BootsnAll Travel Community

Each person has their own reason for why they take their act on the road. I am no exception.After 12 years of public school, I knew the education I had received was pretty lame. The "bored of education" people knew "how not to turn me on" to learning...so I decided to skip a higher education at that time, and just get high on life! [Right on!...old hippy!]

There used to be a moto from the USA Commerce Dept. "See America First!"

Well I took them up on that offer! I spent 6 months triping all over the US at about the same time they were making that movie Easy Rider.

As I traveled, in the back of my mind was a mantra..."Do you know the Answer?" I would seek this answer in everything I did. Sometimes I'd even ask someone..."Do you know the Answer?" If they answered with..."What do you mean? ...What is the question?" To that, I would simply say..."forget about it" and just keep looking.

Every once in a while, I'd meet someone who would take a shot at that question.

Those were the conversations I enjoyed the most.

So... for the question at hand...Do you have a mantra that you travel with? What is it 'you' seek, to make a full rewarding travel experience?

In other words...What turns you on? What all are you looking for?

There are so any different reasons. I mean why not?

- adventure
- the feeling of freedon
- to learn
- to relax
- to meet meet others

I could probably think of a bunch more as well...good thread

You pose interesting topics Old Hippie. Most responses would reflect: "to see whats across the way (river, ocean, valley, mountain etc.). I travel for the sense of history (made or being made). In millenii past, people have left their homes looking and searching for another existence with propagation, safety, shelter, forage, fuel...and when they found a place they like, they stayed and became travellers nevermore. I feel less constricted by regimen when travelling by myself. I feel more confident and self-satisfied, by assimilating and associating with the indigenous populace rather than wandering about with another that speaks the same language as I. Have never felt overwhelmed or out of sorts because of language or cultural barriers. I reckon its these reasons that compel me to see more, learn more, read more, talk more. Travel is not mundane.

Hmmm ... Interesting question, I'm not really sure I have an answer. I think in some ways it's in the blood ... I come from a long line of wanderers, starting with my great-grandfather, who was a journeyman printer and traveled all over the US in his younger days. I was eight when he died, so I never knew him all that well, but I was very close to my dad's parents. They were a career military family and had lived in Guam, Japan, and Germany while my dad was growing up, so I heard stories about all these places, and also about the trips my grandparents had taken after he retired. There's a wonderful photo of my grandfather riding a camel in Egypt; he must have been over seventy at the time. So I suppose I grew up with the idea that people did go to faraway places, both for pleasure and for business.

My dad was also a tremendous influence, although he was often away on business when I was growing up. Even if it was a short trip and he was going to be in meetings most of the time, he made the most of it -- studied up on the language, tried to stay a few extra days and get a feel for the place, and always returned home with presents and stories. And, of course, we traveled on vacation (though mostly to beach resorts; my mom is definitely not the backpacking type). It was fun, but I always found myself wanting something a little more intense: more time, a less sheltered environment. And I found that I liked going to places where you learned something, rather than just sitting around in the sun.

So I went to Spain for four months when I was nineteen, intending to learn about the language and culture -- which I did, but also made a lot of discoveries about American culture and about myself, not all of them welcome. I started to wonder where and how I really wanted to live, but then put those questions on the back burner while I was busy with work, school, and all the mundane details of living on my own for the first time. Four years later, I left for Europe again with a vague idea of deciding where I wanted to move after grad school. Strangely enough I found the answer within two weeks (northern England ... having a one-night stand with one of the locals that blossomed into a long-term romance probably had a lot to do with it). But I kept traveling and came back at the end of the summer -- never thought of doing anything else, really, and luckily the SO was fine with it. There were just too many places to see and new things to try, and I thought of it as a last grand adventure before settling down. And it was certainly a good one, but it turned out not to be the last at all. We're still together and very happy, but before I return to the UK, I'm off to the Pacific and New Zealand -- alone, and quite happy about it.

Well, that's kind of a long-winded answer, and I'm not even sure it addresses the original question, but I've probably found just about every tangible thing I thought I was looking for, and yet I'm not ready to stop. So there really isn't a definite answer for me, at least not one that I've thought of yet

I would have to mostly agree with Nessral. I'm not into the history part, but I too find travelling alone to be much more rewarding. Meeting the people in their surroundings, learning about their day to day existence. Hopefully even staying with them in their homes, and visiting their jobs. Meeting their relatives and friends. Going to special events with them. Helping them. This is what makes travel special for me. Things you can't learn in books. Nothing really spiritual about it, just what I enjoy.

