MY QUESTION TO YOU
 

Good day fellow travelers: <BR> <BR>My question to you--and I really want you to think about this one--is: <BR> <BR>Why do you travel? <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>Daniel Lee

Someone asked Mallory, the British mountaineer, why he was trying to climb Mount Everest. His answer: "Because it is there." I guess that is my reason: <BR>I travel because places other than my own are there. <BR> <BR>As an adjunct issue, one that may stir up the troops, ever notice that the European forum contributors seem to engage in more philosophical discussions than the others?? Where else would you find the bra issue, or the Revenge of the Tacky Tourists???

A long time ago, I met an Irishman named Maurice, who was on his third trip around the world, or around his world, wherever. I was young enough then, to be impressed and told him so. 'Aye', he nodded wisely, adding, 'a donkey may go around the world five times, but he will remain a donkey.' <BR> <BR>I guess that is why I travel, to not become a donkey and continue to be the jackass that I am!

I travel to get away from my present drab existense to an idealized better place, only to find that when I arrive people are not happy to see me unless I give them money. <BR> <BR>It also gives me a chance to practice my French and German.

Someone once told me that "travel is a fool's paradise", but I don't believe it, unless you try to vicariously live through other cultures. <BR> <BR>The main issue of making your life better through your own everyday existence, at least in my humble opinion, is vital. Being happy now, in the present moment. <BR> <BR>I despise my little suburban town, devoid of culture and swamped in commercialism. I always get depressed when I come home from a trip (especially after Brasil), and yet what do I do about my situation that is making it better? If anything, I am making it worse. <BR> <BR>My friend also told me that you can find paradise anywhere. I believe that. It's all what you make of it. Like I said before, travel teaches and shows me how to make my life back home better, to not worry about trivial matters and focus more on things that are important like family, friends, and values. Or arts and culture, or passion, or whatever. Not the next Bulls game or who's doing what at work. <BR> <BR>Travel, to me, is learning not only of other cultures, but of myself. <BR> <BR>Daniel

<BR>Daniel: <BR> <BR>If I may address one of Bob's comment first, I've circulated the "Bra" topic to several folks & gotten ALOT of laughs from that issue. But back to the question on the table, I travel to explore new worlds, see new things, go to where no (wo)man has gone before . . . <BR>Actually, it's alot of fun - it does give you a different perspective from the environment in which you spend your daily routine (wherever that may be) - and altho the world is getting smaller, there are just some things you can only get in certain places. <BR>For instance, I'm an avid ice cream fan. There isn't anyplace in the entire United States nor any brand of ice cream that compares to the quality, the texture, the taste of gelato in Italy. <BR>And I haven't even addressed the sites that can be found elsewhere, or the wonderful people one can encounter. <BR>

Daniel Lee: I travel because I want to know what is out there. <BR> <BR>I want to learn about it, see it, feel it, taste it and touch it. I want to know what it's all about. I want to learn about where we come from and learn about the past and especially, learn about Europe. After Europe, who knows? <BR> <BR>My wife and I are discovering the world and it's fun. You know, it really isn't flat, after all. <BR>

Daniel Lee: You have taken the thoughts right out of my head. Its comforting to know others in the world have the same perspective on life/travel etc as I do, it certainly takes the lonliness out of some things. In other words "I couldn't agree with you more."

There is a wonderful quote (I think I've paraphrased it, though) that is my slogan/motto: Once your passport has been stamped, you are never quite the same..... <BR>When I am on my deathbed (maybe when I'm around 135 or so) I intend to beg God for a little more time because "I still haven't seen...".

I travel because I love to learn about other places and cultures. I'm also really comforted by the fact that the daily humdrum, glamour, crime, romance, pettiness, generosity, loneliness, friends and families, wealth, poverty, pollution, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, concrete jungles, nature's beauty that I experience here in the good ol' USA also exists in other countries! <BR>

When I graduated from college in 1991, th baccalauriate (sp?) speaker made a great point in her speech. She said, "Take great vacations." Even though I have already forgotten her name,I will remember what she said for the rest of my life. The school that I graduated from has a high percentage of pre-profesional majors who are notorious work-a-holics. The speaker said that once we get out into the workplace, that days, months and years will blend into one another. She emphasized that it is very easy to be so focused on work that you forget to enjoy yourself and that one day you will wake up and not have any good memories. She said to make it a priority to take great vacations. Her point was that you won't remember all of the overtime that you work, but you will always remember visiting Rome and Venice. I have tried to adopt that attitude too. <BR>

If ever anyone has read Andrew Harvey,he talks about needing to feel the mystical in life.Oprah winfrey talks about finding the spirit.For me Europe satisfies these needs.I feel like part of me is starving in North America.I would feel the same in Africa or Australia. <BR>Also my husband works 60-80 hours a week.We get to fall in love all over again when we travel. <BR>

To see something I've never seen before.

My wife and I were very fortunate. In 1969 at the height of Viet Nam I was drafted and ended up in Germany. As a couple of 22 year olds we took advantage of the experience to travel Europe as much as possible. We fell in love with Europe and travel anywhere. Now as 50 year olds we still enjoy the thrill of seeing new things and finding new areas. Plus, I can agree with the comment from the 1991 college grad: Enjoy those vacations! I have had a successful business career but remember our trips more than any thing about business. Trust me on that one. You will not remember all the business hours and all the crisis that go with business. You will remember the great cities and sites of the world. Enjoy those vacations! Great words to live by..... <BR>

What a great question, because when you get right down to it traveling takes lots of planning, worry and expense. But I'll tell you what! What a charge. Every sight, every sound, every smell, every sensation is so different from my day to day that I just find the whole experience wonderfully stimulating. It just plan ole' feels good. It certainly helps in breaking up the tedium of work and "normal" life, and I agree with much of the above, but to me the main reason is that it just feels great to do it!

