“We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.”
A few months ago, a friend asked if I’d written a post about why I love to travel… as it turns out I have, but it’s been a while (so long ago that I told him no — because I forgot!). And so, I wrote this one without rereading what I had written before and then compared them. While it is a hard idea to articulate, the basic spirit has remained consistent —
Travel is the perfect intersection of culture, history, religion, and geography. You are able to see, touch, smell, hear a place. It’s immersive learning. I love to read — but no book or video can replace being there – talking to people. It is how I best learn about the world.
Travel allows me to live and experience different versions of my own life. I can spend a week in the mountains or living by the sea. I can live on a boat or explore a city or culture completely different than my own. I eat food I’ve never seen before. I hear new music. I can ride a horse or a motorcycle.
Travel allows me to get out of my routine. Routine is not bad. I love my day-to-day life. And I am a creature of habit. But I also don’t want to spend every day doing the same thing. Experts say that one of the reasons time speeds up as we get older is because we have fewer and fewer new experiences. There are less ways to mark the time. Travel provides milestones and memories … And out of your routine, you have time to reflect on what is important and what isn’t.
Similar to the above, while I like to travel alone, I prefer to travel with people I love. Traveling, new experiences and creating memories with someone outside of a daily routine is very special!
Travel helps me appreciate my many blessings and appreciate life. I am so very privileged and I am often reminded of that when I see the poverty, hardships, results of war and corruption around the world. But it goes both ways. When traveling – I also see love, family, good food, music, culture … and I am reminded to make room for these things in my day-to-day life.
Being outside, walking, and learning are some of my most favorite things to do… and frankly I get to do more of them when traveling than in my day to day life!
Finally, I consider the world, its people and its culture to be God’s masterpiece. And I want to see as much of it as possible – to experience the similarities and diversity of culture, religion, landscape…!
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai
Life Kinetic Travel Research 