March 28, 2024

Why I travel

People ask me all the time “how do you travel so much”?

I came across the answer today – I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine ~Caskie Stinnett

travel

The most delightful – and insightful – essay on travel is perhaps this by Pico Iyer – Why We Travel

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.

Which is why I never understand people who travel – and then search for the comfortingly familiar – the McDonald’s and the Starbucks, the large impersonal hotel chain, the other person from the same country / city / community, the well-known tourist spots… If the idea is to be in one’s safe comfort zone, then why travel at all?

2 thoughts on “Why I travel

  1. One don’t always travel to get an out of body experience Charu … sometimes you travel to relax and see new places, be in nature, meet people, eat good food … and that doesn’t necessarily have to yank you out of your comfort zone! The routine is already broken … IMHO!
    and sometimes food takes the back seat (at least for me) when I’m exploring places … and at such times I prefer the “fast-food” types from the big chains … fast and quick so that I have time for other things and I don’t have to worry about getting sick or being hungry!
    And as for traveling with friends … I think it is the memories that make the journey more memorable – so nothing wrong to travel with familiar faces I would say.
    Lastly – if you keep traveling – isn’t that a routine of sorts 😀

  2. Totally true.. i travel to lose myself and in the process probably find myself.. 🙂
    I used to travel a lot with my family when i was a kid.. the touristy kind of travelling..
    But now i prefer the lesser known beautiful places where nature is still at its best unhampered by the civilization and it is at these kind of places i feel totally at home..

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