I read a quip once, and I regret I cannot recall its author --"Travel may not make you more interesting to other people, but it will certainly make you more interesting to yourself!" How true! <BR> <BR>I travel because I hear of cool things and I want to see them for myself, such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, the Cathedrals of Europe, the old Roman empire, Pompeii, great cities such as London and Paris, the wonder of tropical weather. I travel because it's in my blood (on my mother's side. My dad would be quite happy never leaving his backyard). I travel to learn a bit about the world, and about myself. <BR> <BR>I travel because I used to work at an awful sweatshop where, if I stayed in town, the office would call and expect me to give up my vacation and come in. When you say, 'Call me in London!' that cuts that crap down considerably. <BR> <BR>

Traveling is a test for me, I am normally quite a control freak in my day to day life. Going some place new tests me to adapt, to bend, to go with the flow when best laid plans go out the window. So many variables, so many disasters waiting to happen, yet it all works out in the end. Its silly, but my husband and I actually enjoy doing laundry in a foreign place, meeting the locals, figuring out the machines, seeing something so familiar in a different way.

Great question. I need to plan a trip to Europe (it's been 5 1/2 years!!) so I can utilize this forum more, because I haven't been reading "Europe" much, mostly US & Caribbean. You guys truly are more fun and thought provoking. <BR> <BR>I travel to have something to look forward to. I love the whole process of planning a trip and discovering attractions/places/people that I've never seen before and anticipating seeing them. <BR> <BR>I live in the midwest (no mountains, oceans, ancient history here!), and there is something so spiritual, refreshing and renewing about breathing crisp mountain air, skiing down crisp snowy mountain slopes, walking a blindingly white sand beach and finding your eyes transfixed on the unbelievable turquoise water of the caribbean, to walk out of the train station in Venice for the first time to catch that first glimps of the canal, etc. <BR> <BR>There is so much incredible natural beauty and amazing history in this world, that it seems so confining to stay put and never venture out to discover it all! <BR>

I travel to expand my horizions. It does get the adrenaline (SP?) pumping and the brain functioning. I like the adventure, new experiences, things I have never seen before. Love the history, the art, the architecture, the food, the wine, etc., etc. Meet the people, hear what they have to say. Appreciate the differences, marvel at the endless, facinating things in the world!

I like to travel to relax, get out of my mundane routine and recharge the batteries. All my work and other problems look smaller and manageable when I get out and travel and reaslise, gosh..there's a whole different world out there! <BR>

<BR>I travel to be away, to see other cultures, to experience other ways, to wonder what it would be like to spend a day in someone else's life and to mine into perspective!!

DEAR FELLOW WONDERFUL TRAVELERS: <BR> <BR>THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS TO TRAVEL NOT TO ANOTHER COUNTRY BUT INTO YOURSELVES THIS TIME. I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED SHARING A PART OF YOUR SPIRIT AND I HOPE THAT YOUR SPIRIT AND YOUR SOUL ARE TWO THINGS THAT YOU WILL NEVER COMPROMISE. <BR> <BR>For me, living in the suburban Midwest made me realize that many of us here have our own little spheres of comfort and convenience. With shopping plazas and convenience stores at every street corner, it seems like our own little worlds keep shrinking. <BR> <BR>Travel helps to avoid that. It doesn't chnage the way of life back home, but it changes MY way of life. I can actively choose to live peacefully and with an appreciation of quality. I can change myself from within and watch the outside pettiness degrade into trivial matters. I can choose to love more strongly and more passionately and weave the most beautiful tapestry that is my own life. <BR> <BR>Travel IS education. It IS a test. Are you the type of person that CAN get that train ticket to Budapest and not Barcelona? Can you find the humility to be a part of their culture for a limited time? Can you open your mind enough to shed your own hardened beliefs to welcome others? <BR> <BR>It is a shame that I see quite a few people (mostly suburban working types) that use where they have been as status symbols. "Oh yeah, I've been to the Caribbean, Paris, Australia, blah blah blah.." But when I ask these people what they learned out there, they usually respond with "It was a good time. I don't know." <BR> <BR>Some things ARE just a good time. But travel should have a higher focus than that. Think how glorious it would be if people took the time to travel and experience different cultures, educating themselves and dissipating the ignorance that fuels our hatred and prejudice. A select few of us do that. But not enough. <BR> <BR>Tour groups, cruises, bus rides--they're all fun, I know, but next time try to really get down and dirty and stick your nose in the ground and smell the soul of the place that you're in. Feel the fear of living in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Hear the rythyms of Africa. Love the life that is outside of that window. <BR> <BR>Daniel Lee

