I am doing an independent study project about why people feel the desire to travel and see the world - anyone have any feedback? - x[posted anonymously]x
I haven't really travelled
but I have my first oppertunity to backpack europe
I just need YOUR help
please go here
http://www.endlesseurope.com/backpacker-detail.php?ID=606
and rate me (5)
the more points I get
the better chance I have of going.
I have made the top 100 finalist cut
now I just need your hlp to get further
eventually to the top male and top female finalist.
please please help me get there.
Thank you SO much to whoever does this.
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
To see what's round the next corner/over the horizon. An adventure. To learn. To see if the grass is greener. Because the mainstream British model for life of buying stuff and drinking 'til you fall over in the same place every week doesn't seem that attractive.
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
Culturally - Japan
Naturally - Vanuatu
How was this place different from where you are from?
Too much to list - many, many aspects.
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
That's a long list - Norway, Cuba, India, US etc... Time and money are the mundane reasons.
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
- Adventure & Escape
- Time out to think about life and goals
- Challenge, to get out of my comfort zone
- To expand my mind
- Fun!
- People & Nature
- Because the world is an amazing place!!
- To collect good tales and good memories for family n friends back home.
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
- India
- Africa
How was this place different from where you are from?
- India is a circus compared to Australia. India is vibrant and unpredictable. It has amazing food and colorful people.
- Africa's wildlife and scenery is unique to any other place.
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
- Outback Australia - Must explore my own backyard soon!! Time & Money and the lure of other far distant lands.
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
This time around, I decided to travel because I had been working for 5 years and nothing was going to change. I wanted some time to explore and not have to deal with every day stuff (like rent and driving to work) for a year. The reason why I like traveling is because it is often like one big puzzle. You are always seeing things you don't understand and it is thrill to figure it out.
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
The most exotic place for me was Istanbul. The first time I travelled on my own I spent most of my time in Europe. When I visited european countries I hadn't been to before I expected to be in awe of something diffent. It didn't happen, european countries have to same overall feel although I still love visiting them. Then after four weeks, I got to Istanbul. It was the first time I was in a non-western, Islamic country...and I was in awe. The architecture, the culture, the smell of food, the calls to prayer. I loved it. I loved seeing something I had never seen before.
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
Backpacking in China on my own. I figured that China would have to wait until I had more money and could go on a tour. I don't know if I can handle it on my own although recently I have met several people who have and it makes me rethink my decision.
Reply to this Dear Jenn,
Let me first congratulate you for the question....... it´s a great topic, would you share your results with me? my email is inacho1@yahoo.com
Now here are my answers:
Why did you decide to travel?
I love meeting people, specially different people, those who think / act believe different, because it makes me feel at least for a while that I could grasps for a while that other life style, mindset that I am not-
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
Exotic? This is a tricky word, nevertheless, I guess it was Iceland.
How was this place different from where you are from?
1. It's an island
2. It's far away from other countries / life settlements (unlike Corse, Cuba, New Zeland)
3. Peple are very ethnocentric
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
1. Antartica, I am young and I will do it once in my life
2. Malvinas (Falkland) islands
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
I had never had a big desire to really 'travel', although I have always loved holidays and am a real sun bunny, then I went to visit friends in Singapore and trotted off on my own up to Thailand for week and I've never looked back!! Thailand was beautiful of course but it was the feeling of the freedom and excitment, of heading off on my own into the unknown, mistress of my destiny! I never stop smiling when I am on my travels and I love meeting new people and seeing the beauty of the world, opening up your mind to other cultures and trying to get a better understanding of the world. It reminds me of how lucky I am, of how rich my life is and not to take anything for granted. Then you get to come home and see your friends and family and your old home town which is excellent too, getting away for while helps you appreicate it all when you get back....until the feet het itchy again....!
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
I think it would have to be India
How was this place different from where you are from?
