Everybody here speaks about traveling, trips and tours to different destinations, but what is your reason for needing to travel?
"I love traveling because I want to see Paris"...:I love Italy"....the aims are different, but there is smth which motivates us to travel, to change the place at least for a short time.
Please share your opinion about this
Reply to this My reasons for traveling are long: 1) I'm curious about the world and its peoples
2) Travel educates me about different cultures, historical facts, architecture, the arts, language and gastronomy that I didn't know before 3) It puts a visual next to items and experiences that I have only read about in books, seen in movies or photos 4) travel makes far away places more "real" and "personal" rather than a mere location on a map 5) The people you meet along the way are fabulous and enhance your experience 6) The experiences you have while traveling are sometimes better than any fictional author could create and on top of that the experiences are real! 7) I have immigrant history, and therefore I'm curious about seeing where my ancestors came from, 8) I love languages and travel gives me a chance to use those skills 9) I love food and shopping for arts and crafts, therefore I enjoy seeing the different local crafts and food specialities so that I can bring these home 10) Learn and try something new 11) visit museums 12) eat and shop for great food! 13) Explore the world!
However I will caution that these are my reasons for travel, and for others of course these reasons can vary.
Reply to this To escape from monotony of the daily grind.
To learn and broaden my mind about the world we live in.
To meet new friends from different races.
To have better understanding of different cultures.
To enjoy all sorts of culinary delights the world has to offer.
To live differently from the norm.
****
OK, enough of this BS. The truth is I'm a self-absorbed intellectual lazy bum who is allergic to WORK. I use "traveling" as an excuse to avoid work and live "cheaply" in 3rd World Countries where my dollar can stretch. LOL !
[Edited: 2011 Oct 16 23:51 - wanderinghobo:220159 ]
Reply to this Because it makes me happy 😊)
Just knowing there is a holiday on the horizon and what will i find, what food will i taste, what experiences will i find, what people will i meet....i cant wait. Its like i'm addicted and i need at least 2 on the horizon to be happy in life.
Reply to this Growing up, my whole school class was 72 when I graduated. We had combined 4 schools for high school by that time to get that number. So once you were pegged, that was who you were and there was no changing or finding new friends, everyone knew everyone. Then I started to travel. I found out that not everyone was as closed as that society was. I could be another person and have great freedom. I need to go somewhere... just not enough in the checkbook or leave time to go right now.
Reply to this Freedom.
When I get to unzip the skin I wear and give my soul a shower.
Reply to this Travel is the best way to refresh your mind and body. I do travel for refreshing my mind from my daily busy life.
Reply to this I would have to say that one reason I like to travel is because it gets me out of myself. In my everyday life I tend to get into a rut, which then makes me tired and unappreciative of all that I have. When I travel, I see other countries and cultures and I take a step back and look at my life and how fortunate I have been. It is very humbling for me to realize that what I am tired of, or complain about would be so welcome to so many people. Many have more, lots more, but so many have less.
The foods, beers and wine are also I reason I travel. Love love love eating new foods.
Reply to this My reasons for traveling are always curiousity for areas that I've never been and further self-exploration. I love going someplace new and discovering or rediscovering not only something about where I am, but also about myself.
I feel that there are so many people that lack curiosity in the rest of the world and think that they can learn everything from the internet. I want to be there and really absorbing what is going on around me.
A person should never be done learning and I feel that the more you travel the more you learn.
Reply to this for me travel is one of the best way to relax, enhance my knowledge about the different places and people and to go beyond the unknowns.. given a chance, I would like to travel whole life as a Gypsy.. and I think our life is a journey and to travel is its very essence.
Reply to this Learning new cultures... meeting people that also love to travel...living the simple life for a few months, where the superficial stuff is at the bottom of importance....not having to worry about career and bills, but just basic survival and experiencing great things... building amazing memories.
Reply to this
Perspective-----
Travel allows us to meet new people and make new friends.
It allows us to have a better understanding and appreciation of others.
It broadens our knowledge and our perspective.
Travel expands our understanding.
Reply to this Oooh good question and really hard to answer...so many reasons and not always obvious what they are!
I'm with Tam&family, essentially I travel because it makes me happy...even the worst moments of travelling I have often been much happier than in 'everyday' life. I also agree it is an addiction for me...I actually feel sick sometimes when I think how many places I want to visit in the world and only 1 lifetime to do it all in!! How stupid is that?!!
I get bored really easily so having a routine can get me restless and unhappy pretty quickly, while things are always new and different when you're on the road. Seeing and experiencing new things, meeting new people, sampling new foods, all make life more exciting. But as well as doing fun things I see travel as a way to challenge and improve myself, it often forces you out of your comfort zone and makes you try new things and adapt...all good for character and soul!
Plus I'll have awesome stories to bore young children with when I'm crazy Auntie Frankie in 30 years time!!
[Edited: 2011 Nov 21 07:29 - Forget 9 to 5:25003 - because I thought of even more reasons why I love to travel!!]
Reply to this I don't know how many other travelers would agree but when I'm in a foreign country (even one I've never been to) and don't speak the language or have a single friend there, I never feel more comfortable than I do in that moment. Not to sound too much like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, but when I'm traveling, I feel like I'm finally home.
Reply to this Anastasia,
Your comments ring a bell for us.
I never feel more comfortable than I do in that moment
There is a comfort in the emersion into a foreign land.
We travelers look at the world differently....and we are glad about that.
Reply to this 1) Learning about the history of a country.
2) Tasting food from other countries.
3) Learning about the beliefs and values of other cultures and applying the ones I agree with to my life.
4) Experiencing those moments that can only be described as 'amazing'.
5) Seeing the most beautiful sights you have ever seen.
6) Last but most definitely not least, escaping reality to go somewhere completely different and unique compared to where I actually live lol.
Reply to this
Once again, the philosopher William sums it up rather quickly.
Reply to this Yesterday I re-read the first few pages of my (very old) copy of the book
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. The opening paragraph seemed apt for this discussion:
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself.
Reply to this 