Just to expand on what Daniel said: <BR> <BR>I never went to college. It's a decision I have never regretted. I went to travel school and have been a travel agent for over 11 years now. I didn't want to be stuck in school for another 4 years-I just wanted to get out and see the world. I take advantage of every travel opportunity I get. I read the following in a trade magazine, cut it out, and keep it in my purse. I look at it every now and then when I need to remind myself that I am not a loser because I chose not to go to college. <BR> <BR>"Travel provides the definitive landscape of a place in a way no book, no movie, no conversation can. People crave the opportunity to see things for themselves and it is this drive to see a country, to discover how it smells and what it feels like, to meet its people and see what their lives are like, that keeps travellers forever on the move. <BR> <BR>Once you experience a place, you can go back home and research the history and customs, study the art and the culture, fill in the gaps. Travel can fuse random tidbits of knowledge into the foundation for further study. Travel can be the beginning of an education, and education no school can offer, an education that is never complete." <BR> <BR>And that is why I travel....

Wow this topic died quickly. <BR> <BR>Hmm.

No, the topic didn't "die quickly." Rather, Daniel Lee posed a provocative question that spawned an outpouring of wonderfully written and insightful responses. I suspect that, like me, most people read the question, framed a reply, and then found that Bob Brown, Carol, Catherine, Daniel Lee himself, and others had already expressed their thoughts quite eloquently. Why restate what's already been said better by someone else? <BR> <BR>My fervent hope is that the Powers That Be at Fodors will place this thread over on the "general advice" forum. It is great food for thought and a pleasure to read. <BR>

Daniel, Your home town sounds like mine: drab, small, self satisfied, Midwestern. In high school I saw Our Town, and Emily's lines (before I die I want to go somewhere where they don't speak English and don't even want to)still sum up my feelings 30 years later. Europe is familiar enough for me to understand (and negotiate on my own) but different enough to challenge and provoke. The initial shock and excitment of European travel have passed, and the fun trophy stage -- visting all the great landmarks -- is over. But spending a week in Paris or Florence is a little like looking at the world turned at a 45 degree angle. Things are different enough to heighten my awareness, and as I get to know them better the appreciation increases. Taking a walk, talking to people in shops, or having lunch becomes an adventure, let alone seeing great art or architecture.

Hey Everybody: <BR> <BR>You know it just struck me: <BR> <BR>I love to travel. I love to recount my experiences but most of all I love to portray what it is I learned in my efforts to get at the soul of the country. <BR> <BR>I would like to think that I try to look deeper into a place than just through a tourist's eyes. <BR> <BR>How in the hell does one become a travel writer? <BR> <BR>Fodor's, if you are reading this, please offer your expert advice. <BR> <BR>Daniel Lee

I will go to Europe for the first time in May. Maybe I will know more about the 'why' when I return but for now, I know I want to experience an incredible sense of awe and to hold the soul of another people and culture in the palm of my heart.

