are pretty much like every other one. A neo-nomad trip is a continuous novel experience that replaces the monotony of regular life. It provides new sensations, new challenges, and new connections. And it also can give us a fresh perspective on home, allowing us to appreciate many of the features of modern life we can take for granted.
6) You are less likely to get trapped in a rut when you regularly leave it.
Dropping your normal routine allows you to evaluate whether it meets your needs. Our regular lives produce powerful habits that can trap us in a lifestyle that may leave us unfulfilled. But to see that problem we often need to leave home!. A break, like taking a neo-nomad trip, gives us a fresh perspective on our normal life, helping determine whether we are happy in it. Many of the major decisions that changed my life and made me happier resulted from insights I gained on my neo-nomad trips.