Why I Only Book One-Way Flights

My rule for the past year and a half has been to refrain from round-trip flights.

I adopted this change after taking my first open-ended trip at 29 (it’s never too late for these) to Albania, which eventually came to an end six transformative months later in Nepal. During this sojourn, I achieved the milestone of completing my first travel photography assignments abroad and had taken photos that would later be published in National Geographic Traveller Magazine. But I had no idea that either of these things was possible when I had first set off during that uneasy return to travel in the post-pandemic surge.

Traveling open-ended includes an aspect of surrender that just isn’t present on a round-trip itinerary, in which you know the precise date and means of your return. For “vacation” — limited in scope and locked into a specific purpose — return flights are fine because these trips are for the purpose of recharging, getting away, but ultimately returning to some form of consistency, and established life trajectory. For me, that’s not travel. Travel is about setting off into the unknown, either externally or internally, and that requires time and distance. You can’t have either when a return flight date is looming over every interaction or opportunity to consider.

Because travel at its best is an opportunity to let go of what you’re clinging to, and surrender yourself to fate — shedding and discarding your fears and prejudices. It’s at its best when it transforms you and that can only be done when time is invested and uncertainty is embraced. True, round-trip flights are always cheaper but, it’s a no-brainer when you consider that premium as an investment in yourself. It’s also well worth the price to have that extra flexibility and freedom from adhering to a strict timetable.

My second open-ended trip was a big risk. I wasn’t where I wanted to be financially, but there was a promising photo assignment just challenging and lucrative enough to implore me to book a flight across the Atlantic even though I didn’t have the financial footing I usually insist upon having. It was here, pushed to my limits in order to complete a challenging set of projects across five different countries that at one point brought me near bankruptcy, but paid off successfully to the point where I could travel for another six months between Europe and India on the earnings. The prudent course would have been to wait until I had saved up a safe amount, but because I took the risk, fate slingshotted me across oceans into a life I could never have imagined.

It’s here where I’ve been most alive, and most creative — living without the comfort of that return home — having to find a home within myself, and trusting that I will find a path forward that will lead me where I need to be. And so I encourage you to think about where you want to be by the end of this year. Do you want to be in the same place you are now, having had a few otherwise forgettable beach flops? Or do you want to be someplace you never imagined, achieving things you never knew you were capable of?

Join me in the one-way flight club, and I’ll see you out there.

You can follow along with my adventures on my Instagram, as well as on medium at Matthew David.