It was so different I can't begin to explain! It was also my first stop on my first solo travels and it blew me away, it was hard going getting around and coping with the chaos but it was worth every step. The weather, landscape, food, people way of life and living, everything was different!
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
Nepal and Tibet are definitley up there, I caught a glipmse of the Himalayas from the India side and now I am obsessed.
Reply to this Why do we travel? That is a tough question, one which was well explored in a book I just finished reading. For my last birthday, my daughter gave me a copy of Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. It was well worth the read, as he visits Australian Aborigines and brings up thoughts on the subject from various other writers. What follows are quotations from the book
- Men need to learn to live without things. Things filled men with fear: the more things they had, the more they had to fear. Things had a way of riveting themselves on to the soul and then telling the soul what to do.
- The question of questions: the nature of human restlessness.
- Our nature lies in movement, complete calm is death. Pascal, Pensees
- A study of the Great Malady; horror of home. Baudelaire, Journaux Intimes.
- It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks. Anatole France.
- The Wayless Way, where the Sons of God lose themselves and, at the same time, find themselves. Meister Eckhart.
- Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house on it. Indian proverb.
- They became nomads again (they became human again) The supreme value to them lay in the freedom to migrate, not in the circumstances that make it economically viable.
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
Well this sounds lame i guess but the way i have allways explained my need for travel is its like God or Santa clause you can tell me they are real but untill i see them with my own 2eyes how do i know its just not a very large trick being pulled on me ?
well thats how i sold my mom on the idea of my first trip to europe
but i guess the real reason or the more serious one would be
why not ?
Reply to this "Why did you decide to travel?"
I lived 7 months on exchange in France for the sake of adventure. Before this, I spent a week in New Caledonia with friends. I was born and bred to travel, I've never been happy staying in one place.
"Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?"
After six months in France I was going a little mad (stuck in a town in winter), so I went a little rogue and bolted across germany. I got as far as Poland (Szczecin Glowny) after living a week in Berlin, and the week before that in Essen. Poland, for a 17 year old Australian lad, is pretty damn 'exotic'.
How was this place different from where you are from?"
Nordic girls everywhere speaking a somewhat hideous language, not to meantion the word for 'departure' looks something like 'OZWKJUIKLA'. That caused me trouble getting home. And a foot of snow. Yes, that's a big difference to Sydney.
"Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?"
I'm stuck at highschool still (secondary school for the yanks), so I havn't done a lot of travel until now. I was planning to go to Rome and Madrid but I got deported for slipping away to Poland with my French student visa. I personally want to go to South America, South East Asia and some of Russia and a LOT more of Germany and Poland.
In all, it was about me wanting to break free of everything at home. I now have stories and experience un-travelled people can't understand until they've gone out there and lived a little.
Reply to this I want to see places that others have written about. I got hooked on National Geographic when I was a kid and wanted to see some of the places they mentioned; their articles on the 'Blue Grotto' in Capri are directly responsible for my going there many years later. The most exotic place I have been to was Penjikent (or Panjikent) in western Tajikistan, about 60 miles from Samarkand (which was pretty exotic too). Some places, such as Vietnam, are on my 'to do' list because of all of the USA history there back in the '70s.
I live in New York City so I am comfortable traveling to cities like Paris and London either solo or with a few friends. I am a senior now and prefer to take tours when I go 'off the beaten track'; this makes for a much more expensive journey - so I'm trying to figure out how to get the money to do this.
Carol
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
To discover and learn about people and places different from my own.
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
Vietnam
How was this place different from where you are from?
Very different. The pacing of life, the difference in availability, and the people are all so different. We get so used to an over abundance of just about anything we can think of. In Vietnam, it's quite different... there isn't a starbucks on every corner, a fast food joint everywhere you go, and yet what you do find is an abundance of life--people who truly enjoy life. Most people don't earn a lot of money but they seem so happy - so content. They laugh. They smile. They enjoy each other because they take the time. It's truly refreshing.