Dan, <BR> <BR>I think you've opened a whole new dialogue with your question "How does one become a travel writer?" From one who has traveled and also written, here are some thoughts: <BR> <BR>Heed Samuel Johnson's advice: "Books of travels will be good in proportion to what a man has previously in his mind; his knowing what to observe; his power of contrasting one mode of life with another. As the Spanish proverb says, 'He, who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.'" <BR> <BR>To learn "what to observe" and to train the mind's eye to separate wheat from chaff, study the great and interesting travel writers of the past and present, from Ibn Battuta and his journal of "Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354" to the Lewis and Clark Journals to Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and Jan Morris' "Venice" or "Oxford". Look, too, to authors who are superb and versatile in their writing skills and not necessarily travel writers, per se. V. S. Pritchett immediately comes to mind. Short story writer, novelist, playwright and critic, look to his travel books "Marching Spain", and "London Perceived" for guidance and inspiration . <BR> <BR>Identify your prospective and intended audience. Is it an audience of readers of guidebooks? If so, what kind? Are they the backpacking, budget conscious young adventurers attuned to the Lonely Planet and Let's Go guides? The less adventurous proponents of "hold by the hand" guided tours? The novice traveler who wants a hotel in the 7th Arrondisement (where the staff is fluent in English) and a typical French brasserie (with menus in English)? Is it an audience of aesthetes prepared to camp out in the Louvre or the Uffizi for weeks on end? Historians committed to tracing the battlefields of Louis XIV's wars? Searchers of ethnic roots? Once you've become totally harried and confused by such myriad choices, recognize that the sole audience to which you are responsible is yourself and write to that audience. <BR> <BR>Write what you know about. Write what pleases you and make that pleasure pervasive in your writing. Think first in terms of short pieces thematically linked. Essays are prime magazine fodder. Collections of thematic essays make interesting and provocative books. Look, for example, at Jan Morris' collection "Cities", a book comprised of essays on her perceptions of world cities that appeared in any number of diverse magazines over time. Look, for example, at the pieces written about Paris, Parisians, France and the French by Janet Flanner (Genet) over a period of 40 years. Initially published in the New Yorker, many have been anthologized. <BR> <BR>Write and submit to editors; write and submit to editors; write and submit to editors. Collect rejection slips and negative responses. One day, you may well strike paydirt although assuredly it won't initially be gold. In the interim, continue to slog - but keep the day job! <BR> <BR> <BR>

Dear Wes: <BR> <BR>Thank you for your advice. It seems like writing, as any other art form, requires the same tedious process of pounding on doors to get yourself noticed. I've done much of the same thing with promoting my band at clubs and what-have-you. <BR>I think that I WILL most definitely keep my day job, but it's a very enticing route I'd like to take nonetheless. <BR> <BR>Daniel

I travel to see all the wonderful places I could only read about as a child. I came from a "broken home" (I was raised by my aunt & uncle) and spent my daytime hours with a "nose in a book". My aunt was a very special person who taught me that it diidn't matter if you were rich or poor, you could have your dreams. I have been living my dream for the past 9 years by traveling to Europe and all over the U.S. and having the time of my life. My memories are so precious I don't need photos or souvenirs. I have travelled with and without companions. It doesn't matter. My curiosity about what's over the next hill or around the next bend leads me on an adventure unlike any other I've taken. Thank you for asking the question. <BR>

I like the quote from Johnson. Travel is an adventure. Who does not crave adventure?

Travel smoothes the wrinkles from my face. Life, work, loved ones, and worries crinkle up my face, and then I stumble across Monemvassia or La Badia, and suddenly my face is smooth and I am serene. <BR> <BR>Does anyone worry that we will run out of places, and outer space will not be ready for us? <BR>

Joanne: <BR> <BR>I would like to share my humble insight with what you just wrote about travelling smooths your wrinkles. <BR> <BR>I, too, have been like you. I looked forward to travel as a means to get away and find some inner peace. Work, home life, finances, etc. all made me worry beyond belief. I couldn't wait to get away to my next destination. <BR>But I have found that these things at home that we worry about will always be there. Life is not interesting without a little strife. I should need travel as an elixir to find my happiness. I should learn to live my life happily here at home. I need to be happy in what I am doing here. <BR>And you know what? This way of thinking, this way of life, has been working. From within I have learned to not worry about petty things that can only bring negative impact on my life. Why waste my energy on petty things when I can focus that into doing somethign positive and creative like my artwork or music? <BR>Anyway, I don't think that we will run out of places on this earth just yet. The metropolitan places are going up in flames but many people still won't venture out into the wilderness. It's hard to develop residential/commercial buildings on mountains, or in swamps, etc. <BR>What am I getting at? I have no frigging clue. <BR> <BR>Daniel

I travel to move. Because I can't help it. Any of you out there, like me, will understand. <BR>It's in the blood. <BR>