So, why DO you travel?

I travel because I simply can't not do it....I've tried, and it feels suffocating to just stay in one place. The world is too large, too beautiful and too educational to ignore.

I'm the kind of person who cannot walk over a set of railroad tracks without pausing to stare down them for a minute or two. I'm addicted to a view of the horizon, and tend to grow melancholy if too much time passes without seeing it. The reasons why it is good to travel are infinite, but if I'm honest with myself, the real reason I do it is because of an inexplicable, indefinible yearning for the road that is only quenched by packing up and taking off (and even then it's only quenched temporarily).

Everywhere I go, it amazes me how many people are satisfied with sitting in one place (I've met folks who lived into their forties without ever going more than two hours from their birthplace)....but what really blows me away are those folks who find it incredible that some people want to travel. My last boss just couldn't fathom why anyone would ever decide to go outside his immediate environs....now that just dumbfounds me!

I travel to avoid home life.

to escape, to start over, to redefine

Originally, to give me something to look forward to at the end of a long stint w/ a crappy boss. But now, yes, as others have said, to refresh, recharge, escape, redefine...or maybe just because I can....

quote:

Originally posted by aphexapex:
I travel because I simply can't not do it....

I second that! It's just always been part of how I want to live my life

Two reasons:

1. Emotional serenity
2. Carpe Diem

I travel because im sick of living in norway where it feels like life prety much is about making the most money... I dont like that way of life!!

I'm running away from the gnawing drudgery that daily life if becoming. I going to find my self again, I was a much happier person for years after my last trip I need that back.


and

zaab wrote:2. I travel because it rejuvenates my senses. It makes me feel alive when much of my home environment is often deadening, numbing.

this.

hi everyone, I'm new here. I liked reading everyone's take on why they travel. Interesting.

As for me, I like travel because it opens my eyes. Having been born/raised in Malaysia and now living in US for near 12 years, I got to see two sides of life. I love National Geographic and Travel channel because it further exposes me to life outside my box. I want to travel because I don't want to just read/watch it. I want to be there, eat the foods, smell the air, meet the ppl, see the culture.

Aside from the OP's list, which I agree with, I love having the freedom that comes with long term travel.

Freedom to spend your time living, not making a living.
Freedom to go where you want, when you want.

It's taken me a while to figure this out: you don't own your things, your things own you. Less is, in fact, more. Travel is one way to live unburdened (well, except for my backpack).

One of the other posters alluded to the wisdom in a favorite quote of mine:

I don't think people are looking for the meaning of life. I think they are looking for the experience of being alive! -- Joseph Campbell

Travel is a great way to have the experience of being alive.

And finally, the Beatles say it best: All you need is love. And there's plenty of that from all the fantastic people, like you, that I meet on the road.

Travel well. I'll see you out there.

I love meeting new people, seeing new places and learning new things and think while travelling I do all these things in abundance.

and i love adventure.

Cause I just love the world: Realizing that you're just overflying - or better: heading to - the place you only know from hear-says, videos, pictures, creates kinda awkward feeling -

Regardless of the image quality you see on the web or elsewhere, being "THERE" is simply different.

Without sounding to up-our-own-arse-ish — ultimately, we've came to the realization that our desire to travel is motivated in part because its aligned more closely with the goals (like conservation, social justice and sustainable development) that we have sought—and are seeking—to apply to our own lives.

We believe that travelling (long-term) will allow us a means to live in a manner that is outwardly simpler yet inwardly richer.

I believe my parents planted the travel seed in me long ago and I used to love waking-up in a different place every few days. In fact, I still do. I love the new aromas, hearing language I don't understand, trying to make sense of signs, attempting to make conversation using more than my normal way. But the sights are what really interest me.


Coming from the US where everything strikes me as bland and somewhat phony simply because I grew-up here, I absorb another country like a sponge. I've learned things traveling that are priceless. No small part is the travelers I've encountered. People with a similar mind-set. Several people close to me have expressed their desire to venture no further than their present surroundings, and when I digest that information and attempt to comprehend what that entails, then I truly understand the key to my travels.

Really good responses here and a lot of these are my reasons to travel.

So my answer is.... ALL OF THE ABOVE!