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
I'd like to go to Australia... i love the aussie accent. =)
Reply to this Why did you decide to travel?
To do something different. I've always known that i've wanted to see something of the world and this seemed like a perfect time to do it. I graduated highschool and opposed to going straight to university-graduating-job-family-die thing, i booked a ticket to London and suprised the hell out of myself. So basically for two reasons. To finally get out and do it, and to change things up.
Where has been the most "exotic" place you have ever travelled?
Probably Morocco. "Exotic" is a tough word to attribute to any certain place. When i hear it i think palm trees and rediculous adventures on a boat powered by indigenous peoples. Now i've never really been to a place like that, so it leaves morocco.
How was this place different from where you are from?
Morocco is just decidedly different. As said previously by someone else, there's no bars and they live a pretty modest lifestyle. The entire "psyche" (if you will) is entirely different, the course of life as we know it is in some places completely reversed.
Where have you always wanted to travel but have never gone, and why?
That changes constantly. Originally i wanted to go to Rome, Italy. Now i've been living here for the last 9 months and i'm a tourguide of ancient Rome, obviously that doesn't really count in this catagory anymore. However, once you reach the place you've always wanted to go "but never did" there will just be another one. I think it's pretty resonant with the travelling type. Given the 60 - 100 years of your life (cross my fingers) the travelling person (in my opinion) couldn't possibly see every single place they've ever wanted to see.
Good survey.
Reply to this Nice questions, let me see if I can come up with an intelligent answer.
Why I travel? Well, I made small trips with my family and everytime the view just caught me in awe. Crossing from one border to the next both within my country and across amazed me because it was definitive. It also meant relaxing and being free from responsibilities at home, well right now its work. Today I'm doing it because I feel I have the blessed opportunity to do it before a family comes along and I start packing up for 10. Well, maybe not that much, but it won't be as difficult.
The most exotic place I have travelled? A place in Kenya (Eldoret) called Tindinyo and a nearby place that I have beat myself over just to remember the name. I have the picture but Oh! the name! If there ever was a beautiful place on this earth, maybe edens corner, this must be it. The view is something similar to the Rift Valley and maybe so it is. I have vowed God willing, I am going to retrace my steps and visit that place again on my next trip to Kenya. Another place would be somewhere in Moshi, Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border. The view surrounding Mt. Kilimanjaro struck me so hard and just hasn't left me. I loved them!
How was the place different? Well I was raised in the city, not very exciting. Its full of people in a rush to go nowhere. Well I guess I was too young not to understand that people have to work to earn a living, coz I do it now even worse. But these places are just so calm and relaxing, and just places to do nothing but reminisce. Its really awesome.
Where I have wanted to travel and why?
Well everywhere in Africa. If in my lifetime I could visit each and every country and just experience what they are all about, even if it means a day each, I'll probably do less afterwards. Why I haven't done it, well I just got more settled recently and started keeping my savings. So financially, I'd say is my major setback, and just a little bit of anxiety!
Reply to this I have always loved travel, and then found that it is a bug that runs in the extended family! It brings geography alive, and I see and talk to people "across borders."
Exotic place? "Exotic" means different things to different people. I got to see some antiquities before the 3 Gorges of the Yangtze were flooded, I went to Victoria Falls and almost understood what it would be like to be pioneer.
Although I am from a 3rd world country, I have lived in so many places that every place seems different in a way from every other place!
Have not made it to Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Peru, to name a few! They all have something unique, be it historic cities, special monuments, an interesting culture, wonderful scenery, ancient civilization...
And sometimes, I travel just to get away and relax!
Would be interested in your conclusions or what happens with your study! Good luck.
Reply to this Good question Wild Child; Why is this posted anonamously? I would repy to a name, but I'm not going to give out my personal feelings to an anonymous entity. It's like having casual sex with a stranger in the dark, in a way. Think about it folks.... ANDY
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