This is the most thought provoking question I have confronted in a long time. Thinking it through is a challenge that is fun. I answered earlier, but since then I have thought for hours. Why do I travel? I really think it is because I like to go places. <BR>There is a feeling of just the sheer, overwhelming joy of going some where, even if I have been there before. I have my favorite places and love to return to them: Lake O'Hara in Yoho, Yellowstone, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Bryce Canyon, the Berner Oberland and the Mischabel Range in Switzerland to name a few. My dad had itching feet; he liked to travel, and did so until he died. As a young man he found his way from a 4-mule cotton and peanut farm in south Alabama to a Ph. D. at Stanford! I caught the travel bug early in life. My mother used to tell me that as a toddler I would grab her by the leg and say GO! GO! GO! So she would put me in the car and off we would go just to be going. <BR>Perhaps my travel predilection is a condition that is genetically induced; perhaps it is acquired behavior, perhaps it is some of both. What ever the reason, I do it because I love it and I have the world's best travelling companion who makes it even better. I am not dissatisfied with where I am or who I am, so travel does not give me a vicarious opportunity to become someone I am not. Nor does travel set me apart as an individual. I live in a university community where international travel is common, so flying to Europe or China does not impress anyone in my department, and my neighbors don't really care where I have been. So what does travel do for me? In a sentence: It helps me enjoy life to the fullest. Perhaps that is why I spend the time and money. But one thing is always true. No matter where I have been or what I have seen, my own home sure looks good when I return. So to sum it up: travel is enjoyable to me, it is mentally stimulating, it satisfies my curiosity about other nations and cultures, it gives me a chance to see the new and the beautiful, and it also makes me satisfied with what I have in life. <BR>I have yet to return jealous of what others have in life nor am I filled with a desire to sell my house and move. I am happy I went and happy to be back home again and grateful to have the freedom to do it.

Dear Daniel, <BR> <BR>Thank you for asking the question. It's late at night (too late) my children are in bed, the dogs are snoring, my husband is out of town for work. I should be in bed so I'll be ready for the next round of daily madness tommorow. But I'm checking postings to help plan my trip to Europe next month, and because, quite frankly, this forum has begun to creep into my life a bit. I love some of the questions (what took your breath away) and the generousity of people to give of themselves when a passion is shared. <BR> <BR>Why do I travel? To break away from the ordinariness of everyday, from routine, from the quiet creeping of status quo. Travel expands me, opens me to new possibilities, new ways of being. Things I never thought to question are suddenly exposed in the contrast of another place, another set of cultural values, another perspective. I do and see and experience things that I forget to experience, or take for granted at home -- art, history, scenery. I eat new food, hear different sounds, see different architecture. My sense are stimulated and I feel fully alive. <BR> <BR>Planning the trip is part of the process. It connects me with people whose lives are open to adventure, to experience, to reaching out for more than the daily grind. <BR> <BR>I love travel to Europe because it connects me to cultures with an appreciation for art and for history and for relaxation and for beauty. Certainly, these are appreciated in America as well, but as a culture we value progress and newness and work and acquisition so much. Yet, when I am away from home, I also learn to appreciate what America does well, what I appreciate about my culture. And so the experience helps to define me. <BR> <BR>Finally, the pure joy of it. No work, all play. <BR> <BR>Sorry for indulging in such a long answer. Thanks, again, for the question. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Daniel: I too want to thank you for a great question. Normally I do not reply to these and just read for my own enjoyment. But I really thought for a bit on this, and I think I travel for different reasons. <BR> <BR>-A weekend away, just to escape and forget for a few days. <BR>-To the caribbean for major relaxation. <BR>-And recently to Ireland & Scotland to see where my heritage comes from. <BR> <BR>This probably sounds dorky, but none-the-less I do want to thank you again for a great question....Happy Travelling everyone !!!

I agree with much of what has been said above, but mostly with Carol 2 up. I love to travel because it takes me off the autopilot I seem to be on much of the time at home. Wake, eat, work, eat, sleep, dc al fine. Traveling, the senses are heightened because I'm in unfamiliar circumstances, but the result is that I experience more than usual. Then when I come home I somehow feel less out-of-step with mankind, although I may feel more out-of-step with the people I deal with day to day. Fundamentally, travel is education. (And I get almost as much pleasure from anticipating and planning as I do from actually going....) I've finally realized every day is a journey and am having more luck now recognizing special moments in my mainstream. They just happen more often or I see them more clearly on the road. Thanks for asking!

Seems like all us traveller types got tweaked on this question. What fun! I, too, thought about this last night. <BR>Travelling makes me nervous, just like before I have to make a speech. It makes my heart pound and my palms sweat, and my brain races a mile a minute. I have to be on my toes; I am exposed. Past successes don't matter; I am only as good as how I do this time. <BR>The guy at the train station in Bulgaria doesn't know, or care, what I do for a living or how much money I have or if my family came over on the Mayflower; he wants to know what ticket I want to buy and how I'm going to pay for it. My college education, business successes and personal goals mean nothing; I have got to communicate with someone who speaks another language from mine, and make sure I get the train to Budapest not Barcelona. <BR>Scientists and researchers recommend keeping your mind young and healthy by doing mental games (a la Mensa) and learning new things. I can't think of anything better to keep those synapses firing than taking a trip....