Up, Up and Away! Bazaar Arabia Columnist Aida Al Busaidy on Indulging Her Passion for Wanderlust
The communications strategist and storyteller shares her thoughts on the importance of adventure and exploring new cultures
There is something that can transform your perceptions into reality, give access to new faces, acts and facts, and introduce you to cultures and people that you would’ve never thought possible: travel.
My first real memories of visiting new places are, of course, linked to my parents. They had a zest for travel, wanting to experience new places, so before I hit my teens we had already been to the Czech Republic, Oman, Singapore, Malaysia, Zanzibar, and across the United States. They’d been to other countries without us which always felt a bit unfair.
The process of venturing overseas seemed tedious back then; you had to physically go to a travel agent to make bookings, pick up paper tickets, and buy your Travelers’ Cheques which were essential currency – do millennials even know what they are now? Picking a destination was the first step but easy-to-navigate direct flights didn’t always exist and we had to orchestrate a ‘stopover’ – you had to check out another place en route. We did it the long way but it was worth it.
This was the pre-social media age, so there were no bloggers showing us must-visit spots to visit, or influencers framing Instagram-worthy pictures to emulate. What I do have is a collection of photo albums that capture our moments together including one of us inside the cockpit of an airplane – an area that’s impossible to access today.
As long weekends enter our calendars, and more frequent breaks become commonplace, our appetite to create, re-live, or just start new experiences has grown. Before we jet home from one trip, we are searching for the next. And it is so easy – options are literally at our fingertips.
Why do we travel? There are so many reasons; to relax and unwind, to explore, to get-away and even to ‘find’ oneself. We head off to celebrate or to meditate, or indulge in our hobbies and passions. Some want to savour a specific dish from a specific food stall, while others yearn to re-click the same picture they took with their parents, but this time with their own offspring.
Our wanderlust tendencies are fueled by books we read, and travel writers and digital creators who invoke our fear of missing out. My desire to discover new horizons was further heightened during the pandemic, when we were stuck, and the walls of my house stood in for border crossings. EXPO 2020 Dubai was another catalyst, as I ventured through pavilions and realised I had barely seen or done anything. I needed to explore more. Given that I work in tourism, I am also constantly linking visitors’ passions with what Dubai, my home, has to offer.
There are always naysayers. But before you focus on the high financial implications of flying out, the time you’d have to dedicate to the pursuit and who you’d like to have as your travel companion, you should remember this: with every trip you add a new chapter to your life, have a better story to share and more memories to bank. And that is surely priceless.
Photography: Efraim Evidor. Styling: Imogene Legrand. Make-Up & Hair: Arina Zubakhina. Stylist’s Assistant: Janhvi Kohli. Special thanks to the St. Regis Downtown Dubai. Aida wears: Abaya, Dhs2,150, Mauzan. Shoes, Dhs5,640, Roger Vivier. Jewellery, Aida’s own
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s May 2024 issue