BootsnAll Travel Community

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Originally posted by Not the first Travis:
I get bored with where I live.

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Originally posted by Arre:
That's a tough question for me to answer, but I'll give it a shot.

I've grown up with traveling. Some of my earliest memories are of family camping trips we took all over the US and Canada- riding my bike to go get water from a pump, making s'mores over a fire, falling asleep in a tent and hearing all the sounds of the forest around me. I first went overseas in the spring of 2000, when I was eleven, to France. I don't remember that trip making an enormous impression on me, but the two that followed (Spain and Morocco in 2001 and Japan in 2002) made me fall in love with being on the road. I was completely overwhelmed- in the best way imaginable- by how different and amazing things were in other parts of the world. Pretty much since I was in middle school, traveling has been a steadily bigger and bigger priority for me; every trip I take shows me something new and incredible about the world and, in doing so, reminds me of just how unbelievably much there is out there I HAVEN'T yet experienced.

It's about adventure in a lot of ways- I think humans have an innate need to explore, to discover, to be challenged. I can't speak for anyone else with any real authority, but I don't think I'm alone in realizing that I feel the most alive when I'm in an unfamiliar place. I live for adrenaline rushes and uncertainty. So much of "true" adventure is dead- when there were still uncharted continents and unexplored wilds and an explorer could sail off into the unknown with only his gods and their stars to guide him, but travel is a way to capture some of the spirit of it.

It's also about learning. I love languages and I love people and I love history, not to mention art and politics and anthropology and all those dozens or hundreds of other areas which you can never, ever fully understand without the context of the geography.

It's even about boredom, like NTFT said. I do get sick of places and things when I'm around them too long, and a trip which throws me out of my element not only allows me to reinvent myself, but also gives me a new sense of appreciation for things I left behind. There's nothing like distance to give you a sense of perspective.

Really, it's just a love affair with the world, ultimately inexplicable in the way all love affairs necessarily are.

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Originally posted by KathrynD:

I sometimes think that maybe all this travel is a selfish pursuit, what with the carbon footprint, etc, but I think that it's such a pleasure like eating well that I will never be able to break the habit.

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Originally posted by Haci Richard:
I think we're all running away from something. Maybe it has something to do with our mothers...

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Well I started my love in travelling in very sad circumstances. It was September 8th 2001 and I boarded a plane for New York for my first trip outside Europe and only my second trip outside the UK in my life. On the morning of the 10th I went up the Empire State Building and whilst at the top decided not to do the trade centre that day as it was too misty. However, as we roamed around the top of the empire state the mist suddenly cleared in a matter of minutes so we decided to do the trade centre. the next morning we decided to go to Liberty Island but for the first time during the trip decided to stop for breakfast up at 103rd where we were staying. We had breakfast and got on the subway to head to liberty island. We were at Chambers when the train stopped and we were ordered above ground to be confronted with the two towers burning and wondering what the hell had happened. Needless to say it was distressing time especially watching the towers fall. I wont bore you with other details apart from this. It was a life changing event for me and I suddenly had a desire to see as much of our amazing planet as I could and not take it for granted. Many people I know have used this tragic day as a reason not to travel but not me, its spurred me on. In 2007 I travelled by train from Manchester in the UK to China via Russia and Mongolia In 2009 I will be travelling from Beijing to Singapore via Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.