Why do you travel?

Why do you travel? For me, it's a matter of learning and experiencing things.

It's been said that people tend to die within the same 25-mile radius they grew up in. I don't know yet if this will apply to me, or if I want it to. What I do know is that besides what find out in school and from various media outlets, I'm basically ignorant. I could study a culture or history of a country my whole life and still not know a whole lot about it. I wouldn't know what it's like to live there: to hike the beaten paths, catch the metros or interact with the people. This is why I travel.

Learning makes life a richer experience, however short or long it might last. Being knowledgeable about other worlds - even my own - instills a sense of satisfaction that can't be obtained from simply spectating through the Internet or by reading about them in books. Getting out and traveling is the only way to do this.

Where ever I wind up when I'm older, I hope that I will have learned a lot through that point. And even though I could take classes until I'm dead, sometimes you just have to be there to know. Any one else? Why do you all travel?
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Check out this thread which is pretty similar to your question:
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Traveling has been an amazing way for me to get out and meet new people - to meet locals in different cities, to meet other travelers, etc. Even if some of those bonds are fleeting ones, you can always look back on a brief, special moment you shared with some complete stranger in an exotic place. And of course, some of those bonds last far longer. Right now, as I travel through Europe, I'm meeting up with tons of people I'd met during a trip through Mexico and Central America last year. And the people I meet now? Maybe we'll cross paths in South Africa, or New Zealand, or wherever we end up a few years down the line.

Traveling changes the way you see life, because every hour and every minute of every day seems to be full of possibility. Coming from New York, I know first-hand what it's like to be caught up in the rat race, where you've got the blinders on day after day, sleepwalking through the same routine. I've been gone for a month in England and Spain, and when I write home, most of my friends will say, "Yeah, it's the same ol', same ol' around here. Nothing new." While for me, this has been a wild month of meeting new people and exploring new cities. For all its difficulties, life on the road is far more fulfilling for me than any other. Even when I'm worn out after a few months on the go, it just takes a couple of weeks of R&R for me to get the itch again.

Chris
Travel better. Travel Gator.
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