I always say I travel "to broaden my horizons". And that can mean getting to know a different culture, or learning about history, or seeing landscapes I've never seen before, or meeting new people, or learning new languages etc. etc.
I'm not really interested in travelling to uninhabited places, so I guess the cultural part is most important to me.

I have a continual need to see new places and experience cultures different to my own, adventure has to come in there.

I think the major reason is to refresh my outlook on life (but is not the reason when I buy the ticket), to get away from all the knowns in life, to look at other ways of doing things, everyday or other. It great to meet other travellers and talk about where we're from, where we've been or going, getting new tips. It is so nice to get home with a new outlook, to feel motivated and inspired by things again, if not a little frustrated and restless.

Part of one journey for me, when travelling solo, was to prove to myself that I could survive out in "the world" on my own. I did and had a great time, but I did miss having special friends with me to share an experience of something that I thought was amazing at the time. (Must try travelling solo without a guide book or maps one day! Reference to the "Challenge" topic).

Because I must!

Well, all of the above have expressed the reasons that I would have liked to have said (but they stated them, oh so much more eloquently than I ever could)!
No one has mentioned cuisine, however. This is another reason why I pack my bags and go.... As a committed foodie, I love to experience different tastes prepared by locals and have found that the majority of people are only too happy to show you how to get things just right when making the dishes 'back home'. They seem to be genuinely delighted in my interest and I frequently come away with far more information, recipes, tastes, MEALS!, than I had initially bargained on. I find stirring a cook pot together brings me closer to local culture and hospitality.

I love it too!

Have a son, (now 21 yrs and an excellent chef), who at the ago of 6 yrs. would only eat pasta. When in India he wanted only pasta. When we could get it it was usually in a sweet Chinese type sauce. Can remember getting him an icy-pole with noodles in the centre (in Kerala). I will never forget it!!
His tastes have since matured drastically, (thank goodness).

He is now an expert in middle-eastern foods (with a western presentation?!!). He still loves his pasta though, and is an expert in all forms (whips it up in no time). He is planning around the world travel for later this year, hoping to spent time in Italy, Greece and Turkey cooking (also wanting to do pub work in U.K. to relax). Will be travelling with his "Knives" and girlfriend. I have strange images of customs?!

Much prefere the pizza we get in Melbourne than that in Italy, but have found an Indian cafe in Melbourne that takes me back to our travels majorly, and has become a family favourite when in the city (recommend it to all friends. They don't understand!!!).

Food is a major influence when travelling, it can make or break an experience for some. I love to be adventurous, like you.

I'm amazed how I can crave a meat pie, when I don't eat them often at home (?!!!!!). I worry about that (just joking).

Cheers
Jenz

I definitely got 'the bug' as a kid, trips with the family and what-not, but at the same time, I was growing up in Virginia (now I live in Eugene, OR - you might surmise there was cultural/personality clash from the get-go), and I always wondered if there was more to life than what I saw in and around my Blue Ridge Mountain hometown.

Really, I became a traveller when I started reading; I was your classic brainiac kid, no friends, picked on a lot, so I pretty much packed my imaginary bags, departed this world, and took off for the world inside my head and the world inside all those pages I read.

Then I hit college, got a cool summer job at a newspaper with a boss who was very cool about giving me time off. I had a car, and a bunch of college friends - 'real,' corporeal ones too, not printed! - everywhere from Michigan to New York to Florida, so whenever I could, I'd take off for a week or two at a time, just myself, the car, a bunch of music, and the road. Highways became friends, too; some interstates I began to know like the books of my youth.

I began seeing, too, that the things I'd seen growing up in the south weren't the only ways that life had to be lived. I grew up with a lot of impressions that life could only be lived certain ways, and that you didn't have much power over any of it. I didn't want that; I couldn't make myself believe it. I was more and more determined to seek out something else, some other 'way', so I kept driving and driving, searching and learning - a fierce independence kept asserting itself, a desire to go with life, and to live life not as sheer circumstance saw fit, but as my heart, my passion and my spirit did.

(In 98 I first hit oregon, and knew I would move here, then I went abroad, came back, finished my degree, went back over for another year, and bam, now I'm in Eugene - dream come true.)

I started traveling to find different ways to live, to find freedom; that search doesn't end, though, and I guess it's still a large part of why I travel: just to see what else is there, what other possibilities, in different places, with different people, that there are to life.

