A serious question: Why do you travel?

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

I have a serious question this week. It centers around our motivations for travel. I’ve been asking this question a lot lately and am really intently listening for answers.

Why do you travel? 

No really, not the surface, “I need a break, I wanna see something different,” answers.

WHY do you travel?

What does it do for you? 

For those of you who’ve been at it for years, why do you keep going back to it?

For those who are just planning your first journeys, what is drawing you?

Why would someone leave comfort, safety, and ease for discomfort, risk and constant challenge?

“The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the circumstances of your life, to be a stranger, to make a friend, to experience an exotic landscape, to risk the unknown..”

― Paul Theroux, The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road

Incidentally, I agree with Theroux in this, that the desire is characteristically human, it’s the layers of why that bear examining, for me. I’ve got a great interest in uncovering my own reasons, but I’ve also got an insatiable interest in your reasons.

What is it that drives us as a subset of humanity, as travelers to keep walking? 

Tell me. I’m listening.

Original article can be found here: A serious question: Why do you travel?