I’m probably going to get it for this one because it’s rather opinionated and negative… Maybe try to focus on the question as opposed to my banter that follows it.
traveling…what’s the appeal of it? I just don’t get it.
I do not care for travel. I can attribute this to several things:
I, on the other hand, am awash in an ocean of wanderlust.
I haven’t been on holiday in a few years now (life circumstances change) but my SO and I used to go off traveling for 4-6-8 months at a time. We made numerous trips through SE Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and South America.
And I have always, known and answer, whenever asked, “what would you do if you won the lotto?”. It’s almost too easy, I’d get my passport, my shots booklet, my SO and hail a cab to the airport. And no one would see us around these parts for a long, long time.
What’s it about? For us it’s the adventure. We are never sure where we’re going, we certainly never know what we’ll see, or what will happen to us. But we always enjoy ourselves. The very best part, for me, is it opens your mind to a different reality. Your whole perspective just shifts. Something about the triumph of western culture disturbs me. Part of me always needed to know there was another way, good or bad.
I haven’t really travelled in Europe yet, or Australia. I’m kind of saving that for when I get old! Though I did spend 10 hrs in Amsterdam once on the way to Asia. Nothing seems to hold as much appeal to me as the third world. I can’t explain it and my friends think I’m nuts, but I just can’t get enough.
elbows: What are you, Austrailian? It seems that Austrailians (at least it is my impression) take trips that last up to a year, working when they need to and then moving on.
Often the point of a trip is not the destination, but the journey to get there. For example, my dad and I used to hop in the Cessna and fly out to Las Vegas “for lunch”. Did we really need to fly almost 300 miles for a bite to eat? Did we really enjoy gambling? No. The point of going to Las Vegas was that we got to fly. One of us would fly out, and the other would fly back. We’d both end up with a couple of hours in our log books.
The journey is way so many people take the coast road up to San Francisco instead of the faster Interstate 5 (which goes straight through hot, dusty, muggy, buggy farmland and desert). Think of the phrase, “Getting there is half the fun.” If I had the time, I’d drive to Washington when I go up there. (Of course, if I ever get out of this sackin’ state, I won’t have to drive to Washington 'cause I’ll live there!) The only reason I take a commercial airliner is that I don’t want to burn four vacation days driving up there and back, when I don’t have enough time up there as it is. I’d fly a Cessna if dad hadn’t sold his. I could do it in 12 hours and have a beautiful view!
Don’t think of traveling as a hassle. Think of it as an adventure. More, were it not for traveling I would not have seen drawings by da Vinci in Milan, had gelato and gotten hooked on espresso in Florence, had an Apocalypse Now! moment on a night boat ride in Venice, found myself in San Francisco several hours after just going out for a motorcycle ride one morning, marched with the Krewe of Cosmic Debris during Mardi Gras, found out that some places serve iced tea with sugar in it (ick), had the spray hit me in the face in the English Channel, camped in Big Sur, or any of a thousand things that would not have been possible if I had stayed home.
I haven’t had the opportunity to do a lot of travelling, but I think there’s just something about being in a place that gives it a personal connection. And there is the whole bit about expanding your horizons and being better able to understand other people’s perspectives. Granted, you can do this vicariously, but it’s just not quite the same. It’s cliched, but there’s no substitute for experience.
The adventure aspect is certainly a big part of it. Every new place you go to is a new experience. As someone who is easily bored, it’s great to break the day-to-day routine in a big way. I also agree with Johnny that traveling itself can be fun. I’m one of those weird people who actually likes the whole process of getting to the airport, getting on the plane etc. Heck, even planning a trip can be fun.
Johnny LA: Sorry, Though I have met oodles of Aussies while on the road, I am, in fact, a Canadian.
While I have ‘traveled/worked/travel more’, only in Canada. I haven’t actually done any working overseas. I have had a couple of opportunities, but it never quite worked out.
I am almost as thrilled to plan my trip as I am to go. It doesn’t matter if I’m going to Montreal to visit my sister or SE Asia to hit the beach, it’s so exciting for me I can barely sleep.
We were wild travelers for about 10 yrs, going away pretty regularly, but our lives have changed now and we both miss it terribly. We both know we will do it again sometime, we just don’t know when.
I am currently somewhat obsessed about going to Sri Lanka. The tea, the beaches, the Buddhist culture, several of the things I like the most in a holiday destination!