Why we travel

February 1, 2010

In class today we discussed the Pico Iyer article "Why We Travel" that we had to read last week. One of his quotes that impacted me the most was when he said, "The most distant shores lie within the person asleep at our side." Although everybody had many different interpretations, this was mine. There is a certain philosophy to travel that has sparked a new feeling of excitement and appreciation in me regarding my trip. Traveling is significant because it wakes up parts of us that are normally asleep. When you travel you are freed of conditions of worth from others and life is, in general, simplified to our basic necessities. In the end, you find yourself alone in a way. Leaving everything behind, but never escaping the self. This unfamiliar and foreign "part" or ourself is never ventured to when we are cradled by familiarity, family and friends at home. Traveling, like reality in general, is totally subjective. There is no set-in-stone experience that everyone will endure while at a certain location. This has lead me to believe that we do not find geographical cures to our problems or geographical answers to the main questions our life proposes. But how is it then that we feel as if we have evolved somehow when we return from abroad? We become familiar with the untraveled parts of ourselves through the act of traveling itself. It is here that we are simplified to the most basic questions we could ask ourselves; who am I? And what is my purpose? Iyer said that we go from "innocents abroad" to "sophisticated travelers." Perhaps it is that travel reduces us to our nakedness and then adds a layer to our soul which is crucial to self-growth, change, and discovery.