why do we it?

[expatben]

So I was just talking to my mother and the conversation turned to traveling. My mother who thinks traveling is-in her own words horrendous wanted to know why I had this obession with seeing the world.
I started out sarcastically-"so...whatelse is there do?" that type of thing. She said she would rather stay and work. I told her that working ages you physically while traveling ages you spiritually and when asked she had to admit she would prefer the latter.
But then I got really serious. I told her about my travels, the places I went the people I met the fun I had. It really brought it all back, why I travel. Its not about postcards and suvieniers and being able to say-"oh, I've been there" for me its about people and experience.
So, why do you do it? Have you ever had a conversation like this?

 

[patchouli Lover]

GREAT TOPIC!

I get sort of the same response when people ask what I want to do after graduataion (collge) and I tell them in general traveling. All my life I've never wanted the "normal" 9-5 suburb life! (Not trying to insult anyone. That life can be great and fufilling, but not for me) Plus I've always wanted to experience life in other's shoes. I want to absorb everything up. Come to find answers to questions like why do they belive this or act this way? I almost wish I could come back a million times as a different person in a different culture each time.

 

[SleepIsTheCousinOfDeath]

I feel both of you on this issue. However I'm lucky enough to have parents that more than fully embrace me travelling as much as I want. It's a great thing to revert back to the nomadic lifestyle I feel. Atleast for 5 years or a decade. I travel to test theories to meet great people to see past achievements by humans that prove how powerful man/woman is. I travel because cincinnati fucking sucks. I travel to learn different tongues.

I don'tt know. Good topic expat ben

 

[patchouli Lover]

Originally posted by SleepIsTheCousinOfDeath@Jul 23 2006, 04:13 PM
However I'm lucky enough to have parents that more than fully embrace me travelling as much as I want.

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When I was in high school I told my family that I wanted to be War Correspondent. My dad flipped saying something along the lines that I would die. My mom (they are divorced) told him at least I would be dying doing something I love! :kisscheek: Now a days she's sorta against me traveling. But only because she will miss me.

 

[TheJake]

i travel to be somewhere else i suppose. My whole life i've absorbed myself in books and then as soon as I could physically go places i went. I am not sure why I travel.. it's a question that haunts me

 

[patchouli Lover]

Originally posted by TheJake@Jul 23 2006, 05:42 PM
i travel to be somewhere else i suppose. My whole life i've absorbed myself in books and then as soon as I could physically go places i went. I am not sure why I travel.. it's a question that haunts me

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I wish I could travel back in time and go to places I've read about...lol

 

[Sabrosa]

I've never really travelled internationally before...not extensively, nor independently....
So, now that I'm down to the wire and have been saying a lot of goodbyes....so many people keep asking, why??? Why do you want to give all this up? Why Latin America? Why for so long? Why by yourself??? Why, why, why???

I keep hearing myself say:

I just want to experience different people, different cultures, different music, different food, different ideas...

I want to learn a new language.

I want to live my life.

I want to get to know myself, find strength within myself, and ultimately grow as a person.

That's now. But...after this trip, who knows if I'll travel for those same reasons....
I'll admit, I have a feeling those things won't change.

Sabrosa

 

[patchouli Lover]

Originally posted by Sabrosa@Jul 23 2006, 07:37 PM
I keep hearing myself say: 

I just want to experience different people, different cultures, different music, different food, different ideas...

I want to learn a new language.   

I want to live my life. 

I want to get to know myself,  find strength within myself, and ultimately grow as a person. 

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Those are great reasons! I think everyone can identify with those! :clap:

 

[tumblezweedz]

"Still around the corner
there may await,
a new road or secret gate."
-J.R.R. Tolkien

Curiousity is my excuse. I just want to know...about everything.

:tumbleweed:

 

[d_fresh]

because I have to. it's a burning desire to see and experience things outside my sleepy city. people who don't have that desire don't get it. they're happy to stay in their hometown and sometimes never see anything past the city limits. whether it's a short road trip or a month abroad, i always find something new. its refreshing too.

 

[MeTurk]

I travel for the experience and time off work.


I've never had people question my traveling, when I told the people in my town they all said fair play to ya and wished they could do it (some had familys so felt they couldn't) but Irish people tend to travel allot or at least be related to someone who's traveled and settled in a different country so I don't think it's such a big deal to Irish people, we've all done it.

 

[patchouli Lover]

Originally posted by d_fresh@Jul 24 2006, 06:39 AM
people who don't have that desire don't get it. they're happy to stay in their hometown and sometimes never see anything past the city limits.

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That can be so true. A lot of my friends are happy just staying in Oklahoma and living the so caled normal life. Many of their goals are graduate, find good job, get married, have kids, die... They are happy with it, but it depresses me. Somewhere in that list I want "find oneself" or "travel the globe"

Originally posted by MeTurk@Jul 24 2006, 08:23 AM
I travel for the experience and time off work.
I've never had people question my traveling, when I told the people in my town they all said fair play to ya and wished they could do it (some had familys so felt they couldn't) but Irish people tend to travel allot or at least be related to someone who's traveled and settled in a different country so I don't think it's such a big deal to Irish people, we've all done it.

