Why do we travel?

In my last post, we talked about upping and moving to a whole new part of the world, China. Why do we desire to travel? For the young and restless, we leave our familiar surroundings in search of greener, foreign pastures in the name of adventure. Adventure brings us new experiences and perspective. That’s how we get the generations of us budget and millennial travellers who roam the world from hostel to hostel, coming home refreshed, renewed and ready for the real world ahead of us. In this globalized world where geographic boundaries are blurred, the world truly is our oyster. As a result, generations of us have shifted our mindsets, from being afraid and apprehensive of the strange things out there, to an insatiable sense of curiosity and thirst for the unknown. The hero or the traveler has evaded us for decades, returning as some kind of enigma for the things and insights they must have gotten from their exotic journeys and destinations.

 

Traveling for leisure is fun, especially when you get to see things you wouldn’t normally see at home. That’s why you travel anyway. In an increasingly stressful and urbanised world where we are connected all the time and are “always on”, we often seek otherworldly experiences to disconnect and detach from the stresses of the urban life.

In today’s world, there are more types of travelers than we can count on our fingers. Some go on luxury travel, where accommodation, food and destinations are of high standards and fit for the king. Save for business and corporate travelers, there are also eco/cultural-travelers, who travel adhering to ecological standards of the destination, in order to either minimise their ecological footprint or further their knowledge and cause of ecology. Through it all, however, I can only say that travel is a beneficial thing – we leave a fresh novice, and return a knowledgeable hero, with insights and experience to share.

Placed in a new environment, we are left to our own devices to find our way around and relate to the locals. That isn’t always easy on first look. Even if they speak the same language as we do, it won’t mean we can identify or relate to them easily. There will always be different ways of saying or doing things in order to obtain something. For example, social networking platforms used in South Korea for communication differs greatly to that of the US, Europe and the rest of the world. The same logic applies for Japan and China and so on. Being in a new country demands that we use creative devices to relate to them, if we are too make friends. Otherwise, we might find ourselves isolated and lost for the better part of our travels.

Returning home from a long journey ensures we are aware of different backgrounds and cultures. As a result, we have a greater culture sensitivity to different types of people from all walks of life, which is essential when we consider that our world is increasingly globalized.

I know feel recharged and I’ve now found home in Brisbane again for awhile. My friend Josh has hooked me up with a job with his company. It’s tough work having your hands above your head so much, but there is some quality of it that is very zen, which is ironic based on my return from China and it being the home of Zen.

Until next time.