Why do we Travel?

Many of us like to travel occasionally, don’t we? Frankly, I was never a travel-enthusiast but the travel bug bit me quite suddenly. Since I had a blog and the blog needed updates, I started traveling around my place so that I can update my blog!! That might be one of the strangest reason to travel, but let us try to understand and explore why people (in general) want to travel.

Traveling to new places gives people happiness and satisfaction. We can enjoy new landscapes, scenery; get familiar with new cultures, new people; escape the routine drudgery/familiarity of daily life, daily work; boast to our colleagues/relatives about the latest place we visited, how much we spent on that trip., etc.

We travel because we want to do something different, something exciting, something adventurous. But would we want to travel if we already had all these things in our life, abundantly?

Let us look at a travel-guide or a person working with a travel-agency, for example. They might travel almost daily because of the nature of their work. Would they be excited about travel, during weekends or vacations?

When I had been to Munnar (a scenic hill-station in Kerala), I thought there could be no other paradise like that on earth. When I was talking to our travel-guide (who was born and brought up there), I told him how lucky he was to live in such beautiful surroundings. To my surprise, he started talking about how lucky we were to live in big cities with huge buildings, large flyovers, fancy vehicles, glittering shops, etc. etc.

What was normal to me, was clearly exciting to him. And vice-versa.

Think deeply about this question: Do we travel only for happiness? Does travel, inspired by happiness, take us closer to something else that we want, but can’t quantify?

Do people travel to understand more about the world and consequently about themselves? Aren’t our religious pilgrimages supposed to take us closer to self-realization and perhaps, nirvana?

I leave you with three thought-provoking quotes on travel by some great people –

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson

One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.” – Henry Miller

 A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” – George Moore

Now answer the question: Why do you Travel?

Destination Infinity

16 thoughts on “Why do we Travel?

  1. Avada Kedavra

    I love to travel only because I want to see and explore new places, new food, meet new people 🙂 I like a change in my life once in a while. Now I have another reason to travel 😉 to click some photos.. 😀

    1. Reema

      Same here!!!

  2. SG

    We travel a lot. We like visiting new places and enjoy. I can identify with the guy (travel agent) from Munnar. Any place is interesting and nice to “visit only”. If you start to live there, the charm is gone. The whole world comes to see San Francisco, the most beautiful city in USA. The main attraction is the Golden Gate Bridge. We have not gone to see this bridge in the last 3 years. Tired of seeing this umpteen number of times.

  3. Krishna

    Before my current job, i traveled almost parts of Kerala. At this time i can’t travel well… because of family and job matters. Now my Sundays is occupied with other matters…

    interesting….

    thanks

  4. KP

    People who can afford to change the monotony of humdrum life to see places different from theirs.Pleasure trips are different from pilgrimages.People do not normally visit the same place however enchanting it could be. Travel means freedom from regular chores that women and children enjoy most.

  5. Divoo

    We travel to break free from the routine life, and at times, just for the sake of visiting a place because it’s a popular destination! 🙂 Thanks for sharing these thought-provoking quotes!

  6. Sandhya Kumar

    Like KP said above, for us women, we can escape, mainly cooking and doing other things at home!

    I love watching people…I can watch anyone from a beggar to a man driving a car! I never get bored of watching people…every person is different. I love to visit places full of greenery and good weather, which is rare here, in Chennai!

    Bengaluru has got many places to visit in the surroundings of the city but Chennai…we have got number of temples and of course, beach. Nothing else. So I always love to go to other places, out of Chennai. And like you have said, now, I need material and pictures for my blog posts!

  7. Sushmitha

    I love travel. It paves the way to enjoy scenaries and it gives us some new experiences. Ocassional travel experiences differs a lot from professional travel. Nice post. It has provoked to think deeper on it.

  8. Rakesh Vanamali

    Brilliant post. I think i travel for the joy it gives.

    So happy to see Moore’s quote here. It is an all time favorite.

  9. sm

    everyone travels for his own reasons and satisfaction and yes its human nature one likes which he dont have

  10. Ashwathy

    Ooooh I love travel…whether it is to visit my home town or explore a complete new place. But then again, there is nothing like coming back to home sweet home at the end of it all 🙂

  11. Kismitoffeebar

    I love to travel because it makes me feel alive in a beautiful way! I love growing as a person and i think travel offers me with perspectives that I have never imagined before. I become more tolerant, becoem more thankful, happy, poignant and euphoric all at once. While I may enjoy travelling alone, travel also symbolises togetherness for me.
    I also like to learn the stories of people through food, coffee and on a train platform.

    Thank you for those lovely quotes!

  12. Jeevan

    You are right about traveling and there’s nothing like traveling that gives me happiness quite and exploring places gives me a feel that my world expands. For me traveling is not only about seeing place but realizing it through sense and circumstance.

  13. Kirtivasan

    Management workers get rotting from within from daily chores. They take a break as a holiday trip. Most people have fancies for unexplored places, adventure. It depends.
    Apple is considering Bing as their default search engine. Not Google. (Today’s news). This is a boost to tourism as tourists can look forward to stay in local homes. Local people get money. The connection is Bing can search devices( guest homes) also if shared. Google is mainly for servers(large hotel).

  14. shooting star

    An interesting question I have asked myself many times….

    I travel to get away from my daily work schedule….and since my work involves travel sometimes mostly to road trips and remote places…its a good diversion from sitting at the office…so for me, both work trips n personal travel is welcome!!

    http://www.myunfinishedlife.com

  15. Avik

    I love to travel to get a relief from the daily life where we can relax and enjoy the nature. Mostly I like to travel to less visited places or uncommon places since the crude form of nature still exists.

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