There are two levels of answers to the question of why people travel. The first one is obvious and is probably the reason why we give ourselves and quote others. We travel so that we can see monuments, get to know other cultures, participate in events and learn more about the world.
These are exciting reasons. But there are deeper reasons for travel that have less to do with what we do while traveling and more to what traveling does for us. These five sets of changes in themselves are at the heart of what makes travelling so fascinating.
Travel Enriches you, Before, During and After
Waiting for a journey is almost as stimulating as the journey itself and its memories. Knowing what you have in front of you and imagining it in detail adds to life’s excitement and alleviates the tendency to fall into a workaday routine. The more detailed the picture of the journey, the more exciting it will be in the future.
During the journey itself, everyday life can be intense. Living in these moments in full, and not everything around you, makes life even more intense. Of course, this kind of increased experience is the quality of the travel style that takes you outside the bus, to the streets and squares, landscapes and waterways, to the places you visit. Independent travel is a world outside of “closed” travels.
A journey expands your view of the world
Through your travels you gain a framework for history and important milestones, which have brought you to the present life and point in time. Now you stand in the office of the Evil Borgia Pope, surrounded by the walls themselves, which contained a man with enough power to write the Papal Boul – a mandate that consumed all the wealth of the western hemisphere for Spain and Portugal, and secured it for the next 200 years. When you stop where it happened, the events and their meaning take on a new meaning.
Now you look down the stairs that lead to the tunnel connecting Leonardo da Vinci’s house with the royal palace on the other side of the street. It was through this tunnel that King Francis travelled to sit down and talk to his brilliant friend. And now you are in Bayeux, where the French conqueror Wilhelm built his navy ships to cross the English Channel and conquer the throne of England.
Each of these experiences broadens your perspective on the world and your sense of time and place at first hand.
The journey makes you more lively and interesting.
Travelling gives you something you are looking forward to….. to prepare for….. to study and then to share your experiences. You bring stories home. Life can become a little monotonous if you allow it, especially after retirement and the end of your working life. Anticipation is worth at least as much as the journey itself and the memories that follow the journey.
How much better to have travel stories and observations to share than to limit the conversation to recent visits to the doctor and frustration with weeds in the lawn.
Travelling – Re-emancipation
Travelling and anticipating travel, regains enthusiasm. You look to the future with excitement instead of experiencing the blunted feeling that results from repetition and routine.