I think travelling firstly clears your mind of all the rubbish built up while you aren't tavelling. My first trip was back in the late 80's, I wasgetting over some crap that had accumalated and I guess it was a bit of escapism, I planned to be away for 6 months, I eventually got back 3 years later, a completely changed man. I visited places and cultres that broadened my mind and helped me with a lot of sole searching. This may sound a bit spiritual, but not really the case, not intensionally anyway.

I think my reasons for travelling is to clear my mind, and get it back on the right track, it seems to enable me to think more clearly taking things back to basics.

My wife and I are just about to embark on a trip, the end result is to escape this country (UK) and to find a new life in a new place. So the Mantra for this trip, I guess, is to find a new ife away from the fast track world that we lve in currently. We have both left our jobs, and are in the process of selling the "stuff" collected over the period that we have sat feeling stale and unsatisfied in our lives so far. This isn't an escape this time from our lives, but more of a step forward in our goals.

The reason to travel is different for everybody, we might share bits of our resaons, but I think its a personal thing, an enjoyment that seems to bite you on the butt, and never lets go. The bite is the Mantra, whatever it may be for the individual...

Its a bug, an infectous one.

Ikki

"Trying to find my niche"

- It's a cure for complacency.
- It helps me appreciate this planet, including my own corner of it.
- I was raised on a farm, and rarely got to go anywhere. My parents used to take me and my kid brother to travelogues held in the city armory one Saturday night every six weeks or so. Even back then, at the tender age of 9 or 10, I thought to myself, "I'm going to travel when I'm grown up."
- The cultural, historical, natural, and religious variety in this world are fascinating to me, and I want to experience it all!
- I usually travel with friends or relatives, and it gives us all a chance to have a common experience and reinforce our bonds with each other.

Such interesting responces! I can definately relate to many of the reasons listed above, especially the clearing of the mind. For me though, I think curiosity is my driving force. There are so many facinating things in this world I can't seem to stop wondering what is around the bend......and so I wander.

To get away from the commitments of home. To experience new things and people. To learn about myself, often by myself. I probably could get someone to go with me but I find out more about myself and my boundaries when I'm alone. I'm friendly and cautious. There's so much to explore and I've only just begun!

I'm from London and never really liked where I grew up. I always wanted to get away for as long as I can remember. London is big, rainy, cold and I just hate the place.

Okay, enough of my ranting. Having that inspiration to leave was a huge help, as I never got homesick. In fact I can hardly ever remember wanting to go home.

Since I was a kid, I always enjoyed going on day trips, to the museums, zoo, whatever. That feeling never left. To be on the road exploring, doing different things and learning new stuff is what gets me excited. I love being in a foreign land, trying the foods, finding my way around and doing things that are just so different from home.

I remember zooming through Manila in a jeepney in maniac traffic......awesome! I remember camping out in Alaska and laying in my sleeping looking up at the northern lights, or waking up in Nepal to see the Annapurna's shining white in front of me. There's no substituting those times for sure.

I try to encourage as many people as I can to take a leap of faith and travel, so they will return with their own stories to tell.

-nick

simple: to find out what's life all about.

the most interesting/fulfilling thing abt travelling to another country (I feel) is not the sights/wonder of nature there but it's how the pple there live!

and finding out abt how other pple live never fails to give u a new perspective on *your* life and your values. and i believe it also makes u a more perceptive and tolerant person.

be cool n stay cool

Hard question to answer. Ultimately it comes down to independence. Knowing that you can rely on the resources acquired from all of those years being surrounded by your comfort zone. And also seeing brilliant surroundings and meeting wonderful people. The isolation of travel is also an inspiring factor, if you can make it travelling alone, you can pretty much do anything.

I travel to remind myself that even if everyone looks, dresses, lives differently, that we’re really all basically the same. To learn new things about myself, put myself in situations that I would never experience at home, and talk to, and spend time with, people I would probably never get to meet in my safe Sydney town. ….but mostly, to have fun and enjoy life!! There's no better way to spend time and money - I’m never quite happy unless I’m planning my next trip to some far flung destination. A mantra? “Eyes and mind open, talk to everyone, don’t be too judgmental”.

A combination of things really.

An escape from a situation - personal usually.
"I've had enough - I'm off!

Freedom. Something you find difficult to describe to someone who hasn't known it. To wake up in (say) Delhi and think 'I could go to Katmandu for a while or maybe down to Goa - or I could stay in bed for three days having food deliverd by dusky maidens'. Sure beats working!

There is a down side though. I remember a line from a book - 'sooner or later the loneliness hits you like a dart and you need to go to a bright place full of people'.

As someone has already said 'because I must!'.