Addicted to novelty

We got so used to seeing new places every day when cycle touring that a fortnight after getting home we needed to go ski touring

Coming down from a big overseas trip is always a drag – fixing whatever has broken, doing the pruning and weeding, house work…normal life. Please play the teeny tiny violins for my plight. When we are cycling to a new place every day, through landscapes we have never before seen, meeting new people, eating different food, there’s no end to the novelty and novelty is a drug.

I love experiencing and learning new things. I can feel the dopamine kick every time. Obviously, it’s not the same for everyone…some people are far happier keeping the same routines rather than going new places. My brother and I are generally on the two opposing ends of that spectrum.

Novelty-seeking behaviour is partly genetic – the DRD4 gene has been associated with novelty-seeking behaviour. At an n=1 level (which no reputable scientist would credit as meaningful), that stacks up for me. My brother and I are adopted from different birth parents so are not genetically related. In contrast, my birth father is still flying his amphibious plane to new places aged 86 and my birth mother is building a new house aged 88; looks like they’ve got novelty-seeking hardwired in.

From an evolutionary perspective, novelty-seeking is hypothesised to have been advantageous. Individuals who tried new food sources would have had more available nutrients in good times and a better chance of survival when resources became scarce. If you explored new territories you got access to resources other people were not yet competing for. Seeking novelty likely also promoted innovation and problem-solving, crucial for adapting to changing environments.

Articles about novelty-seeking suggest its downside is impulsivity and risk taking. I’ve never found this to be a problem – I’m the person standing at the top of the steep ski slope repeating to myself, “You can do this,” while Chris is already at the bottom. I want the novelty, but I calculate the risk first.

Many articles also refer to people seeking less novelty as they age. The funny thing is, I’m much more prone to seek out novelty as an adult than I was as a child. As a child, I liked my routines. I got up at the same time, went for a run at the same time, did my music practice at the same time, ate the same food for breakfast (Weetbix in summer and porridge in winter), wore the school uniform I’d dropped on the floor the day before (unless my parents saw my uniform and told me to pick it up), did my homework every day after school, and enjoyed having fish and chips every Friday. My parents had a structured life which included many routines and I followed right along in that mould.

My first big break from routine was going to Canada aged 21. At the end of a year working on ski fields and as a waitress, I hitchhiked across Canada from west to east then down to New York and have never looked back in terms of my addiction to the novelty associated with travel. And I’ve got more enthused about it as I have aged. In my twenties I still travelled beaten tracks, using guide books and going to the cathedrals and museums that were the ‘proper’ travel experiences. These days, I love finding new routes and going places few other people visit and I gave up on guide books decades ago. My definition of a good place to go is somewhere there are no other tourists. In the same vein, my work life moved from routine jobs where I generally went to work in an office 8.30-5.30pm, to becoming self-employed aged 37 and creating a life where every day is different to the previous one (although I usually have the same muesli mix every day for breakfast).

On our recent bikepacking trip, we hatched the idea of cycling for longer. I’ve never travelled continuously for more than a couple of months. I’ve always said that’s because I like both having a stable base from which to travel, including the community of my home place, together with the novelty of travel. But that means I’ve never had the experience of a very long trip and Chris hasn’t either. So we’ve come up with a plan to cycle the length of South America starting next year (bodies still being willing!).

I’m really enthused by the idea of finally cementing the bits and pieces of Spanish I’ve learned over multiple 3-6 week trips to Spanish speaking countries. This time I will finally break the conversational barrier; to that end I’ve started an online Spanish course and am getting my dopamine buzz from learning to say new Spanish words every day. And, just think, novelty in place, people and landscapes every day for a year?!