We Forgot How to Say Goodbye — Until Travel Taught Us Again

(For the wanderers from Lagos to Toronto, New York to Sydney)

We’ve gotten good at disappearing.
We ghost people we once prayed for.
We stop texting and pretend we “got busy.”
We unfollow like that solves it.

Modern life has made leaving easy
and goodbyes awkward.

But then… you travel.
And travel doesn’t let you run.

You might meet someone on a Jollof cruise in Lagos,
or during a 4-day road trip through Alberta.
Maybe it’s that hostel in Melbourne,
or a backpacking stopover in New Orleans.

At first, it’s light just shared snacks or playlists.
But then it becomes something.
You find yourselves laughing like old cousins,
deep-talking at midnight,
walking through cities like you were meant to be in them together.

Then suddenly it’s time to go.
One flight heads to JFK.
One bus rolls back to Abuja.
And you stand there… with the weight of what won’t continue.

Goodbyes on the road aren’t polite.
They’re emotional ambushes.

Because you don’t always realize how deep something got
until a visa expires, a plane boards, or a tour ends.

Travel doesn’t let you disappear quietly.
It makes you say it.
It makes you feel it.

Sometimes the hardest goodbye isn’t even to a person it’s to a place.
    •    That beach in Australia where you forgave someone in your mind
    •    That bridge in Canada where you told yourself, “I’m enough”
    •    That cab ride in Lagos where you held back tears because the city gave you more than home ever did
    •    That quiet night in Houston when you let go of an old version of yourself

And when you leave there’s no block button.
There’s no archive.
You just look back one last time…
and let go.

Funny thing?
We never say goodbye like this in real life.

We quit jobs via email.
We leave group chats with no warning.
We stop replying and call it peace.

But travel?
It forces us to feel.
It gives us something real then reminds us we can’t keep it forever.
It brings strangers who become family,
cities that become therapists,
moments that become memories.

And somehow, it’s those goodbyes
that remind you that you were really there.
Fully.
Deeply.
Alive.

So wherever you’re going next Canada, Australia, back to Nigeria or across the U.S.
Let the road break you open.
And when it’s time to leave?
Don’t just disappear.

Say goodbye.
Say it with your chest.
Say it because you meant it.
That’s what makes the journey matter.

Where did you leave a part of yourself?
Was it in the person, the place, or the moment?

Tell us in the comments.
And tag someone you met on the road that you never forgot.