isabel

Why do I travel – to experience the feel of 500 year old cobblestones under my feet, the way they are worn smooth and shiny from centuries of footsteps and to think about the people who walked on them and made them that way, what their lives were like, who they might have been. To see that the people who live there today care enough to not pave over them with utilitarian, but ugly, asphalt. It’s not just the buildings – it’s the lampposts, the metro entrances, the fountains, the flowerboxes, the squares filled with statues, the bridges – all so beautifully, carefully, meticulously crafted, in a way that just isn’t done anymore, and preserved with the same care in which they were originally made. The fact that the people who live there now care enough about the aesthetic value of their surrounds to preserve the old and manage to incorporate the necessities of modern life without destroying or covering up the beauty. I travel for a connection to the past. Think about the house you live in, the buildings you work in, shop in – will they still be standing, and in use, 500 years from now? Why were our ancestors able to build things which withstand time, what does that say about their values, their society – and how it differs from our own.

I also travel for the sound of the water in the fountains, the soft mingling of many different languages, the street musicians, the birds – it’s the blending of all these sounds – you can loose yourself in it like in a fantasy or a dream. It’s the scents – the smell of the street food: steaming crepes in Paris, spicy pizza in Florence, ice cold gelato in Sicily, French fries in Brugge, bratwurst in Salzburg. It’s some inexplicable connection, a feeling that I am “home”, sometimes in a place I have never even been, much less lived.

I believe to travel well requires knowledge, which requires research – thus necessitating countless hours reading and searching for information which I know I would not do if I were not traveling somewhere. This makes me a more interesting person, and certainly keeps me from being bored. I gotta think it’s a better use of my brain than watching reality TV.

I also like to pack. Not so much the luggage itself as the act of packing. I don’t think that one’s been mentioned yet.

joode

We had never really travelled overseas until the kids 'were off our hands' except for a trip to Disneyland USA. Also the distance from Oz to the rest of the world makes for a lot of planning to get the most out of a trip, considering the long flight there and back!
Once experienced though, then the 'bug' gets into your system and it the only question of 'where will we go next?' And there are so many exciting and diversified destinations that sometimes it's extremely hard to choose.
The lure of different cultures, hearing different languages spoken, meeting people from all over, experiencing life in a different environment far removed from home, viewing amazing sights, treading in areas previously only read about in history books and just enjoying the opportunity in being there!
With the advent of the internet it has been so easy to research, plan, read other people's opinions and recommendations, find the best deals and then just go!
I love to plan our trips and start many months before and even start packing those indispensable travel items in a case. Sometimes I think the anticipation is better than going! No, I just kidding! But I only remarked recently I didn't know what I would do with myself once our forthcoming trip was over - probably I will just have to start planning the next one!

LSky

I love luggage, packing and preparing for a trip. It may be the same feeling that people who love miniature things have. (although I don't love miniature things) but it's the condensing my life into the smallest package for a couple of weeks and not needing much else except for a museum pass, transportation and some food and drink.

I like having to wade through a new language with new people and finding out that people are the same everywhere.

sallyjane3

Travel started out as therapy after a very unexpected divorce which left my daughters without a father and with a mother who was living in a surreal world. After I healed (ahhhh, the human spirit!!) I kept traveling for so many of the reasons posted above. Perspective, perspective, perspective. Because of the ability to compare,I am continually impressed by the vastness of the choices my home country affords me....and by the kindnesses of strangers.

touristblob

It's exhilerating, it's eye opening, it's out of the ordinary and it gives me my Jollies.

Aramis

Because I am

BeniciaChris

The "whole enchelada"
Planning-saving for-researching-gtting away from everything. Slowing down-wathing people and looking at the blue water under a pallapa or umbrella. Realizing how lucky we are here and to be able to help others not so lucky. The food-the museums. Buying pieces of art so when I see them on my wall I can say-wow I was in Cyprus & got that there. The pictures. Walking where famous people have walked & died. The memories. Those can never be taken from you. AHHHHHHH

Woyzeck

117 responses in this old thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-we-travel.cfm

CDNTraveler

I am leaving this month for a 3 1/2 week trip to Italy - and I travel for all of the above reasons and I LOVE LUGGAGE too! I always feel my best when I am travelling - thoroughly enjoying my life, my husband and our life long friends (we will be in a group of six). I love the planning, the anticipation, handling the unexpected after all the planning. I love buying Euros or American dollars (I'm from Canada). That's when the feeling starts - when I load my wallet with the different currency and think of the gelato, museums, dinners, train rides, wine, perhaps a souvenir, etc that that money will be used for. (And in the back of my mind I'm thinking of pickpockets and if I can outsmart them) So far, so good. I am a list maker - love my packing lists.
I've enjoyed reading this thread - great insights shared.

sap

For many of us, traveling appears to be like a glorified version of planning and throwing a party for ourselves and our closest others -- a rather big, long, expensive party. It is both a celebration and a reward, with satisfaction when we have successfully "pulled it off."

aussieparker

I love to travel because I wasn't there when Pompeii was befeld by the Volcano, but now as I walked through it seems that I was, or when I hear a tale of a place and stand in the same spot of that place I am there in history.
Travellers are the story tellers, those who travel will always have a story to tell.

LSky

Then there is that little thrill of watching a movie or seeing a photo and knowing that I've been there. I also love the historical aspect of traveling, I'm interested in history, art and architecture. What better way to spend my vacations?

WTnow

I've traveled all my life, but since 2006, we have traveled non-stop on an open ended world tour & we find it an ideal lifestyle.

The world is our home & we adore immersing deeply & seeing this beautiful planet, meeting amazing people along the way. We chose this life primarily to education our child ( who was 5 when we started & is now 9) and have lots of time together, but it has been more enriching than we ever imagined. We don't have plans to stop as the more we see, the more we want to see and explore.

Traveling keeps one living in the "now" and that newness constantly keeps one in awe. We like slow travel and hidden places & all the serendipity that happens. We love the freedom and simplicity.

http://www.soultravelers3.com/

Leslie_S

It's an addiction. I used to at least wait until I returned from a trip to start planning the next. Now I'm at the point where I have 4 booked (1.5 years out). I love doing the research and planning - could that be more enjoyable than the actual travel? And then when it's booked I read everything I can get my hands on about the destination. The history, the culture, etc., etc.
I love learning about & experiencing other worlds.

kerouac

I travel because I want to see and experience different things. I had an intercontinental family (French mother, American father) and that is the main thing that piqued my interest, because on both sides of the ocean I heard so many inaccurate things. (It must be confessed that the American side was the more ignorant of the two.) Now I want to see everything for myself instead of hearing what others have to say about it. My greatest discoveries were the wonders of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, which so many people considered to be poison in olden times (before 1995 in most cases).