Are you also a novelty-seeker when you travel?

How one of my greatest travelling motivations is connected to my brain ...

Last year in Seoul, my son and I rode the metro every day. There were a lot of new things to see there but one that intrigued me particularly was the constant presence of cabinets full of gas masks.

Something caught my eye in the Seoul subway ...

On the trains themselves, they also played public safety videos showing what we should do in the case of an emergency and how we should use the masks if required (I honestly found these a little scary at first!). I’d never seen anything like this elsewhere in the world (and subsequent research suggests that South Korea is one of the only places in the world that provides passengers with cupboards full of masks in case of emergency - please comment if you’ve seen elsewhere, though), and we discussed this a few times, looked carefully at the contents of the cabinets when we had a moment between trains, and of course, we also went to Google.

Now, this newsletter probably isn’t the place to give you a detailed rundown of masks on Seoul’s subway, but briefly, it seems they have both masks to deal with chemical or biological attacks, and masks to deal with smoke if there was a fire; many of the underground stations are also designed to serve as bomb shelters and it makes sense that with North Korea being so nearby, and tensions often running high, the local authorities have thought hard about how to keep the population safe.

Also on Seoul trains, this cute guy!

Before we get too serious, I also need to tell you that the Seoul metro also has a very cute mascot named Ddota, who I thought was a cross between a bear and a cat but is (in hindsight, very obviously) a train carriage head with a body. And he was everywhere!

Now, both the masks and the mascot fascinated me. This is the kind of novel information I am obsessed with noticing and finding out more about when I travel. Actually that’s not quite right; “obsessed with noticing” makes it sound like I try to notice, but in fact, my natural tendency is always to see the unusual-to-me stuff around me. Novelty lights my brain up!

Are you a novelty seeker too?

Novelty, of course, means something different to every traveller. You might share my fascination with the small differences, or you might be after adrenalin-novelty like bungee jumping, or anything in between. And some people prefer less novelty - having a hotel room that looks as they expect makes them more comfortable on their trip, and they don’t want to try too many unusual foods.

You probably won’t be surprised, if you have known any other neurodivergent people or are one yourself, that my passion for novelty is a part of having ADHD. Routine and repetitiveness are my brain’s mortal enemy, and the novelty in travel is one of the reasons I love it so much.

But I firmly believe that seeking novelty, no matter how your brain is wired, can be a wonderful way to enhance your travels, as well as helping you be a thoughtful traveller.

How can we chase novelty on our travels?

Oh, let me count the ways! But let me start with my Google search history. Cultivating a curious and questioning mindset is, I think, one of the fastest routes to gathering novel information and experiences that also enhance your travel. My son and I are both naturally very curious, but I feed that by also acting on our curiosities. I’m grateful for the internet age in this respect, and the ability to hold a smartphone in my hand while I’m travelling and immediately do some research when our interest is sparked. As an example, here’s a sample of my Google searches during the week we spent in Seoul:

• how many south koreans in military service now

• mrs walton h walker

• is there a dress code for dmz tour

• what happened to monorail at third tunnel

• what nationalities can’t go to dmz

• seoul overtourism

• bukchon hanok village overtourism

• dragons beard candy

• cheonggyecheon stream

• zero base one

• what does lotte company do

• milk bars v delis

• atms seoul

• can i get t money card in gs25

• what is paldo rice wine

• heavenly wang changi terminal 1

Some of this is practical information, of course, but most is simply questions that arose from our travels, and from conversations with my similarly novelty-seeking teenager. For example, after seeing the Lotte company logo everywhere I wanted to tell him more about it, as I had half an idea that it was a bit unethical, so that was a rabbit hole of interest (the founder was jailed at the age of 95 for embezzlement charges, among other issues); I also tried to tell him a convenience store was like a deli and (to my total embarrassment - I have failed as a mother in Australia) he told me he didn’t know what a deli was and my explanation led him to the term milk bar instead … and so on. (I think he watches too many YouTubers from the other half of Australia, because our research taught me using “deli” is more Western and South Australian, who knew!).

All of this to say - Google is your friend, and a great window into novel facts and fictions, and if you get in the habit of looking for questions when you travel, you will find them everywhere.

But it’s not just about information and quirky facts. I think novelty comes to those who travel with an open mind and an interest in understanding their surroundings as much as possible. Talking to local people, asking questions of a walking tour guide or a hotel employee, looking in a bookshop to see what kind of books are in the top ten, wandering around with the express intention of finding ten things that are different to your life back home; there are myriad ways to focus on novelty.

Side note: For my neurodivergent friends who also moved abroad

If you haven’t seen this post before, it’s worth a read. When I was younger, I wondered at great length about how moving away to Japan, and later Slovakia and Germany, though each to a lesser extent, made my general happiness and satisfaction with life so much higher, and my tendency to anxiety or stress reduced so significantly - I even used to say that moving to Japan “cured” my anxiety!

But back to everyone, and my wish for you to travel with a focus on novelty

Regular podcast listeners or newsletter readers will have heard me talk about my love for unplanned (or lesser planned) trips, for leaving room for moments of spontaneity when you travel.

I think the next step of this is to be consciously thinking about novelty when you travel. This is, of course, a nuanced thing; I’m not suggesting you highlight “weird things”, or laugh at differences. Rather, being open-minded to notice things which are new to you, and to reflect on what this means - whether it’s a simple smile that’s provoked by a cute metro mascot, or a deeper layer of thought about the history and culture that’s led to this being novel to you.

So my instructions are:

• make time to look around - try to have trips where you don’t need to rush

• notice what sparks interest or curiosity for you - take a photo as a reminder, or do a Google search

• don't judge yourself at all for what it is that interests you - in fact, embrace whatever it is that lights you up, regardless of what other people might think

• share some of these learnings - I think a world where people come home from a trip and explain a fascinating part of the Seoul subway instead of just showing photos of the top ten sights everybody already knows about would be a more interesting world indeed.

I’m so curious (of course I am!!) to know how others approach novelty on their travels so please do comment with your own experiences of this. Am I crazy, or is everyone doing this too, and we just never talk about it?