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That's really interesting. Because to Americans it is a big deal. I think many Americans are either afraid of travel or love to travel. (I'm sure there are a few in between) We are so isolated here and not only geographically, but mentally too sometimes. My best friend doesn't want to travel because she deems it unsafe and my mom told me the other day she thought Sweden was "unsafe." :blink2: But on the other hand I have people who tell me they envy travelers. I think it is because American's don't get to go to other countries as much as say Europeans. Most pple who want a vacation go to TExas or Cali.

 

[SuDz]

Its the adventure. Its being someplace new. Its different people and a different scene. Its being out on my own in a way that I cant just go back home in ten minutes. Its the wonderment of seing how other people work and play and live. It is so many things tossed into one.

It either gets your or it doesn't but it seems like once it doesn, it has a strangelhold on ya.

SuDZ

 

[foofiter]

I am an American and I am acutally on the road right now. I am part of the 10% of Americans who even HAVE a passport. I travel to meet new people, cultures, and languages. My ultimate goal is to find somewhere outside the USA and stay. It may not happen for a few years so until then I am on the move as much as possible.

Travelers are a breed of explorers. We look for things that are new and different to us. We photograph and log them (in our journals) and learn what we can from it. Sometimes we go back becuase we think we missed something. Sometimes we go back because there was that one "thing" that draws us there. Sometimes we do the opposite because we were not happy with what we saw.

In the end, I am using travel to learn, practice my side hobby (photography), and fuel my need for new and exciting things.

Its one of my addictions...

Foo

:cheers:

 

[DJ_VeeeNoM]

I guess that we do everything for the fun of it, you know each and everyone is different in a way but we can all relate to the fact that we all enjoy having a blast, but even more we enjoy having a blast with new stuff cause we are greedy (I say this in the best way) we can't ever have enough! I remeber yesterday ranting to a friend about the miss universe, and the fact that the name is so oblivious and the title was so omni-preposterous, yet coming to think about it we are a bit of Megalomaniacs. Having to see everything and trying to fill our little pleasure cup & honest what better than to do this than filling it with new stuff?
We seek it, I for one am hungry for knowledge on practice I'm tired of reading (in a nonliteral way) I want to know what life really has to offer and from place to place it changes but overall I want to get to chill in a different atmosphere. But something I have always said is that the place doesn't make the party it's the people in it.

Oh and yeah a little note for PL: the word is college not collge for a second I read collage.

 

[patchouli Lover]

Originally posted by foofiter+Jul 24 2006, 11:37 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(foofiter @ Jul 24 2006, 11:37 AM)</div>

I am part of the 10% of Americans who even HAVE a passport.

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[/b]

Wow, only 10%? Is that a fact? People should always have one. Never know when ya gotta rum from the cops! :doh:

<!--QuoteBegin-DJ_VeeeNoM@Jul 24 2006, 12:32 PM
Oh and yeah a little note for PL: the word is college not collge for a second I read collage.

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lol... sorry My typing isn't always the best. But I swear I know how to spell college!!

 

[expatben]

Talking to my Mom about traveling again got me thinking about this topic. This time I announced that I wanna rent a place and spend a month living in Germany to improve my German. She countered by asking me how I intend to eat and reminded me that I need a job and should not think about traveling. And yet...I do. Sometimes I wish I could kill the travel bug but I cannot stand the idea of standing still for too long. I think thats another reason I do what I do, its amlost like a neccesity.

 

[LiveFreeorDie]

^I know what you mean. Once it sinks in......it seems to never let go. Even worse....it makes hanging around "home", whatever that may be, far less pleasant then it used to be. Oh well. Feed the disease. TRAVEL!! :thumbup:

 

[c0urt]

it was 13 percent when i got my passport, anyway. I travel for several reasons
1) contrary to what most people think about me i am an emotional train wreck, and my false air of bravado is just hiding the fact I am really suicidal but I would rather have someone else pull the trigger

2) I cant deal with only knowing what someone tells me, there is so much cool stuff out there I have to get out and see some of it.

3) I have no family and I am not really tied to one place. So i tend to drift around, i havent lived in one place for more than a year since high school

4) i get stir crazy really easily, i have only been in orlando for 2 months and i cant wait to leave

5) and the unknown of it just makes me happy, when i sit back and consider the fact i just walked halfway across germany or biked 120 miles for no reason i cant help but grin and think, damn that was cool

 

[pinknic38]

I grew up in small town Ohio, went to college in small town Ohio, almost did the study abroad thing when I suddenly just got the itch, I transferred schools and moved to Chicago. After 6 months I needed something else...I enlisted in the army, active duty, partially for the benfits, partially to travel, partially because I am part of the minority that supports what's going on. I got to stay in southern AZ for 6 months which was beautiful (ft. huachuca) and got to explore AZ and go to Vegas. Now they stationed me @ Ft. Bragg in NC and after my tours in Afghanistan and when my contract expires in 2 years, I am going to take a year off from the hectic life and travel... all around the world until my money runs out. I guess the military makes you pretty nomadic (you gotta be) and once I get out, I think that lifetyle will con tinue for the rest of my life. and I have no problem with that.